Blurred Keys

Independent group's trigger-happy copying

- Press Ombudsman says plagiarism is covered
- We get legal threats from an Irish Independent journalist

As examples of plagiarism are mounting against newspapers in the group, Independent News & Media seem to be unable to keep their hands off the copy and paste function of their PCs.

€90,000 awared over phone tap article

Damages of €90,000 have been awarded against Associated Newspapers Ireland after a woman sued the newspaper publisher for using unlawfully tapped phone conversations in articles.

The court ruled the articles which appeared in Ireland on Sunday (now the Irish Mail on Sunday) were a breach of her constitutional right to privacy.

MORE: Woman awarded €90,000 over phone-tap articles

Dublin Community TV on air tomorrow

Dublin Community Television, which is decribed as "Ireland's first democratically-run, advert-free" TV channel is to launch and officially switch on at 1pm tomorrow, Wenesday July 16, at the New Theatre Temple Bar.

It will be available -- as it has been on a pilot basis since September -- on the Chorus ntl digital cable network on Channel 802. Here's the press release from their website:

Irish Times free online from Monday

The Irish Times is set to be free on the internet from Monday. The move is part of a relaunch which will see the company use the name and address IrishTimes.com as the central online brand for the newspaper.

Blogging: some ethical issues?

'Blogging: some ethical issues' is to be the possibility controversy topic of the last Cleraun media forum before the autumn.

It takes place this Monday, May 19 at 8pm, and all are welcome.It'll be chaired by Tony Allwright, an engineer and occasional columnist with the Irish Times, who blogs on international and national issues at www.tallrite.com/blog.htm.

Meanwhile, the 12th Cleraun Media Conference will take place on Saturday and Sunday October 18 – 19, 2008. More details are due closer to the event.

For more see cleraun.com.

Irish Times asks property agents to stop supplying false information

The mess that is the relationship between the property sector and the Irish media twists again, from the Sunday Business Post... 

Estate agents in Dublin have been accused of providing misleading sales figures to national newspapers.

The suggestion that agents were exaggerating the prices at which properties had sold, in an attempt to manipulate the market, prompted the property editor of The Irish Times to write to agents claiming that the unfair practice was compromising the newspaper.

It was a cover story on the Sunday Business Post yesterday. But, as Richard Delevan points out, the Irish Times really had nothing to say about it...

The Irish Times property editor, Orna Mulcahy, wrote a letter to Ireland’s estate agents, calling them out for attempting to manipulate the market by exaggerating (translation: lying) about the sale prices of houses bought by private treaty. Massive story. The Sunday Business Post — no stranger to property advertising — runs a big piece on it. It’s a major story on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.

So this morning we searched for the Irish Times‘ own version of the story. None can be found...

Although, we would echo Delevan and say fair play to both the Times' property editor and the Post.

Student media awards 2008 winners

UPDATE: The winners for 2009 3 Student Media Awards, Smedias, are now here.

The Irish student media awards, the Three Smedias, were held in Tripod last night, bellow are the all the winners (in bold and orange) followed by the other nominees...

Solicitors of Taoiseach and Fianna Fail claim to be libelled by internet posting

- Firm say they are not acting on any clients’ behalf
- Solicitors ask for the “name and address” of users
- Politics website transfers to US servers after claim

Frank Ward & Co, solicitors for Taoiseach and the Fianna Fail, have had comments removed from an Irish politics website after claiming them to be libellous to the firm.   

The offending posting on Politics.ie referred to the handling by Frank Ward & Co of their former client Grainne Carruth around the time she was giving submissions to the Mahon Tribunal. Carruth, who is Bertie Ahern's former secretary, changed solicitors between different dealing she has had with the tribunal.

Irish Times' €5m revamp out Monday

Cover price to go up from €1.70 to €1.80 weekdays, and €2 on Saturdays

The Irish Times is due to start rolling out an extensive revamp tomorrow, but the move appears to be far short of a total redesign.

It will include a brush-up of the main section of the newspaper, an extra daily comment page, new supplements, and a redesign of current supplements. Extra pull-outs include a travel section and a weekly pictures supplement.

According to the Sunday Business Post, the makeover will cost €5 million. Readers will be asked to cough up an extra 10c on weekdays and 20c on Saturdays.

The revamp was handled by the Scottish newspaper design firm Palmer Watson. They have recently worked with the Irish Times on a redesign of the Ticket entertainment supplement and the design of the paper's Innovation monthly business magizine. 

With Irish newspaper, Palmer Watson have previously introduced a complete redesign of the Sunday Independent, worked on a relaunch of Galway City Tribune, on the now ill-fated Dublin Daily, and also with the Irish Independent injecting more colour into the paper.

Gazette Group expanding to eight titles

From the Gazette Group's website:

"Our Dun Laoghaire Gazette was launched in December 2007, and GGN will be unveiling three additional new Gazette titles in suburban Dublin over the next four months, which means that there will be eight Gazette titles serving the fastest-growing communities in Ireland."