Shannon stopovers
The mainstream media's neglect of what has been landing at Shannon Airport cannot be separated from its distaste for (what's left of) the anti-war movement.
The psychopathology is most evident in The Irish Times, where conservatism wages war with "newspaper of record" pretensions, and usually wins. The brief appearance in that paper last week of the Shannon "torture-plane" story, "US aircraft at Shannon to come under UN scrutiny", actually underlines the paper's problem.
This particular article had two classic qualities that brought it safely under The Irish Times political radar: (1) it was a follow-up to another paper's story, a Guardian report about a wider international inquiry; and (2) it was about the confirmed activity of a reputable official body, a UN commission. D'Olier Street's obsession with political and bureaucratic deliberations is beyond a joke after so many years of "Northern Ireland talks about talks" headlines, and even its pre-Iraq-invasion coverage was dominated by Security Council arguments that the rest of us knew were pointless and diversionary.
Amusingly, given that it passed the IT tests, the UN-scrutiny-at-Shannon story barely stands up: as you read it, it's clear that a guy who may be launching a deep UN probe into US "extraordinary renditions" told the paper that, yes indeed, some Irish people had mentioned Shannon to him and he must be sure to look into that some time. If you're waiting for the UN Commission on Human Rights to shake the foundations of the State, don't hold your breath.
Meanwhile, will the paper do the most basic Fourth Estate duty? "US aircraft at Shannon to come under Irish Times scrutiny"? Unlikely. In that paper's columns only Fintan O'Toole has got commendably agitated about the torture-plane, and it wasn't sustained agitation. (Most Shannon agitators believe a larger crime is being committed at Shannon in the facilities given to tens of thousands of US troops; but the possibility of flights full of men who have been kidnapped and manacled en route to Guantanamo provides a focus that is both dramatic and more transparently criminal.)
As of Meejit's deadline, The Irish Times hadn't even followed up last week's story, perhaps because it belatedly recognised that at its heart is not "the UN", but the brilliant, tireless activity of one or two activists who spot planes and tell anyone in the world who will listen what is happening at Shannon – be it a Swedish journalist or a UN rapporteur. The Irish Times may like "one person can make a difference" stories when they're about some celebrity charity fundraiser, but not when they're about political trouble-makers.
For a brief period in early 2003, the mainstream media actually found itself providing communication infrastructure for the anti-war movement. In Britain two dailies turned front-pages into placard-ready posters for the marching mob. In Ireland it wasn't quite like that. But as RTÉ, The Irish Times and others focused on international debates, they saw the merit, and audience interest, in bringing the debate home. In a political turn-up for the books, Richard Boyd Barrett became our own local Chirac.
The writing was on the wall, however. The short shrift given to the most effective Irish protests of that period, the Shannon "disarmament" by Mary Kelly and the Pitstop Ploughshares, indicated journalists were still policing the limits of "legitimate dissent".
Today, those limits usually exclude those of us who demand immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and from Shannon. And the limits are careful about promoting anti-war events: an archive search early this week found The Irish Times had not mentioned this Saturday's Shannon protest since 10 August.
Meanwhile, even as the US anti-war movement showed signs of revival with the inspiration of "Gold Star mom" Cindy Sheehan, a short Irish Times interview with her Scottish equivalent, Rose Gentle, reported that she would be speaking in Dublin – but curiously omitted the time and venue. It seems her fight, and ours, will have to proceed with scant media assistance.