Opposite assumptions: the relationship between the Roman Catholic church and news journalism in Ireland

The relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and news journalism in Ireland has long been problematic. This article provides a structured reconnaissance of the relationship over the course of the twentieth-century and seeks to provide a framework for thinking about the primary forces that were in play within the relationship. While acknowledging that the relationship between social change and media change is complex, not always amenable to quantification or metrification, and open to continuous debate, the article conceptualizes the changing Church–media relationship in terms of: 1) the establishment of a national television station, required by law to be objective and impartial in terms of its news and current affairs output; 2) the increased prevalence of “outsider” journalism—that is content produced by non-native journalists for Irish publications, content produced by Irish journalists for overseas publications, and content produced by exile Irish journalists for overseas publications, all of which cast a cold eye on the nature of Irish society; 3) the emergence of new discourses that challenged the teachings of the Church and which were adopted by the mainstream press; and 4) the impact of new technology that, for a brief period, resulted in a flourishing, independent-minded periodical press. By itemizing such change, one gets a fuller picture of the evolving nature of the Church–media relationship as it entered the contentious decade of the 1990s. The advantages of such conceptualization are that: 1) it invites use to take the “long view” of social change, thereby providing context to social debate; 2) it encourages us to consider the current situation in light of fuller rather than partial context; and, 3) it may help in thinking about the future trajectory of the relationship in the knowledge that hindsight is often the best form of foresight