Blurred Keys

Irish media news round-up (03/09/2008)

A round-up of news, comment and other info from news sites blogs, and message boards etc...

'Irish Times' readership up 1,000 a day, JNRS shows
State of our union as Village magazine closes
Minister criticises media's coverage of parole decisions
Big increase in newspaper recycling
Irish media now more Eurosceptic, warns EC report
Changing media landscape in Ireland between 2002-2008 and its implications for public opinion about the EU (PDF)
Celtic Media goes freesheet as local newspapers slump
Job cuts loom at regional paper
Star on the rise but ‘market in for tough time’ 
TV3 to invest €10m in Irish-made programmes 
Media world: Silly season’s order of merit 
Taoiseach to scrap his 'Big Brother' media monitoring unit
INM show of strength
Video Content On Irish Media Websites

'State' music magazine to go free

Following rumours of closure and then a very strange statement, the high quality Irish music magazine is to drop its cover price.

And you apparently don't have to worry if your outside large distribution areas, State will post the magazine to you for "no more than the real price of postage and packing".

As Jim Carroll points out: "Oh and that line about 'the first Quality National Music Monthly available completely free of charge'? Surely, the lads and lasses at State also read Analogue magazine which happens to be a quality national music monthly available completely free of charge?"

Here's the press release...

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.

Biffo "unlikely to cause widespread offence”

The Broadcasting Complaints Commission has said 'Biffo', the nick name for the Taoiseach Brian Cowen, does not insult him and was "highly unlikely to cause widespread offence”.

Complainant, Charlie McGrory, objected on the grounds of fairness, objectivity and impartiality, and taste and decency, after presenter of RTE Radio 1 News at One, Sean O’Rourke (pictured), said "did Biffo blink?".

According to the BCI: "McGrory states he is not a Fianna Fáil member or activist but finds this reference to the office of Taoiseach disrespectful, lacking objectivity and in poor taste.  He wonders how we can encourage our young people to become active in politics when the national broadcaster refers to the Taoiseach as ‘Biffo’"

The acronym, depending on your point of view, can mean 'Big Intelligent Fellow From Offaly' or 'Big Ignorant Fucker From Offaly'. RTE said it "has as much to do with a boy’s comic character from the 1950’s as it has to do with any reference to people from County Offaly. Indeed, the term has been used by Mr Cowen himself in a humorous context".

The broadcaster added that, generally speaking, it does not and will not use the term ‘Biffo’ when referring to the Taoiseach and this was used as a 'headline' to attract listeners to stayed tuned in before an ad break.

MORE: Decision in full (MS Word doc)
MORE: List of decisions of July 2008

Irish media news round-up (July/August)

A round-up of news, comment and other info from news sites blogs, and message boards etc...

Cardinal challenges the media's 'dominant' secular view
Sunday World top of the pops as it avoids musical marketing
Ireland's papers defy downward trends
JNLR July 07-June 08 Survey results issued (PDF)
ABC IofI report (PDF, link replaced when new report released)
Tom Dunne to Newstalk
Today FM to preserve Pet Sounds
Ray of sunshine
Muzu makes music pa
Media world: Too Late Late for Pat Kenny?
RTE promises 'spectacular' first Late Late Show despite Kenny's delay in signing up
Lung cancer under reported in Irish media - report
Sunday Times to launch monthly Irish edition of Style magazine
South Ossetian man angered by Irish media coverage
MediaBite Email Re: The €11m 'gas bill'
Media ought to beware groups bearing surveys
Belfast Telegraph relaunched website sees huge traffic spike
Myers and Nigerians
RTE Television unveils new season
Sponsors fail to check in to Failte Towers
The Big Switch over
BCI National Conference Asks ‘Does the Medium Matter?’
O'Brien group told January DTT launch is a 'fantasy'
Digital terrestrial TV available from autumn next year
Adverts rate alert for Channel 6
TV3 to buy Channel 6 for €10m
Is RTE Radio 1 being dumbed down?
Mandy and the Irish Media

What would it mean for court reporting if...

At the end of a blog post, 'Privacy 3 - 0 Press', cearta.ie writes:

"Finally, eagle-eyed readers might have noticed that the sources linked for the two Irish cases are media reports, while the source linked for the English case is the text of the judgment itself on Bailii. If English judges and the courts’ administration can ensure the rapid electronic publication of judgments, why oh why oh why oh why can Irish judges and the Courts’ Service not be able to do the same?"

Our first thoughts are: it may not be positive. Less journalists being sent to the courts or less newspapers willing to pay for court agency copy?... but such isn't too likely as there is a reliance, at least in the daily  or breaking news cycles, for a number of articles/reports on many cases. And the judgements would not provide for this.

On the positive front, wouldn't it allow journalists greater/quicker access to more case judgements, many of which would otherwise go unreported?

Georgia or Georgia?

A boards.ie user spotted the above story this morning on RTE.ie News where a map outline of the US state of Georgia was being used on a story about the country of the same name.

Regular Blurred Keys users will be aware of some their past errors and tabloidisation, regular readers of RTE.ie are probably even more aware of such. The online news section should not to be confused with the general RTE News, which is a different operation.

Newstalk's student documentary competition - entry closes Thursday

Bit late with this one... Entry to Newstalk's Emerging Voices Student Documentary Competition closes this Thursday. And this is what it's all about:

"The judges will be looking for work that is original, relevant and produced to a high standard. The winning entry will be broadcast on the station, the winner will receive a placement at Newstalk and a cash prize of €500".

For more see newstalk.ie.

€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

Hyping the ordinary into the extraordinary

Fintan O'Toole in the Irish Times today talks about "the hyping-up of the ordinary into the extraordinary". In the article he mentions journalism's part in the in the hyperbole...   

Journalism, of course, has a lot to do with all of this. The tabloid thesaurus in which every murderer is a monster, every rapist a beast and every piece of celebrity tittle-tattle a sensation, is becoming the vocabulary of the mainstream media too.

Of course, tabloids are not the only culprits by any means. For one local newepaper we read, an aim to cut road deaths is hyped to "frightening number of deaths", and new trains which don't have reclining chairs, don't have a first class carriages, and don't currently have any dining carriages, some-how are “luxurious” trains. We're surprised when there isn't superfluous words in their news.

I've heard excuses along the lines of it makes content more interisting, but nonsense hyperbole slowly chips away at people's fate in journalism. Is saying this hyperbolic in its self? No, because what are too often brushed away as just a little mistake and, in this case, just a little bit of hype is exactly what erodes the public's confidence in journalism.