Piaras Kelly PR - Public Relations in Ireland

Interesting observation on the financial meltdown that we are currently witnessing - the much heralded wisdom of the crowds might not be all that it’s cracked up to be. Take for example the hysteria we have seen among bank customers in Ireland where at one point the trend of a return to mattress money was evident, where consumers believed that they would be safer keeping their money under their bed than in a bank.

RTE’s Joe Duffy programme was taken to task by the government recently for a show which was extremely critical of the banks. The Irish Independent reported that “Finance Minister Brian Lenihan personally rang the director general of RTE on Thursday to express his outrage at a Liveline radio programme, presented by Joe Duffy, which purported to elicit public opinion on the financial turmoil …but ended up provoking unprecedented panic and causing genuine fears that it might lead to a run on the banks. Mr Lenihan took the initiative when alerted by officials in his department that the Financial Regulator and banks across the country were being ‘inundated’ with telephone calls after the programme from customers alarmed that they were about to lose their savings.”

Interestingly, when challenged about the coverage RTE defended the show, stating in the Independent’s coverage that it “‘fulfils a legitimate function’ in allowing ‘ordinary people’ to express their views.” However the article goes on to state that “the State broadcaster is known to be deeply embarrassed by the fallout from Mr Duffy’s programme, which, sources at the station admit, virtually gave panicked callers free rein to express their lack of confidence in the banking system based on little other than their own feelings.”

That final statement from inside sources at the station makes for interesting reading. As Dale Carnegie once said, “when dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion.” By not including independent experts in the discussion or allowing the banks their right of reply, the discussion ended up getting swept away in a sea of hysteria. Or, as I prefer, Agent K’s analysis in Men In Black - “a person is smart, people are stupid”