Blurred Keys

The Dublin Cleraun Media Forum sessions continue tonight (Monday, February 26) with the topic of ‘Fairness and balance’.

It will be moderated by Pat Leahy, political correspondent at the Sunday Business Post, and is based on a talk by Rachael English at the 11th Cleraun Media Conference last October.

The one hour forum starts at 8pm at Cleraun University Centre, 90 Foster Avenue, Mount Merrion, Dublin.

A more up-to-date list is now here.

Since the original post was published the number of links we have to Irish
journalists’ blogs has massively expanded – mostly thanks to reader’s
comments on the last post.

Again, this is by no means a complete list. You can post additions,
corrections, comments, and, as always, abuse below. (You can comment
here without entering an email address, or name).

Adam Maguire, freelancer
Adrian Weckler, tech journalist / editor, S. Business Post
Dave Forsythe, Deputy Editor, Cork Independent
Declan Cashin, subeditor the Star; col. Irish Independent
Fergus Cassidy, freelancer
Gavin Sheridan, freelance sub-editor, Irish Examiner
Harry McGee, political editor, Irish Examiner
Haydn Shaughnessy tech journalist, the Irish Times
John Maguire, film critic, Irish Independent
John Reynolds, freelancer
John Naughton, (UK-based) columnist, the Observer
John Collins, tech journalist, the Irish Times
Karlin Lillington, tech journalist, the Irish Times
Kevin Rafter, assistant editor/political editor, Sunday Tribune
Kathy Foley freelancer, & columnist, the Sunday Times
Máirtín Ó Muilleoir, Andersonstown News Group
Ronan Fitzgerald, freelance journalist (the Guardian, Pitchfork)
Ruairi Roddy, technology officer, Thomas Crosbie Holdings
Ronan Price, Editor, Herald AM; tech col., Evening Herald 
Richard Delevan, business editor and col., Sunday Tribune
Sinead Gleeson, arts journalist, the Irish Times
Sarah Carey columnist the Sunday Times
Tom Griffin, (UK-based)
Una Mullally, journalist, Sunday Tribune

Prangle.ie, Ireland’s latest press release service website, is now open to journalists.

With a mixture of print journalism and internet developing, the project
is headed by Douglas Dalby (late of the Sunday Times), Fiachra Ó
Marcaigh, Paul Clerkin, and Michael Cunningham.

The list of PR firms that Prangle have signed up includes MRPA Kinman,
Q4, Drury, Murray Consultants, Slattery Communications, WHPR, Financial
Dynamics, Edelman, FleishmanEurope and SimpsonFT.

In contrast to the existing Irish press release website, Prangle is login-based with free
accounts for journalists and paid subscriptions for PR agencies.

The Dublin office of PR giant Edelman has just launched a blog at edelmandublin.com/blog.

It’s currently at the early stages (while browsing, we even noticed expanding sidebar links), and that the content will be media focused.

“It’ll typically consist of media news, stories and trends which grab our interest and contributions from various members of staff such as the piece on the site from Seamus Mulconry, our head of PA” commented Piaras Kelly, at Edelman Dublin.

Edelman’s clients in Ireland include Diageo, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Sustainable Energy Ireland, Forfas and bmi.

Recently, on his personally blog, Kelly posted analyses of the Edelman Trust Barometer from Ireland. The results show that the media is the third lowest trusted sector, just above the banking and insurance industries. 

In an update to our previous post on the 2007 3 Smedia awards, the awards section at oxygen.ie was updated, the closing date for entrees is now shown as March 5.

Our digital camera has been filling up with images in the last few months, many of them sights relating to the media in Dublin - so why not share them…

We didn’t go out intending to compile the images into a post, so the reason there’s not a TV3 crew but there is a picture of an RTE News presenter and camera man is because the random opportunity of snapping the latter just happened.

Of course there’s obvious shots we don’t have like the many newspaper sellers on O’Connell Street, sellers of the Evening Herald at on busy roads, fresh stacks of freesheets just thrown on the luggage holders of double-deckers, the Today FM offices Blurred Keys has past countless time and so on. Maybe next time?…

Please post comments, suggestions, abuse, and even complements below (you don’t even have to enter a name or email address)…

The former offices of Independent News & Media on Abbey St.

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Above is the common sight of the ‘distributors’ standing side by side handing out Dublin’s two morning freesheets at Heuston Station in Dublin.

The person in the red is distributing Herald AM (Independent News & Media), while the person in blue handing out Metro (Metro International, Associated Newspapers Limited, and the Irish Times).

Earlier today, English journalist Ian Bailey started an appeal over the failed libel action against Irish and UK newspapers over their linking of him to the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier.

Bailey was arrested twice, but never charged. The newspaper involved are the Daily Telegraph, the Times, the Sunday Times and IN&M titles the Sunday Independent, (London) Independent on Sunday, and the Irish Daily Star (then the Star).
More text and video at RTE.ie.

It is understood that many of the changes will be in
the production and sub-editing area, where IN&M will seek to
outsource some of the production of the newspapers from their base in
Talbot Street. The group has already made a similar move in the North,
where there were over 100 redundancies at the Belfast Telegraph,
followed by a moving of some pre-press production to Armagh.

…From a Sunday Business Post article, titled ‘Independent titles braced for major staff cuts’, on possible job cuts at newspapers run by Independent News & Media. Below is what chief executive Tony O’Reilly had to said about outsourcing in company’s annual report…

With the exception of the magic of writing and
editing news . . . almost every other function, except printing, is
location-indifferent. No reader knows where the page is made up. No
reader understands or cares about where telesales or marketing are
located.

In other Independent News and Media Plc news this week, Irish billionaire Denis O’Brien increased his shareholding in the company from 3% to 5%.

The Post also reported today (article not online at the time of writing) that O’Brien most likely wanted his share increases to be known as he could have increased his holding to 4.9% without being obliged to declare such.

A review of an Italian restaurant published in the Irish News newspaper has been found defamatory by a Belfast jury.

The newspaper, which was landed with a bill of £25,000 in damages, is to appeal the judgment.

Owner of the west Belfast ‘Goodfellas’ restaurant, Ciaran Convery, said the review was a "hatchet job". While the reviewer Caroline Workman said it was "completely honest".

A spokesman for the newspaper said "The outcome of this case raises profound questions involving the freedom of the press". Referring to a possible precedent, the National Union of Journalists called the result “disturbing”.

More at guardian.co.uk and at irishexaminer.com.

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