Media

An interesting editorial in Bertie’s favourite paper, that’s the Irish Times again, states that the ‘old game’ is already over – Day of the IRA shadow has ended – a little premature, perhaps, but it’s their strongest line yet.The editorial leaves litle doubt as to the Irish Government’s message to Sinn Féin – Tough talking took place at Government Buildings yesterday when Mr Gerry Adams was advised that the continuing existence and criminal activities of the Provisional IRA had become …

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The controversy over the Blue Peter Red Hand controversy rumbles on as Unionists were reported as pushing for a meeting with Blue Peter bosses. East Belfast MLA Michael Copeland was quoted as saying it was “political correctness gone mad”. Well, I suppose someone had to! 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 …

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The Irish Times has more figures from its poll.. and has decided to highlight that 62% of those surveyed support Taioseach Bertie Ahern’s reluctant assessment that he should continue to talk to Sinn Féin. Further down the article, though, is a more significant figure – less than half of those surveyed, just 46%, said they believe that Sinn Féin “is committed to working towards the ending of all paramilitary violence and criminal activity” – That’s a pretty fundamental question for …

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Daithí, over at the Gaelic Starover Blog with another tale of woe form Children’s Television! 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

Blue Peter‘s in hot water! Apparently their presenter Zoe Salmon got them into a right old tangle when she innocently suggested that the Red Hand of Ulster would make a good design for a model aeroplane. End of story? Oh, no! In fact, this one line was sooo provocative that no less than a professor of sociology from Strathclyde University complained in the strongest of terms!Since then it seems a letter of apology (Media Lens has a copy of the …

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I’ve been unpdating the blogroll down at of the right hand margin. On of the most enjoyable newcomers is Richard Develan, who’s been keeping a close eye on the bank raid fall out. In one of his more recent posts, he quotes Jim Cusick on the David McWilliams show saying he believes Ahern will let Sinn Fein off the hook on the bank raid. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the …

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Paul Colgan, gets to work with the sow’s ear he’s been given and stitches something together in the Irish Echo. With “Republican sources” and plenty of ‘ifs’, it’s at least an ambitious crease, “the Sinn Fein leadership, in having to deflect as yet unproven allegations, has firmly set down a marker for future IRA behavior that can only be welcomed.” – That’ll be another of those “unsubstantiated allegations about Republicans” that Martin McGuinness was complaining about then. Pete Baker

Looks like there was an excellent event at Demos last night with a panel discussion John Lloyd’s increasingly influential thesis on What the media is doing to our politics.My own review of the book was published last October: John Lloyd, editor of the Financial Times Magazine has recently published a refreshing and revealing analysis of the nature of the media and its on-going power relationship with politicians. The main argument hangs around the politics of perhaps the frostiest moment in …

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THE Kevin Myers saga continues, with some undisguised criticism of his own newspaper’s uncritical attitude towards the peace process. He also raises questions about the media’s role in not rocking the Agreement boat.Myers writes: No political project in my lifetime has received such continuous and unquestioning endorsement from the media as has the peace process. The former editor of this newspaper, Conor Brady, actually declared that the editorial support which he had given the peace process was the aspect of …

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A good performance, from BBC Foyle, by a relaxed Martin McGuinness who easily avoided traps set by David Frost. Frost started with an introduction – Bertie Ahern, who is neither British nor Unionist and as such is neutral, says it was the IRA – obviously aimed at a GB audience and when this failed to ruffle Mr McGuinness asked him would he encourage people to contact the police with any information that would help solve the case.A useful, and less …

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The Spectator on that Myers story again:“A single act of censorship by a newspaper against its columnist may not seem a very heinous crime, even when what that columnist wrote turns out to be true. But the Irish Times is in a way representative of most of the Irish and British media. The paper will not — or, at any rate, did not — publish a word that might threaten the notion that the peace process is a rip-roaring success. …

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If there’s any truth in it, this story represents a shockingly lax approach to fact checking. The writer claims to have fabricated most of a story, which was picked up on one of the Sunday tabloids last week. We can’t vouch for the veracity of the account, not having seen a copy of the paper concerned, but if it proves true…. Hat tip to Mark! Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of …

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If you are blogging at work be careful. Even apparently liberal employers like Waterstones are likely to take exception to what you write. So the blogger who coined the terms Bastardstones and Evil Boss discovered when he lost his job there! 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

Have you ever wondered where the ideas for editorials come from? This leader in the Derry Journal, which gave rise to a longish conversation on Slugger, came from an unpublished piece by Sean Farren, the former minister of finance.Here’s Sean’s original piece: “If the North’s economy is to prosper it will best do so in an all-island context and not as it is being dealt with at present as an entity on its own. On its own the North will …

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Excellent quotation from Thomas Hobbes on the vice of the public (as opposed to monarchist) state from Chris Bertram, who sees some scary parallels with blogging discourses: To see his opinion whom we scorne, preferr’d before ours; to have our wisedome undervalued before our own faces; by an uncertain tryall of a little vaine glory, to undergoe most certaine enmities (for this cannot be avoided, whether we have the better, or the worse); to hate, and to be hated, by …

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It looks like Andrew McCann’s been caught barking up the wrong (academic) tree! Fair play to him for keeping all the responses up there though (including the damning one from the academic concerned!). Adds: That’s nothing compared to the story about the sound engineer at Radio Dijla, in Baghdad who left the phone presenter talking with one caller, whilst he went onto the roof with his gun to return hostile fire! Update: Andrew apologises and issues challenge to Johann Hari. …

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Two stories in the Obsever with differing views on the utility/desireablity of on-line self publishing. John Naughton on how the Wikipedia is already leaving the Encyclopedia standing, and Peter Preston on how bloggers can clog up big media and manipulate news coverage (scroll down). 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 …

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That previously spiked Irish Times column from Kevin Myers, re-printed in the Daily Telegraph. Would you have pulled it? Hat-tip to George! 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

The Sunday Independent again. The paper has been making a certain amount of hay at the expense of the Irish Times, and it’s spiking of Kevin Myers’ column two weeks ago, which accused the IRA of being responsible for the Northern Bank raid. 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. …

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