Piaras Kelly PR – Public Relations in Ireland

Which of Ireland’s leading broadcasters was drunk on Grafton Street on Saturday night, regaling his ‘audience’ gathered nearby with a few songs after taking a microphone from a busker? His behaviour is hardly surprising given that he changed jobs due to the constraints his previous one was placing on his lifestyle.

After my brother recounted the tale of the broadcasters exploits to me, I told him he should have recorded the event on his cameraphone, to which he replied that he didn’t but a lot of others did. I wonder whether we will see them surface on YouTube anytime soon?

With public figures under more scrutiny than ever I’m surprised how naive that some of them can be given that our lives are more recordable than ever. While the “tired and emotional” performance on Saturday night might not do this particular broadcaster any harm, plenty of others had better pay heed.

This trend is going to create a lot of tensions as public citizens might not give the same considerations as journalists as to what is on and off the record or getting permission from their subjects.

I find the standards we hold public figures to very intriguing. An audience member on last night’s Questions & Answers on RTE pointed out that the controversy surrounding Bertie Ahern at present doesn’t do much in the way of encouraging women to stand for election given the fact that their families fall under the public eye.

Culturally I think society will eventually hold less demands on people with regards to their public behaviour, but in the meantime it’s best to keep a look over your shoulder for anyone with their cameraphone out.

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