Media Forum: Inside the Irish Mainstream Media

national | arts and media | news report

Sunday April 25, 2004 13:28

by dunk

fuspey at yahoo dot co dot uk

part of indymedia festival

Media Forum: Inside the Irish Mainstream Media
11am Saturday April 24th - Screening Space

This forum includes speakers from both inside the mainstream media and those outside attempting to create alternatives. It will take a look at the media in Ireland and internationally and ask how free and objective it is in reality and what can be done to improve it.

Panel: Vincent Browne (RTE, Irish Times), Harry Browne (writer & lecturer in Journalism), Sean O'Siochrú (CRIS campaign), Ciaran Moore (Indymedia Editor), Jack Byrne (NEARfm).

Chair; Margeret (CMN, community media network)

"Is mainstream media free fair and objective?"

Nowadays, this radical press has all but disappeared from the world of mainstream media and the vast majority of our information is controlled by a tiny number of powerful individuals. Noam Chomsky has famously argued that in our current society the mass media operates according to a "propaganda model" where the mass media produces information that passes through a number of filters, which all serve to shape information to the needs of the powerful.

Order of speakers:
Vincent Browne
Ciaran Moore
Jack Byrne
Sean O'Siochrú
Harry Browne

Overwhelming answer: "NO! so its up to all of us to create and keep creating the global alternative media"

Vincent Browne::
Opened and talked about the issue of mainstream media, is it "free fair and objective"-
He made reference to Noam Chomsky and then went on to say how Irish mainstream media was controlled by one man- Tony O`Reilly
He talked about the rising level of corporate control over the journalistic duty to tell the truth, how a target audience is desired by the Irish times and how the paper is directed to their interests- category 1-2 of the market, was how i think he referred to the market- upper- middle class, mostly southside Dublin.
Filtration of the news was an issue he talked about and how certain stories got over talked about (Brian Murphy case)
He also talked about how libel affects the limits to which journalists can push things, he himself has been sued and was threatened with all his property to be taken away if he followed a certain direction.
He outlined how Dermot Desmond, one of Irelands most powerful in the corporate world, is not allowed to be mentioned within the Times, at one point saying that even the name Denis Desmond was not to be used as such a close ring.
Eircom and the Beef tribunal were also talked about.
Vincent finished by outlining the diversionary tacticts used by the media to focus on the violence surrounding mayday protests as opposed to examining the issues that were being protested about and how he supported the protestors in their outlining all that is wrong with the direction the EU is going.
(Perhaps others will add more informed reports)

Margaret was careful with the wording of the introduction for the next speaker:

Ciaran Moore::
Spoke on behalf of the INDYMEDIA collective- he spoke as an individual working for the open network, in his own personal capacity.
Ciaran responded to Vincent’s description of the monopoly over mainstream media with a brief description of how, when and why indymedia came about, in Seattle 1999.
He outlined how it was important that it was non hierarchical, democratic, open to all and there for the "passionate tellings of the truth".
He described the things IMC`s do- website, paper, screenings. he also said how one indymedia group, urbana-champaign in the US were even buying their own building and developing their own record label
the message is simple "don’t hate the media- be the media"

Jack Byrne:
Jack has been at this game for a long time, the pioneer and founding father of NEAR fm, the local community radio station, broadcasting from Coolock that has been running for the last 10 years.
He stressed to people not to just be at it for the short weekends of activism but to "roll up the sleeves and get stuck into it for life", he stressed the need for committed people to really engage with their communities, commented on how there was so much energy and enthusiasm present in the indymedia centre and how there was a lot of spaces where they could "really make a difference and change the world"
He talked about the need to engage with the "broader community" and to try to engage with and appeal to the "distracted, uninterested and apathetic in today’s society"
he was the first to mention the basic reality of all of this "at present the media is controlled by the few" and what is needed on this planet is " a global network of alternative media"

Sean O'Siochrú :
Spoke on behalf of CRIS (Campaign for rights in information society) and also works with CMN (community media network)
Sean outlined how the creeping paranoid forces of big business are infringing on our civil liberties and how the right to right to freely exchange information is being attacked.
He talked about the monitoring of information, especially in the wake of September 11 and the need for "surveillance" in the name of "anti- terrorist work". He stressed the need to develop more groups in the growing alternative media network and to strengthen the links between them. Sean talked about the Dublin Community TV station that they were developing and how on receiving their television licence they would have access to every Dublin living room, this is a fantastic opportunity to really get through to people, an outlet for our media activism, a space to communicate. Even if we had not sufficient local material there is still the ability to braodcast relevant and critical programmes being made in other countries (such as the wonderful work being done by UNDERCURRENTS, making alternative news for last 15 years and who had the premier of their latest work on the opening night of the centre)

Harry Browne:
One time journalist with the Irish times, left and now writes for Counterpunch and teaches in a Dublin media school:
Backed up what Vincent had said stressed the need for alternative media. Outlined the control Murdock has over press- how back in Vietnam war days in the US, not one paper was calling for troop withdrawal, even though their were hundreds of thousands on the streets demanding it and how again not one of the mainstream US papers has not called for withdrawal from Iraq.
Harry said he wondered what was the function of “media schools”, how he teaches in one but does not think they create critical thinking and questioning. He himself found the Irish times to be too controlling. (not sure whether he quit or was asked to go?)
He also referred to the completely over the top hype surrounding the media`s talk about violence on mayday.

Questions and comments were made from the floor and a telephone call made to NEARfm was also spoken out
Some of them were the following::
-Great to see that the “late late show” gave coverage of –grassroots mayday activists- how such a prime slot would not be given in UK, but pity it did not focus on the issues
-what were Jack Byrnes views on the closure of pirate radio stations
-advice for people working within the mainstream media on “telling the truth” – harry`s response was to maybe work within and outside the establishment
-is the Irish media becoming more like italy, where a single person, burlesconi, controls all media. Panellists said that was a ridiculous extreme, which was widely known by all and that it resulted in a very strong alternative independent press. Yes the irish media is, without a doubt becoming more corporate controlled.
-is the irish times becoming more right wing- YES
-Requests from the panel for people to get involved with indymedia, community tv, community radio

Margaret finished by saying that opening the centre, Ireland’s first independent media centre, was perhaps the proudest day of her life, there was no champagne or massive crowds only the energy and buzz of those involved in getting it ready. Opening the key and seeing people come in for the launch was something special, it is a big massive step for Ireland’s independent media network.

“don’t hate the media- be the media”

____________________________________

Vincent Browne
http://www.rte.ie/radio1/evening/vincentbrowne/
http://www.thepost.ie/web/Sitemap/1.9did-331829883-pageUrl--2FThe-Newspaper-2FSundays-Paper-2FComment-and-Analysis-2FVincent-Browne.asp
Questions the tribunal should ask O'Reilly

Ciaran Moore
http://www.indymedia.ie/index.php

Jack Byrne
http://www.nearfm.ie/index.html

Sean O'Siochrú
Links added soon

Harry Browne
http://www.counterpunch.org/browne1.html

Margaret Gillian
http://www.cmn.ie

event was recorded for film by CMN and indymedia, and braodcast live by Near fm (101.6) http://www.nearfm.ie/

forum will also be first english speaking piece in upcoming global IMC-project
http://www.indymedia.org/en/static/videoprojects.shtml

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Comments (14 of 14)

independant media centre

Sun Apr 25, 2004 13:30

2nd try

(CRIS) Communications Rights in the Information Society

Mon Apr 26, 2004 10:52

(CRIS) is a campaign to ensure that communication rights are central to the information society and to the upcoming World Summit to the Information Society (WSIS). The campaign is sponsored and supported by the Platform for Communication Rights, a group of NGOs involved in media and communication projects around the word.

check out their website and
ENDORSE THE CRIS CHARTER!

The CRIS Charter has been available in French, English and Spanish on-line for over a year now, clearly stating our position, commitment and areas of action. We now invite you to support the CRIS campaign by endorsing the Charter, either as individuals, or if you can, in the name of your organization. Your support for the international campaign has been invaluable so far and without you the work of the campaign would not be half as effective as it has been

WE Seize! : Getting To Grips With Information Society

Mon Apr 26, 2004 11:05

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) is a full United Nations Summit that was held 10-12 December 2003 in Geneva. there is a second meeting in Tunis in 2005. [Official Website]

Community media and other civil society organisations organised a number of events to run alongside and contra to the WSIS which, they believe, fails to promote media diversity or engage with the question of fair access to the Information Society.

The "We Seize" initiative organised a follow-up to the Hub-Project in Florence. A number of imcistas were involved
http://hubproject.org/archives/display_by_id.php?feature_id=14

A one day event labelled as World Forum on Communication Rights also took place in Geneva alongside the WSIS summit
http://www.communicationrights.org/

more info found @ imc.uk
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/actions/2003/wsis/

we seize

Thanks for the report Dunk.

by R. Isible

Tue Apr 27, 2004 20:25

An important part of the festival should be reports back on it from participants. Do you know if the two Brownes are related?

huh?

by pc

Wed Apr 28, 2004 10:10

He outlined how Dermot Desmond, one of Irelands most powerful in the corporate world, is not allowed to be mentioned within the Times, at one point saying that even the name Denis Desmond was not to be used as such a close ring.?

just reporting what i heard at the forum

Wed Apr 28, 2004 10:49

perhaps others who attended could expand on this matter

Clarification

by Harry Browne

Wed Apr 28, 2004 12:37

Thanks to dunk for the report, and I'll try to fill in answers to the couple of questions that have arisen.

The two Brownes are entirely unrelated so far as we know.

I left the staff of the Irish Times voluntarily in 2002, as part of a redundancy exodus when the paper got into financial trouble. However, I continued to write a weekly radio-review column until October 2003, when I was dropped after various politics-related spats. These days I have a much freer though irregular hand in the Evening Herald, believe it or not.

Dermot Desmond is the actual subject of media paranoia about libel suits. I was told to avoid writing about Denis Desmond because editors were typically confused and over-cautious! However, I eventually overcame the confusion, abused MCD in print and was rewarded with a solicitor's letter. (Our lawyer stood firm and there was no follow-up.)

I do write for Counterpunch. However, the link you've given is to an entirely different and unrelated Harry Browne (confused yet?), who is the Libertarian Party presidential candidate this year and every other election year. The links below are to my last two Counterpunch pieces.
I think that's all!

http://www.counterpunch.org/browne03152004.html

A few more brief reports

by Anthony - IMSG

Wed Apr 28, 2004 16:14

Well done, Dunk. The above report - in my opinion - is your best post to Indymedia yet. I generally find your writing to be a lot of effort to decipher (in regards to punctuation, syntax and structure) and I have to admit that when pressed for time, I often just skip past your posts.

I've missed most of the events in the centre so it's good to hear a report on the event above as I imagined that it would be an interesting forum. Here are a few brief reports on the events I did manage to catch:

Kev's workshop on Desktop Publishing was very good. It demystified the whole process of publishing a printed newsletter. It started off from the basics to show how a perfectly adequate newsletter could be produced using commonly available software with a minimum of technical knowledge needed.

Seamas Dooley's workshop on Sunday was also quite interesting when he talked about the relationship between journalists and members of the public and that which exists between journalists and the establishment. He also covered how ownership of the media affects the the output of the media and made the case that the press council which will be set up in the near future be independent of the state as the experience of other countries has shown this produces the best results. Other issues such as journalistic ethics, the functions of editors and sub-editors, the role of the NUJ, the rights of journalists (basically the same as any other citizen), and the rights a citizen has to redress from slander appearing in the newspaper were discussed. I found Mr. Dooley to be very frank, rational and attentive to all the questions which were put to him.

Berlusconi's Mousetrap (shown on Sunday night) from Indymedia's very own Eammon Crudden was excellent. As a documentary covering the events and issues surrounding the G8 summit in Genoa in 2001, it certainly stands up to repeated viewing.

Joining the Love - In

by ec

Wed Apr 28, 2004 16:32

Yes BMT screening was good. Had good Q/A session in centre and bar afterwards and met lots of nice heads I hadn't met before. I got a particular buzz out of showing premiere of a short film made by me and O in three days which was finished literally 35 minutes and a car ride before it was screened for first time. It's called 'a statement is a weapon in an empty hand' as a kind of tribute to the gone but not forgotten Hope Collective who I admired from a distance during my rock and roll youth. They released one record with 4 bands with the same title during their existence.

Hopefully It'll be on the web soon.

enjoyed the short

Wed Apr 28, 2004 17:24

it was great to see how someone walking up and down in front of buiudling could be such a threat...

two things said on the vid...

that the army was on standby in large numbers on feb 15th and didn't know what to do if called out....

ok its standard practice at large scale events to have the riot vans parked around the corner but the army... ? that means the 100,000 thousand were under suspicion? and how would they distinguish between so called good and bad protestors on that day every person there was liable for battoning it seems

and the bit where when eoin was arrested and the gardai put on the story he had a flick knife

and when he rung newstalk106 they said they rang up the gards everyone half for an update and they were so pround they then put that news within tens seconds....

so no checking the story then at all newstalk has gone down in my estimation, no realising there be used by the police

the talk by the head of the nuj was the most enlightening thing ive been to in ages....

and he did try to explain the restrictions out on journos and the influence of owners, but it wasn't very clear how much responsibilty journos took for their stories and where the line with that was

agree or disagree? re the dicussion on sunday.... i got the impression that the
speaker who suggested i was taring all journos with one brush was only tarring with two,
tabloids versus broadsheets or (even union vs non-union).... i was suggesting
in my question that there seemed to be a veneer of believeabiltiy just cos it
was in a broadsheet, that papers like the irish times, good that they are aren't
beyond reproach... that if they say want to talk about david beckham they'll
start... "Tabloid newspapers have been reporting.." as if this then allows them
to go on repeating the story as if it were high brow media analysis.... this is
what i was suggesting about the first "wombles and football houligans " story in
the times, which i although i do believe they may be an element of troublemakers
from home and abroad it wasn't worth a whole article on its own (and without
balance within the article as to within the paper... which there was...:)

the fly.

by blake

Wed Apr 28, 2004 23:45

bzzzzt.
dermot desmond.
dermot desmond.
dermot desmond.
dermot desmond.
dermot desmond.
dermot desmond.
dermot desmond.
dermot desmond.
dermot desmond.
jayzus offices at the canal,
next to the DSPCA
who's a wookie now?

interaction with the mainstream media

Thu Apr 29, 2004 15:18

on the indymedia discussion lists, yet another journalist from within the mainstream contacted us, ella sent an email asking for an email for indymedias press person
"hi can you send me your press officer's email addres for ireland? thanks!"

she got this response

"Just to clarify that, we don't have a press officer. The website
collective doesn't have any official positions. It has an editorial and
technical group and that's about it. The
[email protected]
address is the general email list and should get everyone who is
involved in the web-site and some of the real world activity.

-Anthony
(1 of the editors)"

so , seeing as she did not get back to us i sent her the following email
__________________________________

hi ella

i hope that you do ask us some questions, better still come down to the cenre and see for yourself- and talk to us

http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=64610&condense_comments=false#comment71547

is quick post about not getting publicity about the festival and exhibiton we have created- part of whcih is about "informing people about the issues"

and in case you feel, like many, that we are "those loonies", i refer you to last saturdays highly engaging forum on "Media Forum: Mainstream Media and the alternatives"

with Panel: Vincent Browne (RTE, Irish Times), Harry Browne (writer & lecturer in Journalism), Sean O'Siochrú (CRIS campaign), Ciaran Moore (Indymedia Editor), Jack Byrne (NEARfm).
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=64567

which shows the state irelands media is in and the sort of things we in the independant and alternative media are doing in response: the setting up of the centre, the exhibtion, the films, the workshops, the screenings....

(this event was recorded for film by CMN and indymedia, and braodcast live by Near fm (101.6) http://www.nearfm.ie/
and the forum will also be first english speaking piece in upcoming global IMC-project )

i hope this helps,

i /we hope to hear form you

better still, we hope to see you and talk with you in the centre

most importantly though i hope more of the irish public hear about the centre and the issues on why people are protesting over the mayday weekend. in the hope that more is done to make it a better world

slán

duncan o`cruadhlaoich

after all the madness

Mon May 17, 2004 18:27

near fm did a lot of top quality coverage of may day weekend
i hope the archive of this forum will be here soon
perhaps some of imc-ie could tell us more about the global imc project now?

follow up work

Tue Jun 08, 2004 04:48

productive evening-
have called near, so hope they will put the sound recording of this event on their archive section, or else give us copy for direct upload here- we are probably going to do a transcript of it, so if anyone can give a hand....

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Media Forum: Inside the Irish Mainstream Media

Comments (14 of 14)