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Irish Examiner's numerical illiteracy

Justin Mason's mate, Tom, spotted an Irish Examiner article where the sums add to nothing much:

“Department staff clocked up 20,000 sick days in the three years” [April 30, 2009] is the headline. Closer examination of the article reveals there are 5,000 people in the department. Do the maths (which the paper doesn’t - I wonder why) and that’s a SHOCKING 1.3 sick days a year.

Brooker's Newswipe series now online

All six episodes of Charlie Brooker's Newswipe, made for BBC4, are now available to watch as a playlist on YouTube. While the series is UK-focused, it covers news output which makes it into the Irish market, including Sky News, BBC News, and the UK tabloids and broadsheets. As the Beeb says:

The aim of Charlie Brooker's News Wipe is to expose the inner workings of news media, just as [Brooker's] Screen Wipe does to TV in general.

The series will be a funny, thoughtful and scabrous digest of recent news events. News Wipe will take a look at the brilliant or preposterous way the news is presented to us.

There will also be experts on hand to pick apart certain stories and analyse the news media's obsessions.

The experts include political journalist Peter Oborne, Flat Earth News author Nick Davies, Bad Science columnist Dr Ben Goldacre, and documentary maker Adam Curtis.

A WARNING: Those who read  Blurred Keys every once in a while but are so native to think the contents of this blog just show once-off media blunders will likely find Newswipe too cynical, while some of our more intellectual readers will probably find it too low brow.

What to do if an Irish newspaper uses your photograph without permission

With the advent of social networking and photo-sharing websites, the question of what to do if a newspaper uses your content without permission is becoming a more frequent one (boards.ie, YourTechStuff.com, al et). Here's what you can do:

First, to explain: All content is copyrighted once you take a photograph, write a blog post etc. So, you own the copyright to photos you take, the videos you record, and the text you write. Nobody is allowed to use your content with out your permission. You do not need to register or do anything along those lines.

If a newspaper uses your image you have a number of options, including:

• GET THEM TO PAY YOU: Ring them up and ask for the picture desk. Ask what they pay for images of the same size and placement as they used your photo, then send them a bill. We've written about this before, at least some will pay. You may even want to try to charge over their standard rates -- its up to you. If they pay you, this would likely exclude you from using both of the below options.
• COMPLAIN TO THE PRESS OMBUDSMAN: The Ombudsman has previously told this site that plagiarism is covered under Principle 3 - Fairness and Honesty of the Code of Conduct which all national newspapers and most local papers subscribe to. You'll need to contact the newspaper to complain first, it is explained how to make a complaint on the website of the Press Ombudsman.
• CONTACT A LAWYER: Taking a court case for a breach of copyright would likely be unrealistic, unless you have just won the lotto and want an inventive way to spend your money. And while a letter from a lawyer should be taken more serious by newspapers, it will cost you too, unlike the options above. According to the Press Ombudsman's website, it is not advisable to engage the services of a solicitor before/while making a complaint as the newspaper will also engage its legal advisers, which will most likely take the issue out of the hands of the editor.

For written content, complaining to the Press Ombudsman is the most realistic option as this will be more highly contested by newspapers, or ignored if you simply ask them for payment.

Ahern proposes blasphemy law

A crime of blasphemous libel is to be proposed in an amendment to the Defamation Bill, the Irish Times reports today:

Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern proposes to insert a new section into the Defamation Bill, stating: “A person who publishes or utters blasphemous matter shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable upon conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding €100,000.”

“Blasphemous matter” is defined as matter “that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that religion; and he or she intends, by the publication of the matter concerned, to cause such outrage.”

Two faces of the Daily Mail

Irish editions of UK tabloids can be quite different. In a quite substantial example of this, Ben Goldacre, writer of the Guardian's Bad Science articles, has caught the Daily Mail out on the issue of the cervical cancer vaccine.

In the London edition it's scare headlines, as Goldacre writes:

First we have some inevitable scare headlines from the Daily Mail about the cervical cancer vaccine in the London edition. "Revealed: The serious health concerns about the cervical cancer jab" ... "Alert over jab for girls as two die following cervical cancer vaccination" ... "Twelve-year-old girl paralysed 'after being given cervical cancer jab' " ... "How safe is the cervical cancer jab? Five teenagers reveal their alarming stories". That's enough.

And it the Irish edition it's used to bash the government:

But get this. In Ireland, where the government refused to fund the vaccine, the Daily Mail is campaigning - vigorously - for the jab. Apparently it's lifesaving: "Join the Irish Daily Mail's cervical cancer vaccination campaign today" [etc]

[via boards.ie]

Two 'bloodbaths' on newspaper covers

The word 'bloodbath' used in two headlines on newspaper front pages: In the Irish Daily Mail it refers to a story which says over 700 nurses will lose their jobs. The Irish Daily Mirror has quite different news values -- their "bloodbath" was the news RTE will not recommission, the only focus is on the two "stars" who will lose their jobs.

Another "star" who has quit TV3 is also somehow included in the "bloodbath." In fairness to the Mirror, other tabloids also cover the same story, but two stars losing their jobs and another quitting is hardly a 'bloodbath'... and should we even be expecting more from an English paper with little more than an Irish wraparound? [Via Today FM]

TCD picks up 8 Irish Student Media Awards

CORRECTION: Irish TV Production of the year was awarded to Caoimhin O Cuinn from NUIG, and not of Griffith College Dublin as first stated. This also changes the listed amount each college won.

Trinity College Dublin won eight of 31 categorises at the Irish Student Media Awards / Smedias last night at the Mansion House in Dublin, including the top awards of editor and newspaper of the year.

In terms of crude numbers, Trinity’s win compares to four for UCD -- The two largest third level colleges in Ireland typically take home the most wins. Trinity managed to out do the DCU which has a large communication and journalism focused school, the north side university only managed to take away three awards. NUI Galway and DIT both picked up four wins.

The other winners included: Griffith (2), Ballyfermot College of Further Education (2), Institute of Art Design and Technology (1) Letterkenny Institute of Technology (1), and Queens University Belfast (1).

Also of note, the winners were heavily male-dominated with few of the 31 awards going to female students.

PDFs of the People's choice award can be found here, while all the nominations can be views here, and the category description along with the previous winners here. A full list of winners are as follows:

Belfast Telegraph switches fully to tabloid

The Belfast Telegraph went totally from broadsheet to tabloid size last week.

Roy Greenslade talks about it here and there's a promo video on the newspaper's website, with staff and readers talking about the move here.

DCU journalism scholarships entries due

Two scholarships open to prospective journalism students are nearing the deadlines for this year. From DCU.ie:

DCU are inviting applications for two journalism and marketing scholarships.

The Veronica Guerin Memorial Scholarship is awarded in memory of investigative journalist Veronica Guerin. The deadline for applications is 12pm, Monday, 7 April 2009. View attached pdf for further information.

The John Thompson Marketing and Media Scholarship is awarded in memory of John Thompson, former Chief Executive of Associated Newspapers Ireland (Daily Irish Mail and Mail on Sunday) and Managing Director, The Star. The deadline for applications is 4pm, Tuesday, 31 March 2009. View attached pdf for further information.

Irish magazine now being printed monthly

Tomai O Conghaile, editor of the contemporary Irish language magazine nos*, writes to us about the publication which launched online last March and has recently released a monthly print edition, he says:

We have redesigned www.nosmag.com which is now being updated on a regular basis. Our print magazine is published monthly and is available by subscription, in universities and Irish language venues throughout the country. We plan to expand our retail outlets as the year progresses and are currently printing 4,000 copies. The magazine is primarily based in Newry though the team are all over Ireland, including some writers in Scotland, USA and Australia.

At least tabloid readers are under fewer delusions

Too many journalists and editors do damage to their outlets and journalism in general due to daily blunders, which they don’t seem to care about.

The attitude could be that few people in specialised areas will notice so it does not matter, or it’s covering a minority so it does not matter. Or it could be that the journalist needs to get the story or create a new angle and nothing else matters (ie filling the white space journalism… if they were skilled they could have been a copywriters and got paid more).

A prime example of this is in today’s Irish Independent: ‘New 'cycle to work' scheme gets just one query.’

The headline is clear, one query. The first par then reads: “The Department of Finance has received only one query regarding its cycle-to-work scheme announced in the Budget last year.”

But one bicycle shop sent a message into the Last Word saying bicycles have already been bought from them under the scheme, a press release from Ciaran Cuffe today said “Over 7,000 people have visited the Green Party's bikescheme.ie” since January 1, and at least one company, biketowork.ie, has been set up to handle the paperwork.

So the Indo got it a bit wrong then?

Worst still, it was a follow-up story that was covered in the Sunday Times yesterday. Which in its self was flawed enough to start with.

The ST story centred on how departments have been slow to take up the scheme. But it had to go on to say “Calls to seven of the 10 companies voted ‘Best places to work in Ireland’ revealed that only one has introduced the programme” – which is like akin to conducting a political polls by doing a vox pop on the street out side the newspaper.