Reporter's Creed

"There are no dumb questions; only dumb answers."

   In the world of free, unfettered journalism, any reporter or interviewer can ask any question of any official at any time, following the above guideline and hoping to lure the interviewee into saying something newsworthy.
   In fact, that guideline is not true: There are indeed dumb questions, often born of ignorance. However, while ignorance may explain the problem, it does not excuse it, especially when perpetrated by alleged professionals.
   Example: Two government tourism officials from the Republic of Ireland were asked by a Boston-based TV host -- whose program is syndicated to several hundred stations -- 
whether Ireland had any plans to leave the United Kingdom, following the vote on the issue taken in Scotland.
   Example 2: Another TV host asked the same Irish officials why Ireland uses the euro as its monetary base, rather than sterling as do England and Scotland. "It's part of the same island, isn't it?" said the host.

   Quick geography and history lesson: Ireland is an island of itself, and not connected to the other island that comprises England and Scotland. Moreover, Ireland never was part of the United Kingdom, any more than was Canada, Australia, India or any of the other possessions of the British empire. Ireland had, indeed,  been part of the British empire, but Ireland left nearly 100 years ago, beginning with the Easter Rising of 1916.
   
   To their credit, the Irish officials sidestepped the questions. Government, corporate and political folks often do that, either because they don't want to answer the question, or because they don't want to embarrass or insult the alleged journalist for asking a dumb question and risk being called a bully.