Blurred Keys

Previously a pirate radio station, Phantom FM is back on air as of today, now licensed as Dublin’s alternative rock music station.

Taking up the moniker ‘Phantom 105.2’ today’s launch follows the station successfully winning the alternative rock license from the BCI, and then successfully defending challenges from the losing Zed FM, backed by Dermot Hanrahan (ex-FM 104 chief executive), Bob Geldof and Niall Stokes (Hot Press).

Denis Desmond (MCD) and Paul McGuinness (U2 manager) have backed Phantom since the start of its latest attempt to become legit.

"We will continue to promote the Irish music scene and we place a particular emphasis on promoting unsigned Irish bands and we’re looking forward to providing Dublin with a new and very different sound" Phantom CEO, Ger Roe, commented in a recent press release. MORE: Phantom programme schedule.

Meanwhile: If you missed the results of the Phonographic Performance Ireland Radio Awards 2006 catch them here.

UPDATE: On mulley.net, there’s an interesting take on Denis Desmond’s backing of the station while it interacts with boards.ie… Left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing…

Sky News Ireland is to effectively close, with a discontinuation of the current two nightly Irish broadcasts and reduction to skeleton staff levels. [Adam Maguire has more details >>>]

Sunday Times columnist, Liam Fay, has questioned the Reporters sans Frontières report on press freedom, pointing to jail threats made to Irish journalists.

In his column today, Fay states “The RSF’s glowing assessment of Irish press freedom comes as an editor and a journalist, Geraldine Kennedy and Colm Keena of The Irish Times, face criminal sanctions for publishing revelations about secret payments by businessmen to a serving finance minister”.

Citing libel laws, he rubbishes the idea of free speech in Ireland “These are routinely used by the rich and infamous to stymie media comment and inquiry”.

Fay also points out that the purposed reform of the libel laws comes with “even more restrictive” privacy laws. And that media attempts to probe “the darker recesses of public life” are faced with “court injunctions and threats of lawsuits”.

Ireland has topped a Reporters Without Borders Worldwide ranking for press freedoms… 

Ireland joint top in global press freedom league Ireland is among four countries rated first in an annual survey of press freedoms for the fourth consecutive year.

The fifth annual Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index also found a "steady erosion of press freedom" in France, the United States and Japan. (from the Irish Times, free vie eircom.net)

But how long will it last there with the proposed defamation and privacy bills?

In a joint letter to the Irish government the World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum said that the bills if enacted would…

 inhibit the way newspapers carry out their legitimate and important function in society

According to them the bills pave the for the destruction of many press freedoms in Ireland.

Google has said that the problem with Mulley.net being removed the ‘Thinkhouse PR’ search results was a technical issue and there was “nothing manual” about the action.

Mulley.net has returned to the Google search for Thinkhouse PR, it now takes up the second ranking just after the Dublin-based PR company’s website.

Following Mulley.net, the all important first page of Google search results for ‘Thinkhouse PR’ is filled with a number of other blog entries with a copy of Mulley’s open letter to the Irish Data Protection Commissioner. Page two to five of results are also dominated by blogs on the spam story.

Google’s Adam Lasnik had commented on Damien Mulley’s blog stating “Hey, I like a good conspiracy as much as the next guy (big X-Files fan… well, of the early years at least), but I must respectfully note that there’s no nefarious banning that’s gone on here”.

Lasnik added that “While it may be seen as unfortunate timing, some pages of mulley.net are currently not shown in our search results due purely to algorithmic factors… nothing manual or otherwise intentional about it”.

The Data Protection Commissioner’s decision on the matter of Thinkhouse Public Relations And Event Management Limited spamming Mulley says that the company was in the wrong, but told him “In concluding the investigation into the matters raised by you, this Office is prepared to accept the explanation given by Thinkhouse in this instance, and is satisfied that they are now aware of their obligations under Data Protection legislation”.

Thinkhouse has not replied to a Blurred Keys email request from comment.

After her notice is served, Claire Byrne is now free to take up her co-presenting job of ‘the Breakfast Show’ at the newly national radio station Newstalk.

What would normally be a low-profile civil contract case was covered by the Irish media with much fanfare, many column inches, radio snippets, and TV clips (even from RTE). The reported conspiracy to undermine RTE’s ‘we make all the personalities’ claim went into overdrive. MORE: Blogorrah.com

Jeff Jarvis, in his Media Guardian column on Monday, asks the question “Isn’t it time we ditched the newspaper leader writers?”.

Now that we have the internet (along with ‘Web 2.0’ etc), there’s apparently no need for such words to be written in newspapers. That’s why Jarvis writes a column in a newspaper. Of course, it’s not the simple.

Blurred Keys has found the middle ground. Stop the practice of publishing editorials without a named writer, or stop using them as what Jarvis terms as the “voices of institutions”. He says (no reg needed), “The irony of leader writers is that they commit the sins usually attributed to bloggers… they work anonymously”.

Keep them as prominent places to write about important issues, just not under a cloak.

Irish newspapers from tabloids to broadsheets publish anonymous editorials. It becomes stranger when such newspapers on the same page tell reads to always use their names and that anonymous letters to the editor will never be published.

Google has apparently removed a search listing pointing to a blogger’s complaint that the Thinkhouse PR were “repeatedly” spamming him.

In their ‘Media and Marketing’ section, the Sunday Tribune yesterday published a story on the Dublin-based Thinkhouse PR moving into an office in “virtual Dublin” in the online computer game Second Life; but good press doesn’t last if you spam the wrong person.

Damien Mulley author of Irish blog mulley.net, and chairman of the voluntary pressure group IrelandOffline, was sent unsolicited email multiple times, even after a number of removal requests.

Mulley originally posted an open letter to the Data Protection Commissioner on August 23, but controversy only arose today after he realised his post has apparently being black listed from a Google search index of ‘Thinkhouse PR’.

According to Mulley his first post had taken third position on the ‘Thinkhouse PR’ search, a post linking to his from Irish blog tomrafteryit.net has since taken the position.

Today – after realising the Google removal – Mulley asked bloggers to repost his open letter. So-far taking up the challenge or linking are tomrafteryit.net, damienblake.com, adammaguire.com, lexferenda.com, stalltheball.com, ocaoimh.ie, eirepreneur.blogs.com, irish.typepad.com, twentymajor.blogspot.com, dossing.blogspot.com, and blog.rsynnott.com.

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‘Red Mum’ has informed us, and her readers, that she has been in contact with Metro Ireland and that the issue over the unauthorised use of her photo (pictured above) is now resolved.

The blogger and flickr photographer explained that she was “in contact with Metro yesterday and sent them a link to the orginal flickr pic” adding that “I just received an email back saying payment would shortly be on it’s way”

Although some bloggers were almost dismayed over the lifting of the image, one tabloid hack who has done time at a Dublin redtop told Blurred Keys that “it happens all the time”.

Blogs go ducky as Metro apprently uses photos without permission

A well known Irish blogger and Flickr up-loader, ‘RedMum’, has said one of her photographs of rubber ducks was published - without permission or credit - on the front page of last Thursday’s Metro in Dublin.

Usually spotted in bath tubs, the rubber ducks were in the Liffey for the Today FM Children’s Lifeline Duck Race 2006.

When Blurred Keys phoned Metro, the picture desk told us that if the case was as outlined the photographer should contact and invoice them.

The Dublin edition of Metro is backed by Metro International, Associated Newspapers Limited, and the Irish Times. The morning freesheet newspaper is distributed on streets and at Dart and Luas stations. Their offices are with Associated Newspapers Ireland in Ballsbridge.

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