^^ 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
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.
Crime correspondent Paul Williams also claims Bertie Ahern ensures ‘certain criminal activities of the Shinners are ignored by the police.'
The media responded in a thoroughly considered and responsible manner to the recent spate of gangland shootings.
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.
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
You begin to realise that you belong somewhere when it strikes you, only on the odd occasion, that you come from somewhere else. By Colum McCann.
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.
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
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?