Media

Is how its founder, Jimmy Wales, describes it “a free online encyclopedia that anyone can contribute to and anyone can edit” otherwise known as Wikipedia. The Guardian has a great article on “one of the internet’s most inspiring success stories”.Controversial, over-ambitious and to its fans “a fantastic research source – albeit one that you should use with caution”, the English language version of Wikipedia has over 360,000 entries and is growing every day, yet has cost only £300,000. Currently the …

Read more…

An Irish Examiner report carries what appear to be contradictory briefings by the Irish Government yesterday.We have Taoiseach Bertie Ahern claiming that “he had not been aware that Dermot Ahern was giving last week’s interview and stressed he would have answered the question differently” while, at the same time, the Examiner reports that “The comments last week by the Minister for Foreign Affairs were this weekend described by reliable sources [also reported in the Sunday Independent] as part of an …

Read more…

THE rather less than impressive former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland, Richard Egan, has warned Irish America magazine that they had better “think twice” before daring to comment on the 2004 presidential election. Ohhh… scary(!) The Irish Echo also copped flak from Egan – one of Bush’s biggest financial donors – when it published a story on Karl Rove’s comparison of Al Qaeda to the IRA. One almost wonders what appointment Mr Egan would prefer after this election. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com

An Observer report states that “It is understood senior executives at the Irish News lodged legal papers last week to challenge the British government’s willingness to help fund a rival” – funding which has risen to over £1million since 1999 after “the British Government’s decision to give an extra £450,000 of taxpayers’ money to a west Belfast-based private newspaper group [which, it is claimed,] was linked to talks between Sinn Fein and senior Downing Street negotiators.”The Observer also says, “The …

Read more…

THE Spectator is currently trying to put distance between itself and the current leader column, which says some rather unpleasant things about Liverpool in its assessment of the city’s reponse to the Bigley murder in Iraq. No-one has admitted to writing it yet, but it has the tone of a certain Mark Steyn, and has a few stylistic similarities to the column the Daily Telegraph refused to publish the other day, which Slugger linked to.An extract from the Leader column …

Read more…

Unlike some blogs, here at Slugger we have always tried to be more constructively critical of the ‘old media’. So we welcome the employees of those better funded organisations who stop by for tips or who pick out succinct turns of phrase such as, for example, “the dullest game of chicken in political history”. But next time, how about a mention of where you got the phrase from? Eh, Mr Thompson? Pete Baker

MY sympathy to the staff at Press Association in Belfast, who lost their offices to a major blaze last night. They’re still managing to turn out the copy, but this must be a serious blow for Deric Henderson and the hard working PA team, which has some of the best journalists in Ireland in my humble opinion… Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com

This opinion piece by Terry Prone, from the Irish Examiner last week, strikes a timely and appropriate note on the culpability of the modern mass media in its own manipulation (viewers and readers don’t get away scot free either). Pete Baker

The Guardian Online has been running an excellent series of articles on the increasingly varied nature of blogs. Today it’s anonymous job-related blogs – Spilling the beans. Jim McClellan talks to some anonymous bloggers and highlights the inherent restrictions of anonymity as well as the dangers of believing everything you read, or write, online. Pete Baker

Irish language TV station TG4 is preparing to broadcast officially from Northern Ireland, according to industry sources quoted in the Tele.Ben Lowry writes: Don Anderson, a media consultant, predicted that some unionists may welcome the development. “Although immediately this will please the Irish language lobby, it could also be an opportunity for Ulster Scots as well,” Mr Anderson said. “TG4 have told me that if it got a reasonable signal in Northern Ireland, they would be quite happy to do …

Read more…

I was flicking through the new data Alexa has made available. It’s comparative scoring between Slugger and NI news sites makes for interesting reading. It should, however, be treated with an extra large dose of salts, being built from data received from those rare souls who still have the Alexa tool bar.Against the Irish News we are roughly pegging on reach, comfortably ahead on rank, and not so far on page views. However, this is not surprising as it might …

Read more…

Ruth Dudley Edwards rather neatly put a certain poster in his place in yesterday’s Sunday Independent.While mentioning that she was attacked on Slugger, she scornfully brushed aside her attacker, denying him the kudos of a mention by name. You may feel that you have been labelled a “class enemy” Ruth, but at least, as plenty of us in Ireland acknowledge, you have got some class. Ambrose Uprichard

THE BBC has reportedly dropped plans for ‘Popetown’ – a comedy set in a fictional Vatican – because of fears that Catholics will be offended. I wonder if it came anywhere near as sacrilegious as the excellent ‘Father Ted’, which was rejected by RTE before Channel 4 broadcast this cult classic. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com

READING the News Letter this morning, I was surprised to see an article (not online, as usual) in which Sinn Fein MP for West Tyrone Pat Doherty was quoted as saying: “Sinn Fein will not countenance changes to the Agreement.” I was taken aback, as this would have blown apart my analysis the other day, which argued that SF were less likely to die in a ditch over every jot and tittle in the Agreement, whereas the SDLP had simply …

Read more…

Glenn Reynolds, of the US political blog Instapundit.com, is now moonlighting as a columnist at Guardian Unlimited – seemingly for the duration of the US Presidential campaign. How does he find time to be a law professor as well? Pete Baker

Tuesday, 28th September, was the third anniversary of the murder of Martin O’Hagan, the Sunday World journalist and father of three who was shot yards from his Lurgan home by gunmen in a passing car. The Guardian Media section has a report on the NUJ’s concern at the failure of the authorities to bring those responsible to justice. Pete Baker

Stewart Purvis, former Chief Executive at ITN in today’s FT (subs needed) says that mainstream journalism is being undermined by what he calls nearly journalists like Michael Moore, Morgan Spurlock and various playwrights.He asks: “Where is the value-add in ‘real’ journalism as opposed to ‘nearly’ journalism? This is a commerical question as much as a cultural one. If a key part of the brand and raison d’etre of news porviders is not quality, then what distinguishes them from the other …

Read more…

For those of you visiting Slugger for the first time, commenting on any of the stories here is now a very straightforward process. Fill in your name and details. Then just below the notice: “Enter the security code as displayed below”, you’ll see a five digit number. Just copy it in the field below, and you can post on Slugger. Thanks to the Dacha the Frogman at the Big Blog Company for the system (and plumbing it in)! Mick FealtyMick …

Read more…

Ian McCartney is the first front bencher to make it to the blogosphere. There seems to be plenty of output from the man himself during the Labour Party conference. But it will be interesting to see if he can sustain it through when the rigours of the day job are more demanding. 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 …

Read more…