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