Blurred Keys

The 2008 Edelman Trust Barometer has recorded a rise in
trust of the mainstream media in Ireland among what the PR firm calls ‘opinion elites’.

The survey was conducted using 30-minute
telephone interviews among 150 college-educated respondents aged between 35 and 64. All were within the top 25 percent of household income nationally.

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A survey of Irish technology journalists revealed earlier this month that the vast majority agree a follow-up call to a press release is usually unhelpful.

The Technology Journalists’ Association (TJAI) of Ireland polled 21 tech journalists, 82 percent classed follow up calls as “usually unhelpful”, while an even larger amount, 91 percent, said language used in press releases is aimed at clients rather then journalists.

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The long list for of the Irish Blog Awards‘ Best Blog from a Journalist has been apparently ‘leaked’ (also below the gap).

Meanwhile, Blurred Keys‘ list of Irish journalist who blog has expanded to just under 40.

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The Irish Times reported yesterday that the Irish Health and Safety Authority and gardai have told Dublin newspaper publishers to stop distributing at road junctions in the city.

Freesheets Metro and Herald AM as well as the Evening Herald are affected.

Last June the Evening Herald featured a story which announced that people moving between stopped traffic could be a hazard.

That story was referring to window screen washers, but it now seams the HSA think newspaper sellers and distributes are also in danger, while the police are also concerned at any possible affect on traffic movement. 

MORE: Junctions ‘unsafe’ for newspaper distribution

A new monthly Irish music publication, State Magazine, is to release its first edition on March 6, describing it self as a quality monthly music magazine aimed at the Electric Picnic generation.

The magazine’s website, State.ie, is already online with content such as Ireland-exclusive interviews.

State is should stand somewhere between the mainstream Hotpress and the underground Foggy Notions.

MORE: Mag to aim at Electric Picnic generation
MORE: Ireland’s new music monthly states its case
MORE: Online edit talks of his involvement

University Collage Cork is to hold
a journalism conference next month which will ask if newspapers are on
their last leg and in danger of being replaced by new media.

The event will include speakers from newspapers and new media.

MORE: The Ballyfermot Post

The editor of an Irish Sunday newspaper said she was “still as idealistic” as the day she started journalism even thought her business editor was sacked recently in questionable circumstances. 

In the January edition of the Dubliner magazine Noirin Hegarty, editor of the Sunday Tribune,
said “I love what we do at the Sunday Tribune. I’m still as idealistic
as the day I started in journalism and I believe in its role as the
fourth estate”.

Asked how she can remain idealistic after the questionable sacking of
her former business editor, Hegarty said “Thank you for your interest
in the Sunday Tribune. This is an internal company matter bound
by a confidentiality agreement. It is more complicated than it appears
and I won’t be commenting further”.

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The Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland will hear the case of restaurant review which was said to be defamatory by a jury last year.

The review of the ‘Goodfellas’ Italian restaurant in west Belfast was published in the Irish News newspaper in 2000.

Last February, £25,000 in damages was awarded against the newspaper to restaurant owner Ciaran Convery,
who said the review was a "hatchet job".

Meanwhile, the reviewer, Caroline
Workman, said it was "completely honest", the Irish News said the case "raises
profound questions involving the freedom of the press", while the NUJ called the result “disturbing”. The appeal is due to be heard on Wednesday. (Via Greenslade)

The Office of the Press Ombudsman in Dublin is to open its doors for the first time today.

According to presscouncil.ie, the website of the ombudsman and the Press Council of Ireland, complaints will be accepted for articles published in newspapers or magazines after today.

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