Do you believe the media affects the way you run your business?

David Bloch, MD of the Brightwater Group comments:

If 50% of business people are affected by the media, then the media has responsibility to report honestly and fairly, without bias and without drama.

First-off, I don’t believe the media are equitable. Media had political biases but mostly, they are commercial organisations who are there to make money and this is dangerous. For example, it is no longer enough for a newspaper to report the news for by the time the newspaper is printed, the internet, breaking news channels and the radio have all broken the story and provided enough analysis and opinion that the newspaper has to come up with something different. They therefore tell us a story in a way that will grab our attention, make predictions that we must pay attention to....and the story must be so compelling so a story telling us “everything’s fine” isn’t going to do it.

It is encouraging that 38% of people do not let the media affect their decision making and I generally believe that they are right for the above reason (media isn’t equitable) and because there are so many stories that if we spend our lives governed by media moguls, we will no longer be able to function as we are pulled left and right – yet I confess that the media has affected by decision making more than I would have liked – let me explain.

I have been through 2 recessions before and on each occasion I concentrated on my job, my company and what I had to do. Focussing on what was in front of me allowed me to grow my operations and maximise whatever opportunities were available. I did the same in good times – focus on whatever opportunities were available. That is not to say I was unaware of the world around me, it was just that there was nothing I could do about it and as always, I aimed to beat the odds (and my competition).

I believe in NI it has been possible to make decisions outside of the media. Confident that as part of the UK we would get through, that there was still business out there and while considerably harder, there was still business i.e. we had a fighting chance. I was aware that however Brightwater might struggle, others were in the same boat and we had to work harder and smarter than ever. It worked, and our Belfast office is bigger and stronger than ever and we have collected together the best team of recruiters in NI – able to maximise any opportunities out there.

However, I spend the majority of my time in the Republic and despite my best efforts, I have found the astonishingly bad economy, coupled with a media having had a field day of apocalyptic zeal, unable to ignore. I have seen first hand how the media more than just reports the news, the media makes the news. For example, right after a string of particularly dramatic headlines, recruitment is frozen, job offers are rescinded and candidates reject new jobs as they are afraid to move. Another example was early last year when estate agents reported a pick-up in business and stabilising of house prices, this was followed by interviews with nay-sayers reporting how house prices would continue to plummet....consequently people were afraid to buy and so house prices indeed tumbled!.

Back to NI, I think the media has been fairer in that I think the local media is aware that they have a responsibility to the local community. Much of the news in NI is out of London, so that the local media is more able to provide the service they are meant to provide in supplying equitable news and commentary. They are not competing with the internet or Sky.

So my next poll question is:

Is the shrinking of the public sector and refocus on private sector overall good for NI?