Ethics got lost in Murdoch rise

Angela Long used to see Rupert Murdoch shuffling around Wapping in his home-knitted jumpers. That was before ethics went to hell in his newspapers (and his latest wife smartened up his attire). But this is serious...it's about society and democracy

Bliss was it to be alive in that ....afternoon in July, sitting in front of the telly, pot of tea, watching something I never, ever, thought we'd see: Rupert Murdoch in the dock.

Denham's appointment a chance for change

The incoming chief justice Susan Denham has skills and experience to usher in key changes, writes Vincent Browne, changes that are sorely needed in the Irish system of 'justice'

The Parliament of our people, the institution that supposedly holds the government of the day to account, wasn't even told that the State (ie, the Irish public) has guaranteed €50 billion in loans the Central Bank has given to the commercial banks over the last few years.

News Corp backs out of BSkyB takeover bid

News Corp has embraced the inevitable in dropping its bid for BSkyB. But it's just another day, another bombsell, in this extraordinary saga, writes Angela Long.

Jeff Randall, immensely likeable business journalist on Sky News, was as usual giving it large. ‘I’ve seen some pretty big mea culpas in my time, but this is the biggest of them all.’

Yoke of Murdoch loosens for politicians

The mice are roaring. A subject people is standing up to its oppressor. Angela Long on today's Commons debate about Murdoch, The News of the World, and the BSkyB bid.

There’s all-party agreement in the British parliament, at last out in the open, that the Murdoch press is a Bad Thing. Today (13 July) the House of Commons will stand solid behind a motion introduced by Labour leader, Ed Miliband. This motion declares that News Corp is not a fit and proper organisation to have a major role in the journalism enjoyed by the British public.

James Murdoch announces News of the World closure

The baby, the old saying goes, can sometimes be thrown out with the bathwater. But in today’s stunning news about the closure of the News of the World newspaper after168 years’ publication, it seems the bathwater has been let out to leave 200 staff high and dry while the woman (baby) widely seen as responsible is saved. Angela Long reports.

‘Gobsmacked’, ‘amazed’, ‘astonished’ were the words used by seasoned media watchers and journalists, many who pride themselves on not being surprised by anything.

 

Internship plan needs monitoring

Monica Lewinsky was the most famous example. The government here is about to bless them and give them respectability. But internships can be a bad thing for the workers, undermining the sacred principle that a worker is worth his keep, observes Angela Long

The ‘jobs package’ is being put through the commentariat wringer. In the background, Taoiseach Enda Kenny is quavering that it is, after all, just a modest proposal.

Asylum and refugees are issues which deserve attention

The plight of those stuck in reception centres while their claims for asylum are - slowly - processed is not a priority for government. However Justice Minister Alan Shatter has promised to review the overall situation. Catherine Kenny and Angela Long hope there will be some real justice for legitimate asylum-seekers

In Sri Lanka, free only to say what power wants to hear

On World Press Freedom Day, we should be grateful for our licence,taken for granted, to say what we think. In Sri Lanka, it's not the case. Angela Long attends a thought-provoking lecture

A free press is something we enjoy in Ireland. According to world surveys, the Irish media is luxuriously unfettered by global standards. You might not be conscious of it, but robust criticism of government policies and personalities, the uncomplimentary analysis of Vincent Browne and others, is something that could not happen, unmolested, in many countries.

Marr's confession could be turning point for super-injunctions

A MILDLY salacious scandal across the way brings up questions of privacy, prurience and media attitudes when their own ‘go rogue’. By Angela Long.

Andrew Marr, the lean and hyperactive BBC frontman, has a distinguished career in print and broadcast behind him. He’s also at the centre of a story both extraordinary and mundane. It’s extraordinary because he, a ‘serious journalist’, sought a gagging order from the British High Court on stories about him; and mundane because it is about that most common of misbehaviour, an extra-marital affair.

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