Irish writer Oscar Wilde once said that "the only thing to do with good advice is pass it on. It is never any use to oneself."

It neatly sums up the adoption of blogging among the Irish media.  The potential for blogs to reach, engage and inform an audience, has to date, made no impact on how the media in Ireland deliver news and opinions. The idea of participatory journalism simply isn't on the agenda, yet.

There is a growing awareness of blogging among the media, which is reflected in the increasing number of features on the subject in newspapers, magazines, radio and even television, but while the media has written on the subject, no one has seen it as a useful adjunct to their traditional activities – at this point.

We do have a small number of Irish journalists currently blogging, however these are typically personal blogs with little or no support from their employers.  Examples include Karlin Lillington , Bernie Goldbach and Sarah Carey.

While the Irish media might be dragging their feet, the same can't be said of the Irish blog community which is growing rapidly and capturing a sizeable readership.  Like elsewhere, the majority of these blogs deal with issues around technology and politics.  It's fair to say that many of the Irish bloggers are growing restless with the mainstream media and their approach and view of blogging.

Much of the coverage that has appeared on blogging has been dismissive and has focused on the blogging phenomenon outside Ireland, primarily in the United States.  Many Irish bloggers feel that their efforts are being ignored or misunderstood by the media.  They are unhappy with
the dismissive nature of much of the mainstream coverage of the blogging phenomenon.

Sharon O' Suillibhan, who writes the Irish political blog 1169 and Counting  describes it thus:

"To try and get publicity for the blog is next to impossible , with one radio presenter suggesting that we take out a paid advertisement on their station !  Other than that , they seem to begrudge giving us a mention . I find that some journalists will visit our blog for details on an issue on which they are working ,  but never credit the site  - I no longer attempt to follow them up in the hope of receiving a belated  'credit'  .  Still , we get great satisfaction from our blog and are , hopefully , helping to assist our readers better understand the reasons for the political situation that now exists in this country ."

This is a fairly commonly held view of how the Irish media is dealing with blogs, particularly indigenous blogs.  However, it's not the total story.  One national newspaper is at least is attempting to bridge the divide. The Sunday Tribune, one of Ireland's largest Sunday newspapers publishes a summary of interesting posts from Irish blogs
each week. In addition in recent weeks we are seeing a growing number of formal references to Irish blogs appearing in the media.

There is no doubt that as blogging continues to proliferate, Irish media outlets will be forced to examine how they can use blogs to add colour, opinions and more value to their readers.  However, at this point in proceedings it appears that this process will take longer than expected and will probably be forced upon the various outlets.

Tom Murphy is Director of Corporate Communications with Cape Clear Software.  He's been blogging since March 2002 and covers Public Relations and Marketing, drawing on over fifteen years experience working throughout Europe and North America.
He's still learning....