When an analogy removes the focus from the problem
Posted by: pivotalcommunications on: January 22, 2010
Martin Cullen, infamous use of the term “rape” when describing the horror he felt following the media reports when falsely accused of having an affair with Waterford business women was ill advised.
It was a stupid analogy and one he said wasn’t arrived at without thought, (humm). I can only imagine he was trying to mirror what he felt with one of the worst things that can happen to a man or a woman.
The defamatory coverage by some sections of the media of groundless allegations almost destroyed his life.
“It was like waking up every morning and being raped,” he told a conference on defamation law in Dublin this week.
Now since this – the media have focussed in on this torrid word, analogy and miscalculation on the Ministers part. They have removed themselves from the central points. They have ignore the key questions raised and decided instead to fuel the fire and in doing so remove the guilt they should undoubtedly feel.
Consider what his family have suffered following these printed false allegations. According to the Minister
* “horrendous bullying”
* Have been forced to change schools three times.
* His sons had “the living daylights” beaten out of them for defending their father
* One journalist had bullied his way into the family home when his 11-year- old daughter was there alone and got her to phone his ex-wife on her mobile (imagine the fear now instilled in this little one)
* A mocking Bebo site had over one million hits (he hasn’t viewed)
This all from the appearance of a doctored picture!
Surely the focus should be on responsible reporting, holding off and verifying, proof before print and thinking of the bigger picture.
Ok – I’m not a particular fan of Minister Cullen, nor am I associated with any political party.
I am a fan of responsible reporting, children’s protection and people’s rights. With the need to increase newspaper sales, drive followers to your blog/twitter a/c or webpage we should take a step back and learn from this.
Lets return the focus to the original points which were well made before his colossal error.
4 Responses to "When an analogy removes the focus from the problem"
January 26, 2010 at 11:08 am
Orpheus: Completely agree and points well made. Thankfully in this case and as in most, different day, different news! Lillis case hitting most of the headlines again removing focus. It would be interesting to have a watchdog (I would question the validity of those current) that set a reporting standard – rather than just individual publications that are known for their integrity. It then becomes a situation where because a tabloid makes such reporting inaccuracies they are almost excused because of the very nature of their day to day content.
January 22, 2010 at 4:52 pm
It sounds like he (or his PR firm) decided to go for the quick sound bite – rather than completely and specifically evoking an analogous experience to which his audience could relate. His is experience is like that of a rape victim (not like the act of being raped), who knows her attackers and whose attackers go unpunished while they are allowed to run around town boasting to everyone and bully her and her family. In this analogy the public has to choose a side and they have to choose between being complicit with the attackers or condemning them. Good PR puts the power in the hands of the public (the P of PR) and should subtly but clearly require the public to draw the ‘right’ conclusion. Unfortunately, you are right in that now the media is able to malign this poor sod further because their actions after the crime (the printing of the doctored picture) were not part of his analogy at all. And everyone who has taken a philosophy class knows that if you don’t follow an analogy all the way through, it can become a horrible fallacy – which his comment was.
February 2, 2012 at 6:12 am
I agree, I sent them an email tinryg to find out what the go is. They reckon they haven’t gotten word from the publisher (I assume Capcom) about the steelbook. I preordered from them anyway in the hope they get things sorted.I have also pre-ordered… the manager didnt even know the game was coming out on 360… even though they had a leaflet on the counter…
February 3, 2012 at 11:28 am
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