Longford Journalist Peter Geoghegan: A watchdog for democracy

In the 1970s the media landscape underwent a dramatic evolution. The emergence of tabloid journalism, televisions in every home, the rise of talk radio, and the proliferation of lifestyle magazines all served a society experiencing increasingly rapid change.

There was a sense that the role of the media as a social watchdog was eroding, however the truth was that media impartiality may always have been a myth.

In the intervening decades other accelerants impacted on what we consider news or propaganda; satellite television, social media, podcasts, and streaming services all swamp the eight billion citizens of the world with so much information it can be difficult to separate fact from fiction.

Peter Geoghegan is a Longford man who aims to present a view of the world that some very affluent parties would prefer remained hidden. He wields a cudgel of truth many feel is necessary in the modern world.

Peter's book 'Democracy for Sale' is described as “a journey from Westminster to Washington, and far beyond, to see how money, vested interests and digital skulduggery are eroding trust in democracy”.

Taking on the weighty topic of who is buying influence at the highest political level sounds like the kind of thing someone who grew up in Ireland of the 1980s would be interested in: “Over the years it's become more, rather than less, relevant,” the author told the Leader from his London home.

Public interest in global politics appears to be at an all time high. War on the fringes of Europe and the Middle East has encroached on the lives of citizens who have enjoyed relative peace and comfort for decades.

Most disruption is economic, the escalating cost of living has dramatically impacted shopping baskets. However a world in crisis, with political leaders fanning the flames, has created an international atmosphere of unease not seen since the Cold War.

“What I find really interesting is that people who wouldn't engage with issues like these, who would never really be interested in politics or democracy, are actually getting in touch, family and friends are going “what's going on?”. I think people are waking up a bit, because the world is forcing them to wake up, ” Peter said.

Such engagement is down to relevance: “Who's in power and how have they got there are no longer just academic questions for some people who are a bit mad. They actually have a huge material benefit in people's lives.”

Peter's interest in how political influence shapes our society is informed by early experiences: “Growing up in Ireland in the 90s, there were endless political scandals, you know; money and brown envelopes.

“I think we were all very aware the political process could be bought, especially around housing and property development. It was a very transactional form of corruption, where you pay a politician money and they do something for you. I was aware of this growing up.

“Lots of other countries had similar issues. In countries like the UK, or Ireland now, those kinds of things wouldn't happen. That corruption really only happens in countries that aren't pretty rich.”

The social changes of the intervening years saw the movement away from “brown envelope” politics: “That type of corruption is, in some ways, not that hard to root out, actually. You can bring in more protocols, as Ireland has.

“Ireland doesn't have anywhere near the same level of corruption as it used to. You can bring in some codes of conduct to deal with that. Trying to deal with modern influence, especially in the social media age where there are systematic attempts to influence politics, becomes far more complicated.”

Peter says the scope of influence, through lobbying leadership, now looks at a bigger picture: “It's been a big change over the last 15 or 20 years, but particularly in the last five years.”

Identifying the “bad actors” in this situation through research is where the investigative journalist earns his crust: “This is influence from business, corporate influence, influence from people with a very large amount of money.

“People want to influence the political process because they have those large amounts of money. They might have business interests or their own interests may align with a shift in politics. We're seeing more and more of that on a national and international scale.”

It may not be a stretch to suggest that global politics has developed into a branch of the entertainment industry. Algorithms designed to respond to people's interests make more information available to them, but not necessarily valuable information.

“People are often losing faith in politics, and I think this is very much connected to it,” Peter believes, “For a very long time we've seen lobbyists and corporate powers able to massively influence the political process, able to influence decisions and decision makers. The oil and gas industry, and the tobacco industry are very good examples.”

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“It was decades before the tobacco industry was willing to accept tobacco's role in causing cancer. That was because they were able to lobby and influence governments to make sure that didn't happen. They were able to do that very successfully for a very long time.

“So there's a long-term playbook of how money can influence the political process. They're much more insidious and much bigger than the kind of things we heard about growing up, where you gave someone 30 grand and a brown envelope, and they re-zoned a piece of land from agriculture or industrial use or whatever.”

Public opinion has moved from anger at being duped to a sense of disquiet with democracy, a subtle feeling that things aren't working.

“The things I write about are not necessarily just someone giving money to politicians,” he says. “Often that's not what's happening. I look at how people give money to think tanks who don't declare their donors, who then produce reports that are in the interest of this donor.

“Media is another way. How people get into the media, how those parties understand how to work it. Taking UK parliamentarians on expensive trips around the world to show them stuff. Then they come back and speak positively about it. It's a lot more sophisticated. I think that's probably the biggest thing I learned in the work I've been doing.”

“It's almost another level of sophistication. People like Elon Musk and others, you're seeing these people who've got business interests, they're going to make a lot of money out of the things they're proposing. But also, I think they, on one level, fundamentally want to change politics.

“They want to change the world and how it works. They have the level of money to control the attention economy. They're able to shape thinking, because of their control of media, and in particular social media.”

Even back in his St Mel's days Peter Geoghegan was showing signs of his future career. “In secondary school, I had my own fanzine when I was 14,” but the route was a bit circuitous, “I've been a journalist for about 15 years. I slightly fell into journalism, actually.

“I started at NUI in Galway. I then went to the States on a PhD scholarship. I ended up finishing my PhD in the University of Edinburgh.

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“When I finished my PhD, I got a job as a postdoctoral researcher, which is basically a kind of low-level academic job as a researcher in Belfast. And at the time, I started writing for an arts website. It paid me a small amount of money to write reviews of various things and features and things like that.”

The first full time role was a matter of happenstance. “I was out for a pint with a guy who edited a website, and I had a job interview in London. He said, “Our journalist has just quit, I don't suppose you want a job”. So I decided on the spot to become a journalist.”

After that a Channel 4 Dispatches training scheme introduced him to the investigative side of the news. “I set up an investigative website in Scotland called The Ferret. I worked in a newspaper. I was the editor of the website Open Democracy. I kind of moved into more investigative journalism.”

That developed into his current occupation. “I now run a thing called Democracy for Sale, which is a newsletter and a website based on it. And then my book.

“We really focus on all of these issues. Looking at lobbying and influence in British politics, but also internationally as well. Like a PR firm that's reputation managing for interests in the States or the Middle East, that has got a footprint here in London too.”

Returning to Longford for Booktown, as part of the star studded line-up of authors, journalists, and artists, celebrating the power of literature and the arts, will give Longfordians an opportunity to hear Peter guide a conversation with another local:

“I've known John [Connell] for a long time. John and I are friends, and another friend, Seán O'Connor, is also on the board.

“Seán used to live around the corner from me in College Park. And he's also a journalist too. He was at Channel 4 the same time I was.”

At this year's Booktown event Peter talks to another Longford native, Conor Gearty, to discuss Conor's new book Homeland Insecurity: The Rise and Rise of Global Anti-Terrorism Law.

“It's a nice little circle, because I only recently got to know Conor. We both write for the London Review of Books.

“Conor has had an incredible career, occupying an important human rights space in the UK. His books and his writings are hugely significant. I'm very pleased and honoured to be able to talk with Conor. I think it's definitely shaping up to be a fun weekend.”

Conor Gearty will be in conversation with Peter Geoghegan on Friday, April 11 at 5pm in Granard Library as part of the 2025 Granard Booktown Festival.