Media

Television: New Year revolution needed at RTÉ

^^ After serving up an embarrassing diet of terrible Christmas television, it's time for RTÉ to reflect on its current schedules and make big changes. Tired Late Late Show, Prime Time, and Questions and Answers formats will need to be replaced with something fresh ahead of the upcoming general election

 

Meejit 21-12-06

The jury is in: Back when it was last glorious summer, I crowed loudly – in this column and elsewhere – in praise of jury trials. The occasion was the July acquittal of the five people accused of “criminal damage without lawful excuse”, on a hangar and US navy aircraft, at Shannon Airport in 2003.

 

Radio: Wilson calm amid the hysteria

The day after Anthony Campbell and Martin Hyland were murdered in Finglas, Mary Wilson was a composed, clear voice (Drivetime, 5-6.30pm, weekdays, RTÉ Radio 1). She didn't do the usual lazy RTÉ thing of getting Paul Reynolds on air to shout loudly from the scene of the crime, spurting Garda leaks. Instead, she gave Independent TD Tony Gregory a long stretch to explain the situation. He questioned whether the Garda have the resources to catch the killers. He told of how detection rates for gangland murders are incredibly low.

Television: Prime Time alarmism over Muslims

If Ireland wasn't in fear of Muslims at the beginning of Prime Time Investigates' ‘Suspicious Minds' documentary, it certainly was at the end. Dubious commentators, alarmist allegations and the flimsiest of evidence – not the stuff we are used to from the programme's erstwhile reliable research team

 

Sunday World makes unsubstantiated allegations against Bertie Ahern

Media Commentary: On Friday 24 November, 2000 a barrister, appearing for The Sunday World and its crime correspondent, Paul Williams, read an apology to the High Court and acknowledged that allegations made by Williams about Martin Hyland were “absolutely false” – this is the alleged criminal who was murdered last Tuesday, 12 December. By Vincent Browne.

You wouldn't believe it

Once again Prime Time Investigates almost makes the licence worth paying. However, Would You Believe disappoints and The Late Late Show is as dull as ever

 

Meejit 14/12/06

Papering the cracks
Unknown to most readers, there is a rollicking debate going on within journalism: for how much longer will paid-for printed popular newspapers continue to exist? Five years? Fifteen? Indefinitely?

 

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