The Problem With Ireland And Old Media

I organised an event last night (with the most wonderful team in the world) that was all about celebrating Ireland. I didn't want to just have the usual circle jerk fest and wanted to get people thinking, be inspired and deal with issues that we all face but don't talk about in Ireland. Jamie told us what it takes to beat Australia. Marco told us about the pressure involved with winning 3 Michelin stars. Mark Pollock talked about talking on paralysis and being blind. Caroline talked about being a young female CEO of  huge company. 

All good talks but the one I was personally pumped to see was Bressie. People walked in thinking he was the good looking lad from The Voice. What nobody saw coming was he spilled his guts to 2000 people about suffering from depression and struggling with life. I suffer from depression myself and that is how myself and Bressie met and talking backstage he told me about how he'd nearly cried on stage and how he'd seen people crying in the audience as he talked. Later in the evening I couldn't get from one end of the room to another without people telling me they also suffered from depression and how the talk would help them open up. They'd finally have the courage to tell a friend. I don't want to be too grandoise about it but it felt like Bressie brought the elephant out of the room and help people. 

Fast forward to today and I checked media coverage and out of 100s of articles I spot one in the Mirror with quotes from Bressie last night. Despite a brave young man putting his heart on the line a pathetic journalist decided to pick 3 throwaway quotes and build an article around pure bullshit. They ignore the story about a proper cause and publish a click bait article to drive traffic to an article featuring a good looking guy with quotes twisted to create a story where there isn't one. See for them its all about pageviews and getting their sponsors "value" by being wrapped around the page. 

It might sound like a rant but I'm disgusted by this sort of journalism and not only will I never buy that paper again but they'll never be invited to another event of ours. One in four people suffer from depression in this country and it is a very real issue. Bressie talked about suicide and nothing is more serious than that. Its very real and it is in the minds of people in this country every single day of the week. Selling papers or trying to get page views is one thing but until people start talking about this properly it won't be solved. Bressie is a big lad with thick skin who plays the media game well but imagine him at home today possibly suffering from a panic attack and clicking into that article after spilling his guts and trying to help others. Absolutely pathetic writing and gutted to even give it extra oxygen by writing this post but some things need to be called out.