Car crashes and Pat Kenny's road rage

national | arts and media | opinion/analysis

Wednesday February 11, 2009 23:29

by Paul O' Sullivan

paulosullivan01 at gmail dot com

Oh, Pat. We really can't stand you now.

Many described Pat Kenny interviewing Pete Doherty as car-crash TV. But it wasn’t just any road traffic accident. These were Formula One class machines hurtling into the barrier after a long straight. The sentiment was akin to watching Jamie Theakston’s accident knowing nobody had died but quite easily could have, in a manner of speaking.

Many have described Mr. Doherty as doe-eyed. Caught in the headlights is an oft bandied phrase. Beneath the brightest lights in Donnybrook last Friday night what else could he have been.

So, in he walks, a man globally renowned for his creative, artistic and lyrical talent. A ground-breaker in his field, a man whose passion for what he does is so infused with his other occupations - the ‘vicious circle’ as he has described it during other interviews –that definition and clarity is nigh impossible (for the sake of clarity, Pat Kenny is the other guy.) And within nine minutes he finds himself subject to probing warranting a cushion-less couch.

A poster on www.boards.ie, who evidently dislikes Mr. Doherty, questioned what one would ask about aside from the rather easy, fickle and mundane topics media at large is so concerned with. Well, what would a champion of the Arts know most about? Straight forward enough.

The orbit of Jonathan Ross’s most recent interview with Mr. Doherty was on the same plane as that conducted on The Late Late Show, though Mr. Ross’s patronising paternalistic guardian role considerably softened the accident’s impact. Perhaps he reviewed tapes of Uncle Gay offering a cloak of protection from the wicked world to Sineád O’ Connor.

The point is that a key to journalism – in the broadest sense of the term - is impartiality. A journalist is a vessel of sorts; a person with the wherewithal to eek out the essence of a story, and carry that story to the audience. It is not in the journalist’s professional remit to be swayed by personal ideas, opinions, judgements or conclusions - in Mr. Kenny’s interview he has quite clearly exposed his own moral judgement on the lifestyle that his guest/interviewee/victim has chosen to lead.

And what ever became of Friday night light-heartedness. In the formula celebrities provide entertainment while commentators, politicians and activists weigh in with the meatier material. Which would an audience prefer if the roles were reversed, Mr. Kenny being engaged on his passion for politics and current affairs, or unfortunate petty land wrangles?

Beneath the stained hands, extraordinary dress and aloofness in conversation is an authentic creative spirit. I will refrain from drawing comparisons. Such judgement tend to be provocative, only to say that credit is due to Mr. Kenny for mentioning Pete Doherty and Shane McGowan in the same breath, and also distinguish between them. But this was small mercy in what was otherwise a merciless, ignorant and intentionally procrastinated provocation.