Blurred Keys

It is wrong gardai are lining up to pressure Evening Herald journalists to reveal the source of its story of a junior minster’s wrong doing. However, at the same time, the newspaper makes it very hard for people to take it seriously.

In a cover story yesterday afternoon, the newspaper highlighted how gardai are asking journalists for interviews, as well as requesting documents. It was a predictable move by the gardai.  There was also at least three comment articles on the issue.

The newspaper, however, makes it hard for people to take it seriously. The city final edition on Tuesday led with a story about an ex-lover’s argument on a street. The ex-lovers are a TV presenter and former model and high-profile developer, but the argument was nothing more than a noisy row. This is the kind of non-story with no possible public interest that the Evening Herald deems fit for its lead front-page story. How can this newspaper be taken seriously?

Entertainment or gossip stories also featured in all of the top four places on the paper’s website at different times when it was checked yesterday and today. What do I expect from the Herald? Is some solid Dublin news too much to ask for? Not too long ago the paper was at least good for that, you could over look it’s tone for some solid news not found elsewhere. This is not to say there is there is no place for entertainment stories, but rather a newspaper should be putting solid news first. And the paper’s editorialising and sensationalism seems to be getting worse.

This may all be viewed a ivory tower commentary. But the Evening Herald is losing circulation on a scale not seen at any other paper tracked by the ABC.  The downward trend at the Herald has also being more constant than most other. The average net circulation for the newspapers is down to 69,351  last year, compared to 104,137 just eight years ago in 2002. People may be reading the paper but fewer and fewer are willing to buy it. Furthermore, only an average of 61,438 people last year picked up the paper at its full price.

Within yesterday’s edition the paper covered the issue of a 30km/h speed limit in Dublin City Centre. The monthly Dublin City Council meeting was held on Monday. A Fine Gael councillor wanted the whole 30km/h zone scraped — even for small streets — so he tabled an emergency motion. Labour Party council members were willing to compromise reverting back to 50km/h on wider roads that were further away from the most pedestrian heavy areas. An amendment was attached to the Fine Gael motion. Both failed to reach the required amounts of votes.

Amazingly the first paragraph of the story covering this council vote in the Evening Herald, read: “A majority of city politicians want to revert the divisive 30kph speed limit — but it is here to stay because they can’t agree on how to change it”. This is nonsense, and clearly an inaccurate account of a highly contentious issue  (It should be noted that the online edition for some reason has a more accurate intro to the same article).

A comment article which appeared below the news story in the print edition was equally twisting of reality. It said: “The one bit of positivity last night was that Mr Slow finally bowed to public pressure when he tabled a motion for an amendment that would allow certain zones to revert to a 50kph limit. But it ended in failure when the number of votes fell short of the required majority.” No context or mention that those councillors who wanted the whole zone removed would not go along with the compromise. This is ill-informed or unbalanced commentary, it’s unclear which, maybe both.

Another thing you miss by not seeing the printed paper is the use of photos. One politician at the centre of the story is pictured, fine. One happy female journalist is shown in a byline photograph, fine. But then you have another female journalist (no byline on the page) in a photograph posing under a 30km/h sign, why? What’s the need for female journalists to be pictured like this? This practice is common at the Evening Herald, among others. How can a paper be taken seriously if it treats one section of its journalist like this?

Then there is also another woman pictured under a list of councillors voting — who is she? There’s no caption. But looking at the list of councillors, one name is followed by “(pictured)”. This councillor is not mentioned in the news or comment article on the page, and is has not being anyway notably vocal on this issue. Can anybody really take the Evening Herald seriously?

Gardai are very likely to have used current data retention laws to look at the phone records of the journalists in questions. Like the new wider Data Retention Bill which in its final stages before the Houses of the Oireachtas, no court order is need for this. So where do the paper stand on this? We were expecting to find nothing on the Evening Herald’s website about data retention, but there was a telling article about the paper’s position.

An opinion article without a byline – possibly an editorial — is headlined “Cack-handed Greens have made themselves look wobbly on crime” (Thursday, July 16, 2009). It said: “Eamon Ryan then let it be known that he’d fought bravely with the minister for justice to secure “significant changes” to the crime legislation on data retention published earlier this week”. This type of law has being passed in recent years in the name of tackling gangland crime and terrorism.

Of course the problem with this cheerleading of the Data Retention Bill and the then criminal justice bill, which the article also mentions, is that these types of laws have too wide of a scope to be abused. The Herald said, “all the evidence suggests that this is a bill the public wants to see passed right away.” But it’s this kind of law which now allows gardai to look at journalists phone records without court orders. The cheerleaders of bad laws do not have the moral right to cry when the kind of laws they promote are turned on them. Should anybody have any sympathy for them now?

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

You’d expect a good deal of Dublin news on the Evening Herald’s recently launched website. But very little city news little can be seen on the homepage at Hearld.ie.

When Blurred Keys tried the site today, the first viewable screen without scrolling down hadn’t a single Dublin story.

Read the rest of this entry »

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

Whether it’s Evening Herald on-the-road newspaper seller (as pictured above) or distributors
of freesheets Herald AM, and Metro, newspaper distributors are a common sight
on Dublin roads, on traffic islands, or between cars, trucks, and buses.

Apparently the Evening Herald yesterday featured alarming news
that people on roads and moving even between stopped traffic could be a hazard.
The story focused on people selling the service of windscreen washing, but don’t
newspaper sellers and distributors cause at least similar hazards?

Independent News & Media is apparently Sir Tony O’Reilly’s cash cow…

O’Reilly alone took €110m in payments from Independent Newspapers since 2000, while jobs are being cut and outsourced to make way for even more largesse - Village.ie

An over due update to our post in early February - Independent News & Media are now trying to outsource Dublin sub-editing and layout jobs to RE&D.

Sub-editing staff at IN&M are apparently reluctance to move to the new company, according to the Sunday Business Post who quotes a source saying the people who move will be paid ‘‘above-market rates’’ (but less then IN&M pays them now).

The same newspaper says that RE&D was set up by two former IN&M employees and is based at Hanover Quay in the south Dublin Docklands.

NUJ members "expressed serious concern", and the Irish Times also quoted (paid sub reqd) NUJ Irish secretary "Séamus Mr Dooley" saying "We are looking for more specific information about what is on
offer and we will be looking for agreement in principle for NUJ
recognition in any new operation".

Meanwhile, Roy Greenslade is reporting how IN&M are pushing the same outsourcing at their New Zealand arm APN News & Media. And, with help from Adam Maguire, Greenslade is also talking about the Irish story.

UPDATE: Read more on this at pressgazette.co.uk

It is noteworthy that the arrests came on the day of yet another
gangland shooting and that the execution of the arrest was made by
detectives from the National Bureau Criminal Investigation who should
properly be investigating serious organised and drug crime rather than
a journalist.

The fact that the Minister for Justice Michael
McDowell has the gardaí investigating the media instead of the
godfather of crime does not instil confidence.

- Stephen Raehe, Editor of the Evening Herald

• Government admits role in journalist’s arrest
  Breakingnews.ie, 22/02/2007
• Editor’s anger over journalist’s arrest
  Ireland.com, 22/02/2007
• Row erupts over the arrest of journalist Mick McCaffrey
  Liveline, 22/02/2007 (MP3)
• Reporter investigated over police leak is released without charge
  Pressgazette.co.uk, 22/02/2007

(Apologies for
the delay in publishing this post)