Media coverage – Page 19

Journalist Gavin Sheridan forces NAMA into the High Court

RTE gave great coverage to the ‘good news’ that NAMA made an operating profit in 2010.

Unfortunately, the broadcaster seems to have no interest in covering the much more important story concerning the ongoing battle by journalist Gavin Sheridan in trying to extract information from NAMA.

Gavin spotted a chink in the almost impenetrable armour of NAMA’s secrecy laws when, instead of submitting a Freedom of Information request, he asked for information by way of an Environmental Information regulation request.

The Ombudsman and Information Commissioner, Emily O’Reilly ruled in favour of Gavin forcing NAMA to take the case to the High Court.

Joe Duffy avoids using the 'p' word

A caller to Liveline after the publication of the Mahon Tribunal Report.

Joe, if there was sworn testimony under oath and it was untruthful, what does that imply?

Joe Duffy: Ok, well the Tribunal doesn’t make the leap. They just say the evidence was untruthful, they don’t accept Mr. Ahern’s narrative of how he came by the money but they don’t offer an alternative narrative.

Phew, that was a close one, nearly forced to use the ‘P’ word.

RTE: An untruth is not necessarily a lie

Exchange between Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan and an RTE presenter after the publication of the Mahon Tribunal Report.

Phil Hogan: The Mahon Tribunal has not used the word ‘corrupt’ in relations to Mr. Ahern but it uses the word ‘lies’ on a number of occasions without using the exact words.

RTE presenter: Well hold on a second now. That’s a very specific word, it says it doesn’t believe him, it says it doesn’t accept his evidence, it says some things were untrue; it does not use the word ‘lies’.

In the real world untruths are lies. In real democracies media outlets accept this fact as normal and report accordingly.

In the Alice in Wonderland world of RTE current affairs, where a deep fear of litigation determines all decisions, an untruth is not necessarily a lie.

Jody Corcoran: A great (Fianna Fail) journalist

Sunday Independent columnist Jody Corcoran tore strips from Fine Gael and Labour in an article last Sunday.

James Reilly’s name appearing in Stubbs Gazette, Phil Hogan’s questionable loan from Fingers Fingleton, Enda Kenny’s leadership qualities all came under Corcoran’s ruthless scrutiny.

Corcoran’s analysis is incisive, accurate and paints a true picture of this very dodgy government, I agree with every word he writes

Unfortunately, Corcoran cannot be taken seriously as a journalist since he long ago sold his journalistic soul to Fianna Fail, the most corrupt political party in the country.

His cringing ramblings in support of the liar Bertie Ahern were particularly obnoxious (Example here).

Should Fianna Fail ever regain power we can be sure that Corcoran’s ruthlessly accurate assessment of the present crowd of gombeens would be replaced with unquestioning loyalty to that party rather than real journalistic analysis.

Gene Kerrigan: Fooled by Wallace's false shame

I have always admired Sunday Independent journalist, Gene Kerrigan, as a writer who pulls no punches particularly when he’s writing about corruption in Ireland.

I was therefore very disappointed to read his article of June 24 where he effectively makes a complete fool of himself by defending the activities of thief, liar and tax evader Mick Wallace.

Kerrigan begins by making the idiotic claim that Wallace is the man to stop corruption in Ireland.

All Wallace has to do, according to Kerrigan, is introduce legislation that would make tax evaders ineligible for membership of the Oireachtas.

Once the legislation was in place Wallace would resign (with honour, apparently) and get on with what Kerrigan describes as his varied and useful life.

And, presumably, the people of Ireland would find themselves living in a land of milk and honey basking in ever lasting happiness.

Clearly, Kerrigan has been reading up the gombeen’s guide on how to defend the indefensible – some quotes with comment.

Wallace did wrong in defrauding the Revenue. He’s paid a price, quite rightly.

Wallace did do wrong but he has not paid the price.

He’s still contaminating our parliament. He hasn’t’ been brought to justice for his actions.

He will not be brought to justice because our corrupt political/administrative system makes no provision for taking action against the activities of people like Wallace.

To introduce and enforce strong, effective anti corruption laws would endanger the entire corrupt system.

This is not going to happen in the short to medium term.

Since the revelation, Wallace has brought to Irish politics a quality that has been blatantly absent – shame.

Wallace, to his credit, displayed the shame appropriate to his misbehaviour.

Only a fool believes Wallace is ashamed of his actions or that his activities can be excused by (feigning) shame.

He has/is exploiting the corrupt political/administrative system for all its worth to avoid accountability for his self-confessed crimes.

Only today we read that the thief/tax evader has refused to cooperate with members of the Dail committee investigating his activities.

Wallace, the man suffering from great shame according to Kerrigan, refused to supply the exact date when the settlement with Revenue was reached.

This is a key detail because he can only be investigated by his fellow TDs if the settlement was agreed after he was elected.

Wallace also refused a request to give Revenue permission to hand over their file to the Dail Members Interests Committee.

These are not the actions of a man feeling shame and remorse for his crimes, they are the actions of a man bent on evading responsibility and justice.

The odium heaped on him has by now become comical.

Odium, as all Irish politicians know, is harmless when compared to the great benefits to be had from operating within a corrupt political/administrative system that accepts corrupt practices as the norm.

In the great tradition of Fianna Fail supporters of the criminal Haughey, Kerrigan resorts to the ‘sure worse things have happened’ argument.

What about King Leopold’s economic and physical rape of the Congo and what about the shameful treatment of Eastern European mushroom pickers – Kerrigan bizarrely asks.

What kind of mushrooms, I ask, is Kerrigan on?

I don’t know Mick Wallace, but I’ve liked him for about a decade.

This final quote is, apparently, the reason for Kerrigan’s bizarre defence of Wallace.

He likes the man therefore he (Wallace) should be let off, should not be brought to account.

This narrow, blind mindset is common in Ireland. It allows criminals like Haughey and others to plunder the state with complete impunity.

Genuinely, I never thought Gene Kerrigan, of all people, would fall prey to such a damaging mindset.

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Gene Kerrigan

Tom McGurk: Confused about religious education

Letter in today’s Sunday Business Post (Sub. reqd).

Most of the letters page (7 out of 10) was taken up with reaction to McGurk’s article (Teaching religion is of primary importance, SBP April 15) . Only one agreed with his ill informed views.

This strong anti- religious, anti-Catholilc response seems to be the norm in recent years – long may it last.

Sir,

The underlying message to be taken from Tom McGurk’s article on religious education in schools is that any withdrawal of Christian religious teaching will damage the moral and ethical formation of children.

This narrow view suggests that the moral and ethical standards of billions of non-Christians and non-believers are, at best, inferior, and, at worst, irrelevant.

Human morality is a natural, evolutionary aspect of all humanity, not the invention of any one particular god.

If parents want to indoctrinate their children into a particular religion, they should do so themselves with the support of their particular church.
The State should play no part in religious indoctrination.

Your etc.,
Anthony Sheridan
Cobh

Battle for INM reaches end game

It looks like the battle for control of Independent news and media (INM) is reaching its end game.

This morning an anonymous buyer bought 13 million shares in the group.

RTE business editor, David Murphy, said the buyer couldn’t be Dermot Desmond, Denis O’Brien or the O’Reilly’s because they would have to notify the Irish Stock Exchange of any such purchase.

All I can say is – bless his innocence.

If Denis O’Brien and his pal Dermot Desmond win the battle the first casualty, apart from the current CEO Gavin O’Reilly, is likely to be the Editor of the Sunday Independent Anne Harris.

Harris wrote a trenchant article recently drawing attention to the dangers for press freedom if Denis O’Brien gains control. She expressed particular worry about O’Brien’s close relationship to Fine Gael.

The reason all this matters to the Sunday Independent is that we may be about to lose one of the most important tools of transparency – press freedom.

Take a government with an obscene majority, allow a media mogul who has influence – O’Brien makes no secret of his desire for influence – with the dominant party and before long it may not be just an appearance of the dictatorial.

Celia Larkin: Sitting ducks and muck balls comedy

Up until last Sunday I had always believed that Bertie Ahern’s former partner, Celia Larkin, was an undiluted Fianna Fail head with certain business acumen but not much else, I was wrong.

In an article in the Sunday Independent she has revealed to the world that she is a comedian of gigantic status.

An indication of her genius is the fact that she gives no hint that she’s writing comedy.

This is a courageous and very subtle approach to comedy writing by someone deeply involved with the Fianna Fail party.

Courageous because many readers could easily misinterpret her intent and think her comedy was serious political comment.

Subtle because she leaves it to the reader to figure out that she’s adopting the character of an adoring Fräulein praising her beloved Führer, Micheál Martin.

Well, she does provide just a little clue. In the photograph accompanying the article Martin appears to be delivering a Nazi salute.

I recommend reading the entire article to enjoy its full comic genius but I can’t resist reproducing some of the really hilarious highlights:

His style is very different from his predecessors. Not for him the indulgence of the sound bites nor the practice of cute politics.

He is quiet, polite, subtle but devastatingly strong when he needs to deliver the crucial blow, as he so clearly displayed this week.

Now that Martin has finally found his voice, we may see true debate in the Dail and a government held accountable by a strong vocal opposition.

A breath of fresh air in a political system suffocated by the oppression of snide personal attacks, deflection of responsibility and epic ineptitude in performing even the most basic of administrative tasks, as has been evident by the household charge debacle.

Fianna Fail may be small in numbers. It may have been down. But it is not out.

Get ready for this one; it’s pure comic genius. Had me, literally, on the floor screaming in painful laughter.

The restraints are off. He’s in the ring and he’s not boxing wildly. He’s landing lethal blows.

Fine Gael had better watch out. The sitting ducks have finally found their wings and it will take a bit more than muck balls to shoot them down.

Sitting ducks and muck balls – Jesus, it doesn’t get much better than that.

Ok, ok, I know the article was published on April 1 and it was probably written for the day that was in it, but still, it’s pure comic genius.

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New comedy star – Fräulein Larkin

John Waters: Becoming more bizarre by the day

Irish Times journalist John Waters was on The Saturday Night Show recently (March 17) dispensing his usual bizarre ‘wisdom’.

Here’s some of what he had to say.

On the Internet:

The Internet is a cesspit, a sewer populated by extremely nasty people. It’s a place where people, hiding behind masks of anonymity, write foul articles.

Those who are not anonymous are also nasty people because it’s a kill or be killed environment. Everybody becomes extremely nasty once they log on.

Presumably this includes all Waters’ fellow journalists and the millions of his fellow Catholics from all over the world who regularly write on the Internet including many in the Vatican.

And what, I wonder, would David Quinn, his fellow militant Catholic, think of being called a nasty, foul blogger?

The Internet will be a desert in about ten to fifteen years because people will become bored by it.

This is like someone predicting, a hundred years after the invention of the printing press, when books were widely read, that eventually people would become bored with reading.

On his weekly column in the Irish Times:

I write a column every week in the Irish Times and there are posts at the end of it. I never read them, people tell me I shouldn’t read them, they’re just foul.

We can see here the distain that Waters has for his readers and, indeed, for the Irish Times editors who pass the comments for publication.

Other people read the comments and report back to him perhaps to protect his sensitivities.

From time to time I read the posts in response to his articles. Some are for; some are against, none are foul.

Obviously, Waters doesn’t believe in the positive benefits that can accrue from reader feedback. This, I suspect, is because he believes he’s the fountain of all wisdom or perhaps the idea of comments at the end of his articles is a tad too close to how the hated bloggers operate.

On letter writers to the Irish Times:

The funny thing is when you read the letters to the Times they’re kind of vaguely intelligent and the names and addresses are on them so you can go and find the guy if he says something really nasty.

Vaguely intelligent? I suppose that’s a sort of compliment coming from the Great One.

On Fianna Fail (Waters delivered a morale boosting speech to the faithful at the recent Ard Fheis):

I have a deep affection for Fianna Fail. When I became a journalist I noticed all this stuff about Fianna Fail in articles and analysis and thought; this is all mad stuff, even I could see it was mad so I started to hang around with them a bit and found that I quite like them.

Do you not blame them for everything that has gone on, he was asked.

No, I don’t. I gave them a metaphor at the Ard Fheis when I was speaking.

The plane crashed and you were driving the plane, the plane was off course but the plane was also struck by lightning.

You have to apologise for being in the wrong place and for being a little bit over the limit but you cant really keep apologising for the lightning because the lightning is the point and we were struck by lightning.

Presumably the lightning here is Lehman Brothers.

Brendan O’Connor drew great laughter from the audience when he said:

If I was on a plane and it was going to be struck by lightning I wouldn’t fancy Brian Cowen being the pilot, would you?

Waters, however, was not laughing. He was not pleased by this insult to his vast wisdom.

It was clear that, in his mind, he was consigning O’Connor, RTE and the entire audience to that foul cesspit where all the nasty bloggers work their evil deeds.

Cormac Lucey: Blind to the true nature of a liar like Bertie Ahern

Whenever a major scandal breaks there is always at least one commentator who will write what I call a ‘We’re all to blame’ article.

Economist Cormac Lucey fits the bill on this occasion.

Writing in the Daily Mail (Saturday, March, 24) Lucey’s article is entitled.

A guilty victim, yes, but also an easy scapegoat for all our woes.

Here are the opening paragraphs.

They weren’t able to catch Al Capone for his gangland crimes, so they convicted him for tax evasion.

They weren’t able to defeat Bill Clinton politically, so his Republican opponents unleashed Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr against him.

And the Irish Establishment wasn’t able to defeat Bertie Ahern politically when he was at the peak of his power; so it has had to make do with the Mahon Tribunal after he has retired.

Now I agree with the mentioning of the gangster Al Capone and the liar Bertie Ahern in the same article but what the hell is all that about the ‘Irish Establishment’ out to get poor Bertie?

Lucey goes on to blame everybody – except poor Bertie.

Whether we are talking about the economy, building standards or ethical standards we can always blame Bertie.

It suits those being crushed under mountains of debt to blame Bertie rather than accept personal responsibility for their own errors.

As leader of the most corrupt political party in the state the liar Ahern is the man principally responsible for the collapse of the economy, low or non- existent building standards and the total removal of ethical standards from the body politic.

Lucey seems to be suggesting that the liar is actually innocent of everything that has happened in the last few decades.

Until I read this article I had always seen Cormac Lucey as a well informed, independent minded and balanced commentator on political/economic affairs.

My puzzlement was cleared later on in the article when he mentioned that he once acted as special advisor to former Tanaiste Michael McDowell.

Now I know exactly where Mr. Lucey is coming from and why he’s blind to the true nature of a liar like Ahern.

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Cormac Lucey