Out-greening Sinn Fein…?
THE SDLP *really* need to sort out their website’s new colour scheme! Let’s pray it’s still ‘under construction’. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
Media
Slackjaw joins the fray..!
SLUGGER contributor slackjaw has caught the blogging bug and started his own website. It’s not everyone that can fit the Pope, porn, the Sunday Times and S&M into the same post, but Hugh Green means it… most sincerely, folks. Some nice anedotes too, so click onThis entry also made me laugh: I was 3 in 1979. My only memory of PJP2 coming to Ireland was of me falling down the stairs. I have no idea what proportion of Ireland’s working …
I’m a lady, you know…
READ Lady Sylvia Hermon’s rivetting election diary in the Sunday Times. I’ll set the tone: “Day One: Dogs’ haircut today”. No it’s not April 1 and you haven’t clicked on the Sue Denham column – who takes a poke at some election posters (see below) today. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
Slugger on Radio Ulster?
I’ll be on the Seven Days programme on Radio Ulster in a few hours as part of its weekly round table look ahead at the election. Unfortunately the programme is not available on playback, but you can catch it live on the internet here between one o’clock to two today. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking …
Live blogging from Rome!
Slugger’s not the one doing live blogging. Richard Delevan has spotted Eammon FitzGerald’s despatches live from the Vatican. He’s also kindly carrying the first off site blog ad for the Slugger appeal. If you’d like to carry one too, then drop me an email and I can send you the code! Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and …
Your views on Daily View…
DAILY View went on sale for the first time today, meaning there could now be five compact daily local newspapers on your newsagent’s crowded shelf every morning. DV doesn’t appear to have a website, but what did those who bought it think? With its emphasis on lifestyle issues and ‘bread and butter’ politics, as opposed to the orange and green type, it’s maybe not the average Sluggerette’s first read. But you are welcome to differ! Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
Big blogging on the Big Bite!
Interesting discussion with a few bloggers I’ve been wanting to meet for some time at RTE this morning. RTE’s Big Bite programme goes live tomorrow about 2.25pm and features a lively discussion between Caoimhe Burke, Gavin Sheridan, John Ihle, Richard Delevan and Sue, (who is currently worried about a haunting in her house). Oh, and yours truly. It was an interesting variety of bloggers. Fair play to David McWilliams, who seems to be ahead of the curve in recognising the …
The fools, the fools…
RIGHT, who’s spotted any April Fool jokes in the media today? List your links below! Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com
Zoe’s got the blues again…
POOR Zoe Salmon can’t win. First she gets accused of using loyalist symbols on children’s TV show ‘Blue Peter’, now she’s at the centre of a discrimination controversy because she’s someone “of a Celtic origin”!Retired teacher Dorian Wood has complained to the Commission for Racial Equality that the BBC was guilty of racial discrimination because it advertised for a presenter (although Blue Peter wasn’t mentioned in the advertising) only in Scottish and Northern Ireland newspapers. “They specifically set out to …
Blogging on radio and television
The BBC sends Kenan Malik in to discover what effect blogs are likely to have on politics in the UK. The Radio Four Quiz is also about blogging. And we hear that The Big Bite on RTE 1 will be looking at the phenomenon in an Irish context next week. Keep an eye out for Slugger! Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and …
SF’s O Caolain “guaranteed return” on investment in paper
A very interesting report in the Irish Independent. It seems that the Sinn Féin leader in the Dáil, TD Caoimhghin O Caolain canvassed investors for ‘Daily Ireland’ – the “not a Sinn Fein paper or a mouthpiece for any political party”, according to publisher and former SF councillor Mairtin O Muilleoir. However, The Irish Independent quotes from the letter, “written on Dail notepaper and personally signed ‘Caoimhghin O Caolain, Sinn Fein Dail Leader’”.. A letter that, the report points out, …
Patience and the long distance blogger
Thanks to Frank, his kindly words and a short explanation of how he deals with sockpuppets. Hat tip Maca! Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
Cutting Fortnight: a flight from political argument?
Henry McDonald broke the news on Sunday that Fortnight magazine is getting squeezed simultaneously by two separate funding organisations, the Arts Council and the Community Relations Council. Fortnight has been around almost as long as the troubles themselves. Even in the darkest periods it has often been the only sane place were public enemy could converse intelligently and take soundings when there seemed little possibility of finding a lasting solution to Northern Ireland’s apparently intractible problems. Now, the loss of …
Thanks to..
The Sunday Tribune, who published a nice little piece about us today. I’ve typed it out in full for those of you that are interested..”Slugger O’Toole has far and away the most wide-ranging coverage of Northern Ireland, and has tracked the follow-up from last week, including the backlash from the McCartney family, with a decent respect for both sides. For sheer entertainment value, however, just pick one of the postings with the maximum number of comments. But the most passionate …
A simple story horribly mangled
Elis O’Hanlon has an axe grind with people in the media who insist on complication of a narrative that is hard to justify from a simple reading of the facts. Instead she invokes Occum’s razor (a powerful root of the modern scientific method) to great effect in today’s Sunday Independent. Or as Einstein might have put it: make everything as simple as possible: but not simpler: The story is simple: the unimaginably brutal murder of their brother in a Belfast …
Irish blog aggregator…
Interesting new project just in beta test at the moment. But it gives you a decent selection of Irish blogs to read every day. Particularly good if you’re keen to see what’s happening well off the NI political beat! Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
If in doubt, just *&%$*@* Google it!
Ahem. Not sure I should be posting this. But you may wish to point anyone who prefers to ask you questions rather than answer their own in this general direction. I won’t say how I found it myself! Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
BBC NI to take large job cuts
Ninety eight people are to have their jobs cut in BBC NI. The plan is to use the cash saved to invest in new regional programmes. Overall the BBC cuts will include “420 in news, 66 in sport, 150 in drama, entertainment and children’s programmes, 735 in the regions, 58 in new media and 424 in factual and learning”. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the …
Blogs as Tamagotchi!
I met fellow blogger Suw Charman for coffee last week. We thrashed through some possibilities for working together, even though our blogging interests don’t overlap in the least. But she knows her stuff – especially when it comes to blogging and business. I especially liked her blogs as Tamagotchi post from last summer. It will resonate with those of you who’ve made the leap into blogging yourselves! Watch this space for further developments. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. …
Mo’ bloggin’ linkin’
Thanks to UK Polling Report for linking to several of our discussions of the Millward Brown poll from last week. Thanks also to Bizblogger and Sheila O’Malley And welcome another blogger, One Angry (Ulster) Man. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty