One thing is for sure. You don’t go into the media business to be popular. Journalists are admired and despised in equal measure. Once you get that, you go about doing the job without fear or favour. For me, I retain a default setting each time I enter a studio or switch on a microphone: “Be fair, be inquisitive, be informative.”

It’s far from a bulletproof mantra, because there are politically motivated listeners who’ll dig deep in search of a prejudiced conspiracy to suit their own agenda. They’ll arrive at a preordained conclusion as to the modus operandi if the piece does not chime with their politics.

Social media revolution

That’s just part of the social media revolution. Fine. Live and let live and all of that. But as long as I know I’ve stuck to the basic principles of fairness, balance and informing, they can tweet away. Because when it comes to public service broadcasting, it is crystal clear our remit is in terms of objectivity and fairness. And we are closely policed for good measure by the licence fee payer and that can only be a good thing.

On air, we can form an opinion based on fact or play devil’s advocate in a debate, which often can be misconstrued as personal bias.

Indeed. But what we cannot do is lose the run of ourselves like a campaigning blogger can, or a serial tweeter, as we are guided by those core public service principles cast in stone by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. Still, it is our job to push the boundaries, cut the bull, push politicians and challenge the spin. We can and we do, and it comes with a buzz. So any journalist who says they don’t have an ego is a liar.

Differences up North

Even so, it must be different in Northern Ireland. Working as a current affairs presenter surely brings a whole different skillset, which must actually deflate any such notions of grandeur. Two decades on from the Good Friday agreement, tribal hatred is alive and well, which must leave local hacks still feeling like virtual war reporters.

Before he was elected Ulster Unionist Party leader, Mike Nesbitt was a TV presenter. But I can’t genuinely recall it ever colouring his approach as a newsman. Same goes for several other broadcasters and correspondents who get on with the job in an apolitical fashion. And I would have included arguably the most high-profile contemporary political broadcaster of them all north of the border, Stephen Nolan, as one of those. But two weeks ago on his TV show, he regurgitated Gregory Campbell’s infamous mockery of the Irish language. It was a disappointingly lazy gaffe from an otherwise talented broadcaster.

He really let his guard down.

As a man of his experience and influence, he should have known better than stooping to such a gutter level of pure sectarianism and sensationalism. But he knew well that by mocking the Irish language, plagiarising Campbell’s blatant hatred of all things Irish and nationalist in the process, he was winning as many fans as he was losing. That’s showbusiness baby. And sadly that’s the North for you too. CL

Alcohol percentage

Might it help curb binge drinking if the alcohol percentage for draft beer was displayed more prominently at the tap? I was in Turin last week where this was noticeably visible and certainly influenced my decision what to order and what to avoid, as oppose to simply choosing a beer stout or lager.

Craft beer connoisseurs might be more cognisant of this, as it is an integral part of that whole experience of moderation in alcohol volume rather than metric volume. But how many traditional pint drinkers deal in such currency?