Opinion

Is Stephen Nolan the right BBC presenter in a divided society?

Tom Kelly

Tom Kelly

Tom Kelly is an Irish News columnist with a background in politics and public relations. He is also a former member of the Policing Board.

Stephen Nolan spends considerable airtime talking about his weight
Stephen Nolan spends considerable airtime talking about his weight Stephen Nolan spends considerable airtime talking about his weight

A few weeks ago against my better judgement I sat down and watched Stephen Nolan present a programme called ‘Food on the Brain.’ I say against my better judgement because I find that Nolan spends too much airtime talking about his weight.

To his credit the programme was fascinating, especially the part where he went to an American diner and was confronted with a 9,000 calorie burger and the ashes of a former regular at the restaurant. It was classic Nolan enjoyably self-deprecating and self-absorbed at the same time.

Since Nolan hit the big time, the public especially in Northern Ireland has lapped up his style. It’s totally in your face shock jock tactics. The South had George Hook, London had Nick Ferrari and we got Nolan. In a way it’s surprising that there wasn’t a Nolan before Nolan because we are a nation of blunt, thran, angry ranters.

Nolan is a phenomenon in broadcasting. He is award winning too, which helps in the all-important ratings wars. When he is in campaigning mode Nolan is a tour de force.

The day he interviewed the couple that were having a child born with foetal abnormalities was pure brilliance but when he uses the programme to champion individual cases for priority in the health service one can't help but think of those hundreds of others on the waiting lists, not getting queue jumping treatment.

And by all accounts Nolan drives himself hard with a punishing schedule doing his morning show on Radio Ulster, his TV show and flying back and forward to Britain to do his Radio 5-live spot. He seems like a man in a hurry, nervous that his celebrity bubble could burst at any minute and therefore has to cram it all in. He is Ulster’s version of Marmite.

Some (including me) listen or watch in the full knowledge that we will get annoyed at his hectoring of guests and his inability to allow people to finish their sentences.

Recently there was a North/South link up with the doyen of RTE, Miriam O’Callaghan. The show was a marked contrast in presenting styles. O’Callaghan seemed composed, controlled and incisive whilst Nolan appeared badgering, battering and forthright.

To Nolan’s credit he forced the blundering Fine Gael Minister, Jimmy Deenihan into an admission that the Republic could not afford Northern Ireland at the present time - something his government would never officially concede to as the argument is allegedly about consent not cash.

Yet the link-up didn’t really achieve much as many of Nolan’s guests need not have been there at all. It was very much the Foster-Nolan show. At one point David Ford actually thanked Nolan for ignoring him. The SDLP’s Clare Hanna hardly got a word in. The knockabout classics that work for his radio show doesn’t really translate into good TV because when he tries to introduce analysis from his experts they can't and wont play ball as was evidenced that night.

Nolan clearly possesses an intelligent and sharp mind but he also portrays personal vulnerability as evidenced by his own publicly aired concerns over his weight, his mother’s health and his media revelations about his accident whilst in the Mournes and suffering from erectile dysfunction.

Clearly some of our politicians live by the maxim that there’s no such thing as bad publicity and are only too ready to play out Judy to Nolan’s Punch. Gregory Campbell and Barry McElduff could practically be extras.

So too could a raft of professional contrarians from John McCrittick to Edwina Currie who feature regularly on the show.

Nolan is as decisive as he is popular and the self-styled biggest show in the country- meaning the North-rather than the UK or Ireland attracts plethora of serial callers.

The type of phone-ins is atypical of the opinions you would find in the barbers, on the buses or from taxi drivers. That’s not to say that Nolan’s backroom team relies solely on knee-jerk protagonists as the show is also under-pinned by some good research.

But a serious question has to be asked about the potential damage caused by over exposure to gladiatorial, bear-pit style shows amidst a society still riven with open scars and hardly concealed sectarianism. We know only too well the damage that an out of place word can do in communities where language can be as lethal as a bullet.

In a divided society the media has a responsibility to assess its role as a peace builder or wrecker. Maybe that time is now?