Damages of €90,000 have been awarded against Associated Newspapers Ireland after a woman sued the newspaper publisher for using unlawfully tapped phone conversations in articles.
The court ruled the articles which appeared in Ireland on Sunday (now the Irish Mail on Sunday) were a breach of her constitutional right to privacy.
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.
The Sunday World has relaunched their website, sundayworld.com, recently.
The content includes columns, gossip, and reviews. They also have online-only content from gossip site PerezHilton.com. And there's video from Balcony TV, along with other video clips of games and films, and 'funnies'.
But no news.
The roll over banner advert currently running across the site shows Paul Williams, the newspaper's crime editor, saying - as ever - he'll be watching the criminals. That's entertaining at least.
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.
- IrishTimes.com online now
And further to our post on the Irish Times removal of most of their paywall, the Sunday Business Post has today an article on the relaunch. Maeve Donovan, managing director of the Times has an interisting -- and maybe even an overly optimistic -- view on online advertising...
‘‘I think, perhaps, the presence of what you might call garage operators in this space has led to a view of online advertising as being cheap,” Donovan said. ‘‘In fact, I think internet ads should be at a premium - they’re highly accountable. And yes, I do think that’s going to change.”
Donovan also mentions the Guardian's success at attracting online US readers. The paywall at Ireland.com has stopped emulation of this until now. Read the full article here.
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)
The Irish Times is set to be free on the internet from Monday. The move is part of a relaunch which will see the company use the name and address IrishTimes.com as the central online brand for the newspaper.
The DPP is appealing a High Court finding that former Evening Herald editor Gerry O’Regan and journalist Anne-Marie Walsh were not in contempt of court.
The move could possibly end in the jailing of Walsh and the now Irish Independent editor O’Regan and fines for Independent News & Media.
MORE: DPP bids to jail editor, reporter for contempt
Damien Mulley mentions "losing readership" as part of the state of the state of Irish newspapers. It's a common enough misconception, but Irish national newspapers have not and are not currently showing the large-scale declines in readership as seen in the UK and US. The market is reasonably stable.
Continue reading "Irish national newspapers not in decline" »
Click on the above image of text from newspaper and magizine websites - the image should open in a pop-up window. Which is the most readable?
The first is from an award winning newspaper site. This paper has one of the lowest national relationships in print, but the most visited newspaper websites in the UK.
Blurred Keys is an Irish blog about print, broadcast, and online media, in ‘the State’ and afar, it’s edited by Cian Ginty
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