Irish Election are pleased to announce our collection of Irish Political T-shirts. Get yours now! Visit our shop.»
Read more about: Blogging, Media
I haven’t posted though its a topic I have wondered about for a while. Newstalk’s Brenda Power took to calling civil servants in the HSE a while back in response to calls made to her phone-in show. Callers who had issues could expect them to be followed up by Power with calls made live on air to HSE offices seeking answers.
Anyhow the BCC yesterday ruled this out of order by Newstalk. Any thoughts?
Post a comment below:
techPresident – The Future of Campaign Technology: The Ground Game
Irish Parties looking at learning online and database lessons from Obama could do worse than bear this post in mind. Almost as soon as the election is over, improvements and evolution are making some parts redundant and others essential. Get your campaign an i-phone for everyone? Might be better than printing flyers, it goes to show how parties, if they take it seriously, need to keep ahead of the wave - not just follow.
Colman at the EuroTrib give his reasoning on why Lisbon is dead. The Government's incapable handling of the budget cuts are the nail in the coffin.
Fine Gael’s Leo Varadkar offers his view on how the SBP Opinion Poll would translate in an election.
Think tank: Time for democracy to click into place
Dan Sullivan gets himself into The Sunday Times, calling for the internet to connect citizens to a more meaningful democracy. Its an argument I agree with wholeheartedly myself. Have a read and let him know what you think.
Colm Burke MEP reckons that we need to get honest and tell people we will be holding a second Lisbon Vote in Oct 2009 with protocols desigend to secure a yes vote.
Not hugely surprised. Newstalk started with great fanfare and thankfully shook up the talk radio market in this country. We had been slipping towards endless mindless wall to wall thump-thump-thump music. Newstalk proved that there was a massive untapped market for news, sport and current affairs. RTE and Today FM upped their game in response to excellent shows from the likes of George Hook, Eamonn Dunphy, Brenda Power etc.
However in the run up to the election Newstalk became an off shoot of the Fine Gael press office. The Lunchtime show in particular was wall to wall pro-Rainbow propaganda. A typical show began with Frank Connolly talking for 30 minutes about the latest “stunning revelations” about Bertie at the Mahon Tribunal while Eamonn Keane almost had an orgasm live on air at the prospect of bring down a Fianna Fail taoiseach (never a mention of the days developments at the Moriarity tribunal though). Then Enda Kenny would come on to talk about the latest Fine Gael press release (free laptops etc). Then a random Fine Gael TD would come on to talk about a story on how the Irish economy was in freefall and it was all Fianna Fail’s fault. Then the Muppet of the week award would be given to a Fianna Fail minister (normally “corporal willie”). Then a panel discussion would take place between Keane, another pandom Fine Gael TD and a random Labour senator.
Brenda Power’s show and her attack on the HSE was spawned from that pro-Fine Gael ethos. There is no real interest in making things better. Instead it is a politically motivated campaign. In the run up to the election it was about trying to put Fine Gael in power. Since the election it has been a spiteful reaction to the result. There isn’t anything positive about the show. No attempt to discuss how things can be made better. No attempt to develop an alternative set of proposals. Simply an attampt to use individual cases of suffering to undermine the government with the next election in mind.
Now don’t get me wrong. There are still great things on Newstalk. George Hook and Declan Carthy have maintained their editorial independence from Fine Gael HQ. The morning show is really coming into it’s own. The Moncriff show can be a bit of a laugh. Off the ball is the best sports show in the country. Talking history is excellent.
However for all that the bitterness of Keane and Power and the pro-Fine Gael agenda they pursue was always walking a very thin line with the BCC. I’m not surprised they have finally been pulled up on it.
I agree with the comments from Mike, just to add a bit to it. Hook is the biggest blueshirt in Newstalk, as I have seen it first hand. He was also the Fine Gael media face during Lisbon. So much for impartiality. This the second time they have got a slap on the wrist from the BCC, as it was proven during the election that they showed favouritism to the Rainbow, again as Mike said.
It was totally out of order for Newstalk to doorstep civil servants. I am not the greatest fan of civil servants, but this type of journalism is from the Jeremy Kyle school of doing things. With that, I shall turn on ITV for my daily fix of the Kylemister. It is my dirty little secret.
Fine Gael are certainly getting good value for the decisions of Michael Lowry. Fianna Fail ministers may have enriched themselves but it seems Fine Gael ministeral decisions benefit the whole party for decades.