In the days before the camera phone, the rules around “doorstepping” were simple. The broadcast media, equipped with expensive and unwieldy TV cameras, would occasionally follow a politician or public figure down the street.
Questions would be directed at them, usually about an issue of general public interest. Typically reporters would only resort to the “doorstep” after a period of time in which the individual had sought to avoid answering the questions or addressing the issue by a more formal channel such as questions emailed directly or through a spokesperson.
The doorstep footage would then be edited and broadcast.
Nowadays anyone in possession of a smartphone and a social media account can conduct a doorstep and have that footage streamed instantly to millions of viewers.
RM Block
Enoch Burke and members of his Co Mayo-based family have used the doorstep technique extensively over recent years. The family are well known for their Christian evangelical and socially conservative views, the assertive manner in which they express them, primarily in public protests, and their legal entanglements in court.
The schoolteacher claims he has been unlawfully dismissed from Wilson’s Hospital school in Co Westmeath after refusing to follow a direction to refer to a student by a different pronoun. He has been imprisoned and faced heavy fines for continuing to turn up at the school in breach of court orders.
Earlier this month, he confronted Independent presidential candidate Catherine Connolly while she canvassed in Limerick City.
Burke claimed he is a victim of Connolly’s “gender ideology” and that his religious freedoms are being taken away from him. While her candidate’s supporters chanted “shame”, Connolly struggled to be heard in an incident that lasted around 90 seconds.
The confrontation was covered by the traditional media too.
Various politicians have been caught up in similar incidents over recent years, and members of the media find themselves regularly harangued and filmed by political activists on the right of the political spectrum.
As the online videos posted of the encounters show, the confrontations can prove extremely complex to navigate.
But what is the advice to individuals who find themselves in the sights of the camera phone lens? And what are the legalities governing such situations?
Veteran public relations adviser Terry Prone says the technique is the social media equivalent of the “custard pie in the face” for political figures.
“Footage of such a confrontation can lie dormant for years only to be revived when least expected,” she says.
“This is something political parties in particular are going to have to prepare and train for. Only Sinn Féin, right now, puts a protective ring around candidates. All parties will have to do that,” says Prone.
In addition to providing more boots on the ground, Prone recommends that the parties use training exercises to prepare their members for such confrontations.
“Training for it, first of all, reduces panicked reactions. It’s the simulation principle with pilots: once you’ve gone through sudden turbulence in simulation, you’re less shocked when it happens in reality,” she says.
She does not advocate stonewalling and advises that politicians engage wherever possible.
“They should not try to avoid the eye of the camera or look at it. They should look at the questioner and behave as courteously as if they were being asked a positive, rather than a negative, question,” she says.
“The important relationship is between the candidate, if it’s a candidate, and the thousands of individuals who will see the video. Proving them wrong or dissing them doesn’t address that more important relationship.”
Vlad Glaveanu, professor of psychology at Dublin City University, says being filmed on the street has become part of public life and the prevalent culture is one that “thrives on spectacle”.
“Preparation, therefore, isn’t just about personal composure; it’s about understanding the social script at play,” he says.
“The quickest route to resolution is not persuasion but de-escalation and one way to do this is through recognition.
“Keeping one’s tone slow and grounded, as much as possible, helps restore a sense of proportion. Crucially, the aim is not to ‘win’ but to avoid feeding a moment of confrontation designed for public consumption.”
In the exchange between Connolly and Burke, the presidential candidate certainly seems reluctant to say anything that might escalate the situation. She says: “I’ve heard you”, a number of times before Burke is eventually moved away.
“Those who film are often seeking to expose or challenge perceived power,” says Glaveanu.
He says public figures can prepare themselves by “anticipating this dynamic and basically staying calm, transparent and aware that every gesture may circulate beyond the moment itself”.
Glaveanu says adopting a position of “total silence” runs the risk of coming off as arrogant.
It is not just politicians who fall prey to this kind of approach.
Members of the Burke family have filmed and broadcast encounters with a security guard at Wilson’s Hospital School, Attorney General Rossa Fanning, Fine Gael TD Alan Dillon and the Mayo coroner Pat O’Connor.
In the first instance, in a video uploaded to X on October 14th, the security guard attempts to block efforts by Enoch Burke to enter the schoolwhile calmly explaining why he is not allowed on the property. As of earlier this week, the video had a reported 6.1 million views on the platform.
In the video of his interaction with the Burkes, Fanning, who was approached at an event in Galway, declines to engage and leaves the venue.
In a video posted in December 2023, Dillon was approached by members of the family while attempting to enter a supermarket in Castlebar. They attempt to block his path on several occasions, before he eventually leaves in a car.
The Burkes elicit a very different reaction from Pat O’Connor, who was filmed by Enoch Burke’s sister Jemima Burke on the streets of Swinford in June 2024.
[ Burke family members removed from court at end of Sally Maaz inquestOpens in new window ]
He appears very agitated in the video, stating loudly that Burke is interfering with his privacy and reacting angrily with a slur against her.
After a time, gardaí appear in the video informing Burke she cannot continue filming, but without taking any further action.
“I would say that remaining calm begins with recognising the broader audience for these encounters,” says Glaveanu.
“The person filming is often appealing to an invisible public, hoping to elicit a reaction that proves a point whether political, moral or emotional.
“It’s not a personal attack, it’s a kind of performance.”
In the incident, O’Connor, along with staff members from Mayo University Hospital, were filmed after an inquest into the death of a man who died from sepsis.
Jemima Burke was convicted of a public order offence later that day in Ballina District Court but the conviction was quashed in a High Court judgment. She argued she had been the victim of “a miscarriage of justice”.
Ms Justice Sara Phelan found “the actions of the District Court judge were such as to deprive the applicant of her constitutional right to a fair trial”.
According to a senior legal expert, Jemima Burke was entitled to be filming in a public place.
“It may be disruptive and upsetting to the people involved, but it is not generally thought of as harassment,” said the expert, who did not wish to be named.
They point out that rules governing harassment regulate “persistent” actions, such as continual phone calls or emails or daily approaches on the street.
More difficult to assess are the issues of assault or potential breach of the peace, says the expert.
Members of the Burke family have, at times, accused people of assaulting them during the to-and-fro these encounters entail.
“The law recognises give and take,” says the expert.
“If someone is making a nuisance of themselves they might be entitled to do that, but I might also be entitled to move them to one side. I’m entitled to my freedom of movement. The law will rarely intervene where someone has given a gentle shove.”
The Burkes are not alone in using this kind of tactic against people they perceive as hostile to them.
Journalists are regularly filmed in public by right-wing activists and find themselves accused of serving a pro-establishment agenda. This has become an occupational hazard for TV and radio broadcasters, who are more conspicuous outside courthouses and Government buildings than their print colleagues.
Some reporters find themselves routinely accused of burying stories or facts relating to immigration – all the while being filmed by their accusers.
According to Glaveanu, remaining calm in the face of this is the most advisable policy.
He says there are certain “grounding” and breathing techniques that can be used to maintain one’s dignity in the face of provocation, but what is key is the realisation that, in many cases, it is not personal.
“Calmness then becomes an act of resistance,” he says.
“In some ways, refusing to play an expected role and staying true to values like personal dignity and professionalism – all easier said than done, granted – when the situation appears dangerous, provocative or unjust.”
