Blurred Keys

Hyping the ordinary into the extraordinary

Fintan O'Toole in the Irish Times today talks about "the hyping-up of the ordinary into the extraordinary". In the article he mentions journalism's part in the in the hyperbole...   

Journalism, of course, has a lot to do with all of this. The tabloid thesaurus in which every murderer is a monster, every rapist a beast and every piece of celebrity tittle-tattle a sensation, is becoming the vocabulary of the mainstream media too.

Of course, tabloids are not the only culprits by any means. For one local newepaper we read, an aim to cut road deaths is hyped to "frightening number of deaths", and new trains which don't have reclining chairs, don't have a first class carriages, and don't currently have any dining carriages, some-how are “luxurious” trains. We're surprised when there isn't superfluous words in their news.

I've heard excuses along the lines of it makes content more interisting, but nonsense hyperbole slowly chips away at people's fate in journalism. Is saying this hyperbolic in its self? No, because what are too often brushed away as just a little mistake and, in this case, just a little bit of hype is exactly what erodes the public's confidence in journalism. 

Half of Ombudsman's and Press Council's decisions so-far relate to Katy French

Half of the decisions published so far by the Press Ombudsman relate to model Katy French, reports the Sunday Business Post. Read the article here, or the Ombudsman's and Press Council of Ireland's decisions in full here.

Vincent Browne interviewed (link)

Vincent Browne talks to Marketing magizine about getting sacked by RTE, his Nightly News show on TV3, the Sunday Tribune, what he thinks of Independent News & Media and much more. Read it here. (vie Fergus Cassidy)

Irish media news round-up (April/May)

Apologies for the lack of updates recently, here's a bit of a news round-up...

- Broadcast Bill carries 'right to reply'
- Bill proposes single broadcast regulator
- Irish paper group seeks £8m help
- Press Council member quits over policy *
- Council's suppression of dissenting voice forced me to quit *
- Clarify Privacy Bill's limbo status - FG*
- O'Brien-backed group puts case for DTT licence*
- Metro director to leave paper 
- Sir Anthony scoops Media Person of the Year award
* = (subs reqd)

Irish media's problem - no manners

Or at least that's what Gayle Killilea wrote for the Sunday Independent after seeing a group of Irish newspaper reporters staying quite at the former Taoiseach's address to Congress...   

...I made my feelings clear about the media behaviour to Charlie Bird when I met him on Wednesday evening. He said that he had clapped. And I believe he did, the broadcast media were seated in a different section of the house to the print media, and did not seem to be infected by the same negativity.

However, he defended their behaviour by asserting that it is normal for journalists to sit impassively during such occasions. This suggests that it is normal for the Irish media to be impartial and detached, which of course they are not. The Irish media are not impartial or detached, the articles that they write demonstrate that...

- Gayle Killilea, Sunday Independent

Student media awards 2008 winners

The Irish student media awards, the Three Smedias, were held in Tripod last night, bellow are the all the winners (in bold and orange) followed by the other nominees...

Irish student media awards nominees

The nominations for the 2008 Smedia awards - the Irish student media awards - have been announced.

Although the nominees in three categories have yet to be revealed, the vast majority are available at the organiser's website, oxygen.ie.

The awards take place on Tuesday night at Tripod in Dublin.

Does more journalism courses equal a higher standard of writing?

Shane Hegarty, over at the Irish Times blogs asks if "All these journalism courses must mean a higher standard of writing … right?"

He has got a bit of a debate going in the comments section too. We might comment more on this later. (via mulley.net)

Hegarty's post last year on a higher diploma in journalism by the Irish Academy of Public Relations is quite amusing.

NUJ's 'Journalist' magazine goes online

The National Union of Journalists’ magazine, Journalist, has gone online, with at least the April edition only being distributed in digital form.

While the publication was previously only posted to NUJ members, it can now be viewed at thejournalist.org.uk.

A PDF version is also downloadable, and is designed for printing in A4.

Student media in Ireland is all but offline

Why aren't Irish student newspapers online? Few have sites with content pages, a few more with just PDFs, others with out-of-date PDFs, and more with no working website at all.