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National - Event Notice
Thursday January 01 1970

The Irish Times: Past and Present

category national | history and heritage | event notice author Friday April 11, 2008 21:18author by IPR Group Report this post to the editors

Book Launch, Friday 18th April 2008, 7.30 p.m., Liberty Hall, Dublin. Author: JOHN MARTIN

Main speaker: Conor Lenihan T.D., Minister for Integration

“…a very fine journalist, an excellent man, but on Northern questions a renegade or white nigger”
Those were the words from a conversation with the British Ambassador to Ireland at a lunch meeting in 1969, which he duly reported without delay to his masters at the British Foreign Office. But who said them and to whom did they refer?

The author lays bare the power structure of the newspaper which insists on transparency and openness for all other institutions in Irish life, but draws a discreet veil over its own activities. The Directors of the Irish Times, along with the Editor, have to swear an Oath of Secrecy before a Commissioner for Oaths each year. This book is essential for understanding one of the most important institutions in Irish life and therefore the dynamics of Irish society itself.

This book is a comprehensive review of the history of The Irish Times since its foundation in 1859, drawing on archival records, interviews and other primary sources – including the British Public Record Office. It covers the early development of the newspaper as the organ of Anglo-Ireland, and examines the positions it adopted throughout the turbulent century and a half that followed.

It reveals for the first time the strange legal and financial structures of the newspaper and examines conflicts involving some of its leading personalities.

The recent dramatic resignation of Bertie Ahern makes an analysis of the role of The Irish Times in the democratic life of the country all the more opportune. The newspaper which has insisted on openness and transparency for everyone else appears to keep a discreet veil over its own activities.

Who, for example, is Major McDowell, the former British Army intelligence officer who was Chief Executive of the newspaper from 1963 to 1997 and chairman of The Irish Times Trust from its foundation in 1974 to 2001? Why was he accorded extraordinary powers within the Irish Times Group? Why are the board of Directors required to swear an oath of secrecy? Why did McDowell contact Downing Street in 1969 with the outbreak of war in Northern Ireland?

The resignation of Ahern is only the latest coup inflicted by the newspaper on democratically elected Irish leaders. Ahern was prevented from succeeding Albert Reynolds in 1994. As far back as 1927 The Irish Times played a role in the collapse of a prospective Labour Party/Fianna Fail/National League coalition when its future editor R.M. Smyllie got a National League Deputy, John Jinks, drunk.

For many concerned at the apparently unchallengeable position of The Irish Times in political life, this book will provide a democratic riposte.

PDF Document The Irish Times: Past and Present 0.49 Mb


author by satyrpublication date Fri Apr 11, 2008 23:35author address author phone Report this post to the editors

That's Conor "Kebabs" Lenihan, in case you were wondering.

author by Bronterre O'Brienpublication date Sat Apr 12, 2008 03:14author address author phone Report this post to the editors

The IPR, along with Eoghan Harris, is blaming the media for Ahern's resignation. This is the old 'blame-the-messenger' ploy. It won't work: Ahern was forced to resign because he received large sums of money from 'developers' and then lied about it under oath.

"We don’t know, and may never know, what words passed between Ahern and his benefactors as they handed over the money he was later to commit perjury about. What we can say is that there’s a connection which only fools would miss between taking large sums of money from property developers and big businessmen and then enacting policies which serve the interests of property developers and big businessmen.

Economics apart, Ahern has facilitated a million US troops passing through Shannon en route to the oil war which has claimed as many as a million Iraqi lives. He leaves office with their blood on his hands. He has refused to acknowledge, much less take action against, CIA ‘planes carrying kidnap victims to torture sites landing in the Republic."-Eamonn McCann
http://www.sundayjournal.ie/eamonn-mccann/The-most-ruth...18.jp

Its time to examine the regressive political activity of the Aubane Historical Society.

author by media consumerpublication date Sat Apr 12, 2008 07:50author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Anybody with misgivings about the IPR and the Aubane Society can analyse it to their heart's content and publish articles, maybe even a book. Now however, the aubaners have published a detailed historical study of the "liberal" IT. Look, I was raised since my teens on the myth that the IT was the only decent paper on this island. That it was the reliable paper of record. That its writers were the best practiioners of the queen's English. That the paper stood up for the underdog. That it put thought before sensation. That it sought to promote progress. That its lively Letters page was a paragon of open debate unrivalled by any other paper. That its ownership through a legally constituted Trust guaranteed reportorial impartiality and political independence.

Some of these youthful inculcated tenets survive while a few others have suffered a loss of faith.

I look forward to reading this book, and hope its findings and opinions will receive diverse scrutiny on indymedia as well as across the commercial media. I think it is good for citizens to study the Irish media and to publish their observations. The media have a powerful influence on how we think, react and act or fail to act. The mass media drive our cultural lives.

author by Googly eyespublication date Sat Apr 12, 2008 13:57author address author phone Report this post to the editors

I googled the IPR and am wondering, what if anything Conor Lenihan and Ger Kennedy
have got to do with Plasma research?

What on God's Earth is the IPR?
Why is the Aubane Historical Society scary? (They have not updated their site since 2006)

+ finally why does everyone on the newswire assume (wrongly) that everyone else
is au fait with the intricacies of the Press in ireland.

And when will someone apply these lattitudes to the current editorial of this freepress.
which has nothings got to do with IMC (at all)

author by Wespublication date Sat Apr 12, 2008 22:35author address author phone Report this post to the editors

This link will give you some gen on IPR

http://www.atholbooks.org/review/ipr_articles.php

author by Questionpublication date Sun Apr 13, 2008 16:21author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Is the author John Martin of the IRSP Ard-Comhairle by any chance?

author by Captain White - The Captains Without the Kingspublication date Sun Apr 13, 2008 20:53author address author phone Report this post to the editors

"There is Difficulty Lower Down Whereby Sometimes Unauthorised Items Appear"
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/64231

'The Fourth Man' or 'Who Else Was in the Queue in Kew?'
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/64944

The above articles (exclusive to Indymedia) should whet appetites for any new stuff discovered by John Martin.

That's Douglas Gageby in the photo, the Protestant editor the Protestant proprietor thought had betrayed his caste [click to read]
That's Douglas Gageby in the photo, the Protestant editor the Protestant proprietor thought had betrayed his caste [click to read]

author by Starkadderpublication date Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:43author address author phone Report this post to the editors

In 1985, Athol Books in conjunction with "Church & state" magazine published Angela
Clifford's book “ The Constitutional History of
Eire/Ireland”. Page 184's quotes are quite revealing. Discussing the
IT in the 1950s:

“In those days the “Irish Times” kept up a
liberal criticism of the Catholic State. Since the appointment of
Douglas Gageby as editor it has been motivated chiefly by
a detestation of Ulster Unionism, and has been anxious to explain
away the Catholic State in order not to be saying the same thing
as the Unionists.”

The introduction to the book thanks Brendan Clifford,
JOHN MARTIN and David Morrison for helping her with
the book.Obviously, none of them had a problem with
her comments on Gageby.

McDowell and Angela Clifford were both saying the same thing-
Douglas Gageby was a traitor because his paper published material
critical of the Ulster Unionists.

"Aubane is at war with Eurasia: Aubane has always been at
war with Eurasia".

author by Harold Wigwampublication date Tue Apr 15, 2008 13:35author address author phone Report this post to the editors

"McDowell and Angela Clifford were both saying the same thing"

It is as plain as the nose on your face that the views of the two people concerned are not the same thing, not even remotely.

It is a rather easy task to demolish an argument you wish your opponent had put. Fortunately, you have given us the benefit of Angela Clifford's view, and so have merely undermined your own preposterous position.

There is an interesting discussion to be had about the evolution of the views of those who used to constitute BICO, but this is not it. It is merely an attempt to divert attention away from the books being launched. If the fans of this great expose were really keen on the importance of their project, they would start a thread on the subject. They don't, because they are just juvenile gate crashers.

author by Starkadderpublication date Tue Apr 15, 2008 14:43author address author phone Report this post to the editors

“In those days the “Irish Times” kept up a
liberal criticism of the Catholic State. Since the appointment of
Douglas Gageby as editor it has been motivated chiefly by
a detestation of Ulster Unionism, and has been anxious to explain
away the Catholic State in order not to be saying the same thing
as the Unionists.”

Premise A: Angela Clifford states that since Douglas Gageby
became editor of the Irish Times, it has become hostile to
Ulster Unionism,and is trying to "explain away" the Catholic
state. Brendan Clifford, John Martin and David Morrison
have no objection to being credited on a book
viciously critical of Gageby and against Irish nationalism as
a whole.

Premise B: Major McDowell criticises Douglas Gageby
for his coverage of the Civil Rights Movement, which is
a threat to the Ulster Unionist dominated Stormont
government. He places himself fully in support of
the British government and against Irish nationalism.

Aubane's playground bully insults can't magic away
the fact they were on the same side as
Major McDowell.

Pope Benedict XVI claims infallibility on matters
of faith and morals. The Aubane/IPRG claims infallibility
on every single subject.

author by John Martin - Irish Political Reviewpublication date Tue Apr 15, 2008 15:40author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Those comments of Starkadder are infantile.

Major McDowell, Athol Books and anyone else are perfectly entitled to disagree with any aspect of Douglas Gageby’s politics. It doesn’t follow the people disagreeing share the same politics as each other. Nor does disagreeing with Gageby mean that the person with the disagreement regards Gageby as a traitor.

However in the case of Major McDowell, his disagreement led him to seek help from the British State.

His conversation with the British Ambassador (Sir Andrew Gilchrist) implies that because of Gageby’s Protestant background, McDowell felt that Gageby was not entitled to hold his views on Northern Ireland. According to Gilchrist, McDowell regarded Gageby as being a “renegade or white nigger” on Northern matters. McDowell was (per the British Ambassador), in effect saying that Gageby was betraying a “superior” ethnic group (Protestant unionists) for an “inferior” one (Catholic nationalists).

McDowell has denied that he used the term “white nigger” about anyone. But as Professor Ronan Fanning has said why would a British Ambassador lie about this to his own superiors. Also there is another document in the Public Records Office from a British Foreign office official who had a separate meeting with McDowell in November 1969. This official (Kelvin White) confirms in a letter to Sir Andrew Gilchrist the substance of McDowell’s views as expressed to the Ambassador at the “white nigger” meeting.

If Starkadder cannot distinguish between Athol Books’s disagreement and McDowell’s disagreement and how the latter prosecuted that disagreement, maybe he should go back to the playground.

author by Jimmy McNultypublication date Tue Apr 15, 2008 15:41author address author phone Report this post to the editors

There is an interesting thread on this, 'From Peking to Aubane' elsewhere on Indymedia.
The fact is that Clifford and co thought that they could carry off this huge scam by moving from being ultra-unionists to ultra-nationalists and were so clever that nobody would notice. But the Linenhall and the National Library are valuable resources and the volumes of BICO literature where they express utter contempt for Irish catholics and nationalists are there for all to see. What are they up to? Descrediting Irish nationalism even further?

author by Hiro Nakamurapublication date Tue Apr 15, 2008 16:17author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Those interested in the B&ICO's activities in the 1960-70s should consult
Sean Swan's book "Official Irish Republicanism, 1962 to 1972" or
Ian S. Wood's "Crimes of Loyalty". "Explaining Northern Ireland" by John McGarry and Brendan OLeary is also useful.

Would you buy a used ideology from these people?

author by Waste Paperpublication date Tue Apr 15, 2008 16:49author address author phone Report this post to the editors

And would you buy your daily news from the Irish Times?

author by Blogwearypublication date Tue Apr 15, 2008 23:54author address author phone Report this post to the editors

The Irish Times has generally been regarded as a features-intensive paper rather than a news-intensive one. The late Irish Press was chock-a-block with news, even if a lot of it dovetailed into the FF view of the Irish world.

author by Harold Wigwampublication date Wed Apr 16, 2008 00:02author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Mr/Ms Starkadder-McNulty-Nakamura,
Has a bee in his-her bonnet, which involves generating increasingly irate and inaccurate summaries of the arguments s/he dislikes. Instead of pointing to the url of the thread with the argument s/he wants to put, and departing bag and baggage, s/he is still hanging around spreading noise and disinformation. And, instead of giving us the benefit of his-her view of Gageby-McDowell, one of the subjects of the book, s/he gives us the benefit of spurious speculation around the subject. Noise and disinformation to befuddle the unwary.

author by Shakima 'Kima' Greggspublication date Wed Apr 16, 2008 12:32author address author phone Report this post to the editors

James, Jimmy McNulty isn't the same guy as Hiro Nakamura, for one thing he is a Baltomore cop and Hiro is a well...superhero. Fair play to them for exposing BICO though. Stalinists one day, Fianna Failers the next, UVF cheerleaders one day, provo cheerleaders the next, intellectual inspiration for Eoghan Harris one day, for Fr. brian Murphy the next. You have to say, they got some balls.

author by Daisy Daisypublication date Wed Apr 16, 2008 15:14author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Exposure? I thought the whole point is that they flaunt themselves openly unlike us timid pseudonymous types!

author by JEAN DUNNEpublication date Mon Apr 21, 2008 16:31author email jean at dunne355 dot fsnet dot co dot ukauthor address author phone Report this post to the editors

In 1962 I joined the Irish Times as a receptionist. At that time the IT advertised for staff with this addition 'Protestants only need apply' I was the first Catholic female to be employed in the 'office' . I worked on the photographic counter and also as secretary to Douglas Gageby and Art Editors George Leitch and Tony Gray.

Mr Leitch used to say he was visiting RAB when in fact he was crossing Fleet Street to the Pearl Bar, on the window of which was written BAR and read RAB from the inside. No females were allowed in the Pearl bar at that time.

Myles na Gopaleen used to come in in his black cloak and sweep past us mere minnions without as much as a 'good morning'.

author by John Martin - Irish Political Reviewpublication date Mon Apr 21, 2008 17:19author email john.martin.f at gmail dot comauthor address author phone Report this post to the editors

That’s very interesting, Jean. And 1962 was quite an eventful year. I think Douglas Gageby along with George Hetherington was the joint Managing Director in 1962. As far as I remember Alan Montgomery was the editor. In 1962 Hetherington left the newspaper and he was replaced by Major McDowell. So Major McDowell was the joint managing director along with Douglas Gageby.

I suspect that McDowell made his presence felt because within a year Alan Montgomery resigned as editor to take up a position as a PR man within the Guinness company. It was unheard of for an Irish Times editor to resign. Douglas Gageby replaced Montgomery as editor in 1963. I imagine morale was quite low in 1962 but as the 1960s progressed the newspaper went from strength to strength.

I didn’t really write much about Myles na Gopaleen in my book. From what I’ve read about him he probably was a bit self preoccupied. As someone once said about another great man:

“I take my hat off to the artist. But I put it back on for the man”.

author by Daisy Daisypublication date Mon Apr 21, 2008 19:17author address author phone Report this post to the editors

This sectarian bias could also explain the influx of left-wing journalists into the Irish Times during the 1960's and '70's. There was no longer a pool of Protestant reporters and writers sufficient for the needs of the paper as it grew. Rather than recruit Catholics it recruited the lapsed kind. Maybe, from the viewpoint of the Irish Times Trust, these people were like Lenin's "useful fools"?

author by Readerpublication date Tue Apr 22, 2008 00:15author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Don't be so glumfaced about Ireland's greatest comic writer, J. Martin & J. Dunne. Myles na gCopaleen in face-to-face encounters was a humdrum personality, but when he put pen to paper he deftly satirised the cultural bores of his time. He ran riot with hibernian English, his eccentric style gleaned from much spare time Gaelic erudition. Read the paperback anthology, The Best of Myles, for more chuckles than you'll get from pictures of the Chuckle Brothers, Ian & Martin.

author by Silent O'Moylepublication date Tue Apr 22, 2008 04:10author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Its a shame that the Irish Times could not have hired a Protestant 'satirist'.
They employed this O'Nolan fella and he a Catholic from the 6 counties to sneer and jeer at the Catholic Irish Nation.
Are we to believe that there was no Protestant who could have done the job just as well as O'Nolan?
Perhaps Mr. Martin would care to comment on this obvious case of discrimination against the Irish Catholic Nation.

author by John Martin - Irish Political Reviewpublication date Tue Apr 22, 2008 09:30author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Jean, are you sure you were not working for The Irish Times earlier than 1962?

You say that you were working for Arts Editors George Leitch and Tony Gray. However Tony Gray says in his book “Mr Smyllie, Sir” that he left The Irish Times in 1959.

author by Daisy Daisypublication date Tue Apr 22, 2008 12:14author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Perhaps Silent O'Moyle is being provocative. Definitely amusing! But regardless, there is a serious point there. In historic terms, merely sneering was one of the less antagonistic ways in which the Ascendancy or Anglo-Irish related to the natives. The forms in which the antagonism of the natives expressed itself is another question. Now that some degree of merger is accomplished, some residual, but recognisable, forms of these behaviours persist. But no longer really in Them and Us mode, more Us and Us, I think. I don't know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, but it is naive not to acknowledge it.

author by Renegade White Niggerpublication date Tue Apr 22, 2008 16:29author address author phone Report this post to the editors

I have lost count of the number of times that the FFers have spat out the "white nigger" phrase, and still see nothing more than an idiotic turn of phrase in an otherwise unremarkable communication. If this is all that the "historians" can unearth since the paper started in 1859, then it isn't much of an indictment of a bunch of protestant pragmatic unionists in an overtly Catholic state.

Irish print media is introspective, invective and shallow; it is conflicted by financial and personal interests; it is overly concerned by the feelings of media luvvies and politicos (the former over- and the latter under-represented in coverage). The Irish Times pushes a marginal first in a broadminded world view and diversity of independent opinion, although the current editrix has led the most poisonous and destructive administration in the paper's history. The Indo is close behind, but only through uncritical reprints from the London Times; it is far more cautious of proprietorial interests and has an anti-Sinn Fein / IRA bigotry worthy of the Black and Tans. There is no other print publication worth mentioning.

author by Arekpublication date Fri May 02, 2008 11:03author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Interesting article in the Phoenix on the book.

PDF Document phoenix.pdf 0.35 Mb


author by Corkmanpublication date Fri May 02, 2008 11:59author address author phone Report this post to the editors

There will probably be a more detailed review of the John Martin book in either
"History Ireland" or "Books Ireland".

Those with a serious interest in Irish newspaper history should read
the excellent "De Valera, Fianna Fail and the "Irish Press" by Mark O'Brien.

author by Justin Morahanpublication date Sat May 03, 2008 13:34author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Like "media consumer", I too used to have a high regard for the Irish Times although I never fell for the myth that it was the Paper of record. When the late Michael Mills began to write for the Irish Press, I regarded him as the fairest and most independent journalist in Ireland.

Thanks to "media consumer" for supplying a list above, so allowing me to question myself on them one by one vis-a-vis the present Irish Times.

1) Is the present Irish Times the reliable paper of record? No it is not, sadly. Today, there is an excess of "opinion writers" at the expense of true reporters. There has also been a particularly heavy influx of politicians among these "opinion writers", such that the pages inside often open with a dull thud.

2) Are the Irish Times writers the best practitioners of the Queen's English? I don't know about the Queen's, but to rephrase the question, The best writers of English? Again, not so today, sadly, with a few notable exceptions

3) Does the paper stand up for the underdog? Definitely No. See Indymedia Ireland link

4) Does it put thought before sensation? Mostly yes, but there is some slippage.

5} Does it seek to promote progress? Sadly No, more likely that it seeks to promote "progressive", that is a Progressive Democrat agenda

6) Letters page? Lively? Paragon of open debate? Definitely No. Quite the opposite. This is the biggest fall from grace of all on the part of the Irish Times.
There was a time when most people I knew bought the IT for the Letters Page.
But now, The Letters Page has shrunken beyond belief - for example, a mere nine letters in today's edition where there used to be twenty or thirty in the good old days. When an item of news was of particular interest, the Letters page often became two pages of letters. This was at a time when there was less than half the number of pages in the IT.

7) Reportage impartiality? Definitely not. The fault here, as with other newspapers, is often the acceptance of a syndicated report from one journalist which the paper prints in good faith. Only this week I had to write a letter to the Editor about her acceptance of such a report by Ray Managh of a case where a Judge awarded another Judge €17,500 in a case of defamation. See Indymedia Ireland link

8) Is the Irish Times today politically independent? Given the proviso above, that the tone of the whole paper has changed in the direction of an unintereting PD jangle of economic theories presented as news, otherwise, I would say probably Yes.

Sorry I haven't read the book but looking forward to it.

author by media consumerpublication date Sat May 03, 2008 15:24author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Many years ago I heard the editor of the Irish Independent (not Vinnie of recent decades) describe a daily newspaper as "the poor man's university". To my mind that could be the ideal function of a broadsheet newspaper. I have childhood memories of seeing working men, some of them retired, perusing firstly the sports pages of the Independent and the Irish Press and making notes for their daily flutter on the horses. Then they scanned the national news and maybe read the headlines and intro paragraphs of foreign stories. These men had finished formal schooling at age 14 but they could read and enjoy reading the sports pages at any rate and they had an impressionist awareness of Ireland and the world during the 1950s and 60s. I won't idealise the week-to-week lives they led trying to get by on their modest earnings from manual labour. They enjoyed their pints, playing darts and following Saturday afternoon racing on the wireless and later on pub black/white television.

Irish newspapers in the past had their faults but they weren't anything like the low level infotainment, celeb worship and sexshockhorror diet that is served up to manual and other lowpaid workers today (and served up pseudointellectually to middleclass readers in so-called quality papers). Schooling standards seem to have slipped a lot. I'd guess that nowadays a lot of young fellows leaving school aged 16 or older wouldn't have the ability to scrutinise the racing pages of newspapers and make reasoned guesses as to the chances of fancied horses being placed. I know gambling is frivolous but I mention this to show how newspaper readers and the journalists who write for them have changed radically.

But I digress. Yes, we should be concerned about the present condition of the 'liberal' Irish Times, Justin. It is very much a viewspaper rather than a hard newspaper. A hardcore of three or six columnists constantly presume to articulate Irish intellectual life for the readership while many private individuals with considered opinions and specialised knowledge on several subjects never get to write in its pages unless they have occasional letters published.

I could go on but I'd like to read other commentators on the current state of Irish print media.

author by Renegade White Niggerpublication date Tue May 06, 2008 14:03author address author phone Report this post to the editors

The quality of writing has slipped, true, but the standards of Irish print media are appalling. The only articles that are correctly spelled, syntactically correct and unambiguous are either pasted off a newswire or opinion pieces (and the current crop of lunatic fringe and right-wing mainstream writers do possess some fine writing skills). But there is undeniable political bias to both the PD agenda and a resurgent family-values underground where some notable public figures (ombudsmen and presidents for example) are given uncritical free reign.

There is an interesting article "In media exile - Part 1, An interview with Joe MacAnthony" which discusses the IT, the IT Trust and media bias - http://www.mediabite.org/article_In-media-exile---Part-....html - it is all the better for pointing out much more serious conflicts of interest and omitting to mention renegade white niggers.

Besides, the greatest threat to media independence in Ireland now is in broadcast media where the government has put itself in hock to Murdoch's Sky platform and other foreign interests. The Taoiseach's family's Murdoch-related financial interests include Celia's book advances from Hyperion and Nicky Byrne / Westlife's contracts with Sony / BMG / RCA. Selling out GAA coverage, delaying terrestrial (free view) digital, strangling RTE TG4's output and now exempting digital viewers from license fees are all furthering market share (circa 70% of viewers) of predatory foreign interests at the expense of local production. The future is wall-to-wall Lost, Neighbours, Sex and the City with a smattering of leprechaun news and sport when it isn't too inconvenient.

author by John Martin - Irish Political Reviewpublication date Wed May 07, 2008 08:56author address author phone Report this post to the editors

“Renegade white nigger”, am I correct in saying that you don’t think that British State influence over an Irish newspaper is an important issue?

Also, with due respect to Mediabite, and its interesting interview with Joe McAnthony, there is no real analysis of the Trust.

In particular there is no mention of the extraordinary power accorded to Major McDowell from 1974 to 2001. There is no mention of the Oath of secrecy required of Governors of the Trust and Directors of the Irish Times Ltd, which remained in force after 2001 and as far as I know still remains in force.

As I have said before on Indymedia, Mediabite is rightly concerned about the influence of capitalist interests on the media, but has a blindspot when it comes to the influence of other interests.

author by Renegade White Niggerpublication date Wed May 07, 2008 17:52author address author phone Report this post to the editors

No, I certainly do think that ANY influence on media freedom is potentially problematic, as should be obvious in my comments above. The historical British influence on the IT's editorial line was clearly not in the public interest - but what about the far greater current influence that British and US interests exert on the Irish Independent? This is particularly problematic in light of the INM board's refusal to reveal conflicts of interest, their incestuous and cross-group appointments and their failure to adopt common ethical standards.

The Indo's anti-Sinn Fein and anti-IRA bigotry is particularly repugnant, as much so as the IT's racism and anti-integrationist stance.

But, as I also said, the greatest threat to Ireland's media is economic and exerted through broadcast media and mobile telephony ownership and licensing. Irish media is slowly being assimilated and annihilated.

author by Miriam - MediaBitepublication date Thu May 08, 2008 11:28author address author phone Report this post to the editors

I wish we had probed more on the issue of the IT trust too, John - a definite oversight in the article. To be fair though, it was more about Joe MacAnthony's personal story. He touched on many fascinating issues that deserve more attention and hopefully we'll all be hearing more from him in the near future.

It's not the central point of the discussion here but I still cannot get over the fact that you cannot see that Bertie Ahern at least is entirely the author of his own fall from grace. It's such an atrocious example on which to base your case that it tends to undermine it - though as was said many times on the other thread about this - there can't be many people who would not assume that the Brits and the Yanks both maintain a strong influence in Irish life and politics.

Ain't that the truth about the IT's letters page, though, Justin! I've mentioned this before but the one that got me all choked up on my cornflakes was a complaint from a gent in a Dublin burb acouple of years back about how he had recently had to walk in the drizzle across the tarmc to the terminal at Dublin Airport. Couldn't something be done about this outrage, he enquired? How the letters page editor saw fit to prioritise that over the countless number of urgent issues that folk write into the IT about every day, entirely defeats me.

author by John Martin - Irish Political Reviewpublication date Fri May 09, 2008 10:47author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Miriam, I was perhaps a bit hard on the MediaBite article. MacAnthony was making a few off-the-cuff remarks about his experiences in The Irish Times well over 40 years ago at the time Alec Newman was Editor (Newman was sacked as editor in 1961). The Trust was not set up until 1974. And Major McDowell didn’t join the newspaper until 1962.

Nevertheless, I have a few more quibbles. John Arnott had no influence in the formation of the Trust. He had sold all his shares in the company by the late 1960s. Also people might be interested to know that there was another side to the benevolent chess playing aristo that MacAnthony portrays.

Douglas Gageby’s right hand man Donal Foley had a witty obituary following Arnott’s death in 1981. Foley worked in the London office with Sir John Arnott and some other peer. The left wing Foley referred to himself as the only “commoner” in the London office. He also says that Arnott was very right wing. If there was some big strike in progress Arnott would sigh “another day for the whip, what?” before writing 1200 words of anti trade union invective.

Finally, I disagree with the tenor of renegade white nigger’s comments. It wasn’t just British influence, but British State influence. While the influence of global capitalist economic interests has had a bad effect on the quality of journalism, the evidence of the influence of a foreign State - invited by the most powerful person in that newspaper - is in my view more pernicious.

author by Renegade White Niggerpublication date Fri May 09, 2008 20:08author address author phone Report this post to the editors

You might disagree with the tenor of my comments, but if you take a step back from your obsession with the Irish Times and the Trust, then you might appreciate that there is nothing more pernicious than the annihilation and assimilation of an entire culture, which is what is happening to Ireland now.

You might also appreciate that everyone in this thread has agreed with you that British and British State (strange distinction there) influences in the media are malign - especially when they are undisclosed and their mechanisms shrouded in secretive management practices. How about Ahern's and Haughey's complicity in preventing the investigation of British operations on this island and in this state? But everyone knows the Irish Times has a pro-British and effetely unionist leaning. Which is why the British state plants all its propaganda in other papers. Who publishes the identifying details of discarded informants, colluding in their murder?

The Irish media has little interest in investigative journalism of any kind and an aversion to any analysis of British influences or criticism of the Irish State in particular - which is why all investigation of shoot-to-kill, the Gibralter murders, Dublin Monahan bombings, clerical paedophilia etc has originated with Thames TV, the BBC etc. The Phoenix (currently stumbling in the dark with some very misinformed reports about Michael Semple) makes a brave solo run, especially on Shannon and extraordinary rendition, but the rest of the media doesn't much care until a story is already well and truly broken.

author by John Martin - Irish Political Reviewpublication date Sat May 10, 2008 12:20author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Renegade white nigger, all your contributions in this thread attempt to undermine the significance of the “white nigger” letter. From calling yourself “renegade white nigger” to saying that Fianna Fail people use the same expression. (Personally, I have never heard a Fianna Fail person use this expression).

Your latest comment suggests that my interest in this is a psychological condition (“obsession”). You then diminish the letter's significance by lumping it with a series of other scandals and conclude with a homily on the appalling state of Irish journalism as compared to British journalism, which indicates to me that your jaded cynicism masks a touching naivety.

I am surprised that you don't think there is a meaningful distinction between on the one hand individuals who happen to be British attempting to exert influence on an Irish newspaper and on the other hand the British State on the initiative of Prime Minister Harold Wilson exerting that influence.

Your view of the significance of the “white nigger” letter is not shared by The Irish Times. As my book shows, having failed to suppress the document, it had to deal with it following its publication in the Sunday Independent. The Irish Times dealt with this story by misrepresenting other documents from the British Public Records office dated 1969 which support the substance of what was revealed in the white nigger letter.

I share your contempt for Irish journalism (with the partial exception of Phoenix). Although the book is primarily about The Irish Times and its role in Irish society since 1859 the other newspapers do not emerge well from this story either.

author by Arekpublication date Fri May 23, 2008 16:38author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Interesting review of the book on the Glor Anoir programme on Raidio na Gaeltachta.

To download the Podcast click on the link below

http://www.rte.ie/radio1/podcast/podcast_gloranoir.xml

The programme lasts for 44 minutes. The review of the book begins after 27 minutes and ends on the 39 minute mark.

author by Arekpublication date Fri May 30, 2008 08:29author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Click on the link below for a review by An Phoblacht

http://www.anphoblacht.com/news/detail/28190

By the way the Glor Anoir programme mentioned in the previous post was broadcast on 22/5/08.

author by shirt no tiepublication date Fri May 30, 2008 11:17author address author phone Report this post to the editors

A good snappy review in a fringe periodical I rarely read. Newspapers like to beat a drum about themselves (or is that blow a trumpet?) and let readers know that the papers are on their side. The British tabloids are resolute in exposing bent businessmen and corrupt politicians...up to a point. In exchange for occasional populist moralising against cheats and bullies they make sure readers wave the flag when "our troops" are sent somewhere to make the world safe for democracy and big business.

In its own way the Irish Times moved gradually from being an old boys westbrit club to being a liberal clarion for the emerged 1960s catholic middle classes. The remaining old boys held in there in the background, and it would be interesting to know what furtive strings they managed to pull with the editors during those days.Liberalism in Ireland during the 70s, 80s and 90s meant liberal about contraception, divorce and relaxation of artistic censorship. Behind this facade there was a persistent support for entrenched capitalism and Dublin business networks. No matter how liberal a paper might be about sexual matters the bottom line is advertising revenue from businesses.

I would note in passing that Douglas Gageby was a refreshing editor in the cosy incurious Irish journalism scene from the 1960s onwards. He gave several young talented people a chance to show their mettle and they did so in the pages of the Irish Times. He served in the army during the Emergency of WW2 and was fundamentally a constitutional Irish patriot.

Sexual liberalism, described by a former independent senator as "pelvic issues', can be flaunted by right- and left-leaning newspapers and politicians. Even the PDs and the capitalist Independent Newspapers can be militantly on the same side as Labour and the Greens about abortion and divorce referenda. It's their shameless support for right-of-center economic policies that decides their moral status in my book.

Good luck to John Martin's new book. I hope we get hard hitting books about Independent Newspapers, the Sunday World and the Farmers Journal (!)

author by Arekpublication date Mon Aug 18, 2008 21:09author address author phone Report this post to the editors

The link below is a recording from the "Talking history" programme on Newstalk 106 (10/8/08). Tommy Graham interviews John Martin about his book.

http://www.atholbooks.org/interview.mp3

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