Maman Poulet

Thats to all the political correspondents and hacks running to join twitter and talk about it expertly.  It was not long ago you were laughing at it and those of us who use it and read it.

Now its ‘the twitter that did it’ and ‘tweeted out of office’.

So was Dan Boyle’s tweet planned or off the cuff? What will his next tweet say? When will someone tweet from the pol corrs seats?

I await the expert articles and socmediagooru’s writing politics posts.

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RTE have this afternoon announced a new member of the Prime Time team to replace Mark Little who left the programme before Christmas and is on a year’s leave of absence from RTE.

Journalist and broadcaster Richard Crowley is joining RTÉ Prime Time as a presenter, starting on Thursday 14^th January. He will continue to work on the News programme This Week (on Sundays at 1.00pm on RTÉ Radio 1) which he has presented and edited since last June.

A very interesting choice by RTE. Richard is a great radio journalist and has extensive experience reporting from the Middle East and was a former presenter on Morning Ireland.

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A slumber inspired rambling tangent on recent events.

We now know that TV3 didn’t believe in it or stick by whatever the press office in the Department of Finance or Government Press Office asked for before Christmas.

Some people, myself included, have difficulty in these agreements and the culture that surrounds them – ie.when a party requests another party to not say or do something or one offers something else instead to stop something else being reported or acted upon. I’ve no doubt that many journalists are asked to keep something quiet or are given something else instead to stop something being reported. There have been accusations of cosiness between political correspondents and politicians and their handlers but no real analysis of whether this is actually the case. Press offices also refuse to co-operate with journalists and attempt to kill stories in a variety of ways.

Where do these agreements lie now? Are the gloves off and a ruthless media unleashed? Is the condemnation of TV3 by many other media groups because they don’t want these agreements challenged, are genuinely outraged and have a moral compass or are people in other media organisations happy that the story is out? Looking at Andrew Lynch’s op-ed piece in the Evening Herald yesterday one could be very confused. He condemns TV3 before launching into speculation on reshuffles to come.

What other issues are not reported on due to agreements, nods and winks? And what now for TV3 correspondents in terms of their treatment by press handlers and politicians in the weeks ahead?

I’m not mentioning this because I have a problem with someone asking for personal information such as that which TV3 reported on being kept from the public. I thought the manner of the reporting by TV3 was really crass and I do think that some right to privacy should remain for people. I don’t go by the public interest angle that many are citing in the disclosure of Minister Lenihan’s health especially during a Christmas holiday and when he’s not had the time to tell family members. The contribution to the report by oncologist John Crown was also new low for Irish media.

Maybe we should be more worried about editorial influences on the way in which news is reported than the control that politicians and decision makers seek to have on the ‘news’ itself. The lack of news reporting at all is also something increasingly of concern both by those consuming and working in the sector. There’s far too much opinion and commentary and far too little news and investigative reporting (says she expressing an opinion!) The role of the licence fee and veiled and not too veiled threats made to RTE funding if they get too near the bone are always in the background when thinking about this topic.

All the above is without ever being near a journalism ethics class – it’s the views of a consumer. I expect lectures.

Eoin O’Dell nudges us towards thinking on whether the recent incident will prompt the introduction of a privacy bill much liked in some quarters of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. Freelancer and author Gerard Cunningham looks at the mistakes TV3 made. Another freelancer and editor of Forth Magazine, Jason Walsh, also thinks TV3 was right but wrong and launches a defence of journalism and there’s a lot of interesting toing and froing in the comments. Deirdre O’Shaughnessy from the Cork Independent (but blogging on her own blog) writes about the dilemma’s involved and wonders on the impact on TV3.

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What the agents of the State were up to yesterday in case you didn’t notice.

The Board of NAMA was announced. One woman and no lawyers.

The Department of Finance released its regulations regarding the determination of long-term economic value for assets. Read Karl Whelan on Irish Economy for more analysis (h/t Mark)

The appointments to the new Board of the NDA were announced and a analysis of government and state employment of people with disabilities was published.

The Governments Combined Third and Fourth Periodic Report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) was published and sent to the committee.

The Minister for Education announced €250,000 funding for a primary school…. in Cork.

The Minister for Education announced €150,000 funding for the Guide Dogs project to help provide dogs for children with Autism. The Guide Dogs HQ is located in Cork.

PRSI claimants were reminded by the Department of Social and Family Affairs that they needed to have confirmed appointments to claim PRSI benefits before they are stopped as a result of Budget 2010. The Department say that some dentists have been applying for approval for treatment without clients knowledge. Tut tut. Tut at the government removing treatment cover under PRSI too!

Minister for Agriculture announces payment under REPS 4 has commenced and results of the seventh milk quota trading scheme.

The Department of the Environment published a background note on the Killarney dungcatchers – yes the jarvey’s and their nappies.

COMREG published their quarterly report. (nudges Damien)

The Central Statistics Office published a range of reports on Tourism, External Trade and Earnings and Labour Costs.

What else did I miss? And what will be published or announced today and will anyone notice it?

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From the Whitehouse website a rare insight into the holding of a cabinet meeting under Obama. I know the Irish cabinet confidentiality rule will be rolled out here to say why it couldn’t happen but I would support any insight into how politics works here from my perusal of youtube comments and facebook groups the past few days. Some people think for example that Deputy Gogarty is an opposition TD. Very few people know how a bill is debated, amended and passed in the Irish parliamentary system. (cf. The Civil Partnership Bill).

There is a huge opportunity here for a TD or Senator, television programme or even the government press office to do a series of short videos explaining how the Irish political system works.

Back to Obama’s cabinet – it meets rarely and of course there are different responsibilities and obligations to one such as the Irish government. I wonder if Ministers leave their phones outside with post-its’ attached? In fact this may be a solution for the Seanad’s Cathaoirleach who is still having problems with Senator’s phones interfering with the sound system! But I wouldn’t want him getting any ideas that would stop the tweets!

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I’m very glad I wasn’t around yesterday listening to the radio when Newstalk decided it was going to do an O’Reilly – I meant Bill O and not Tony O… but hey if it narks Denis O’Brien who cares!

If you missed the Newstalk Editorial you can read it in full here. But here’s the pontificating bit.

Newstalk calls on the Taoiseach to lead the country.

Newstalk calls on the Taoiseach to address the nation and give our people a credible, detailed vision for recovery.

Newstalk calls on the Government to make the hard decisions, to reposition our country; to present us with a Programme for Recovery that creates jobs, stimulates business and returns hope.

All party leaders, business leaders and trade union leaders must set aside short term gains in all our interests. All TD’s must see beyond their re-election campaigns to support this vision. When this government’s mandate expires voters will have their say.

The future holds much uncertainty and dark days of difficulty but together, working for each other and as a nation we can rebuild our country.

It’s hard enough listening to Newstalk at all these days and I am a very regular listener. I start with Claire and Ivan (yes I know) and move out of my bed listening to Tom Dunne witter on(it’s better than Tubridy but that’s not difficult) until Pat Kenny. By the time it gets to Eamon Keane ask the ‘longest most leading loaded useless questions ever’ though I can’t listen anymore until nipping in and out of George Hook while surfing by Matt Cooper and Mary Wilson if I’m desperate.

However I don’t want any radio station telling the government what to do the day before the budget – no matter who that government is. Guests and essayists and contributors are no problem but the radio station itself? If I wanted an opinion in terms of a media company I’d read a newspaper – broadcasters are a different thing entirely. When is their licence up for review anyway?

Cian has more on all of this.

PS: Calling on Brian Cowen to address the nation generally seems to fail – it has done every time he’s opened his mouth this year.

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If you are a regular reader you know the drill by now – The Donegal News arrives in the house and  I get bits read out to me and eventually I go ‘WHAT?!’

This weeks ‘gem’  in the court reports is on page 30 of last Friday’s edition.

Footage of street row ‘disappeared ‘ from phone.

A District judge dismissed the public order charges against a Letterkenny resident upon hearing that video evidence filmed by the defendant had disappeared from his movile phone while in garda custody.

Edidjus Morkuna (27) …who represented himself was charged with threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour in a public place, failing to comply with a direction given by a member of the Garda Siochana and wilful obstruction.

The defendant was arrested after coming across Gardai arresting other members sof the Lithuanian community in Letterkenny last month.

‘There is a small community of Lithuanians here in the town and we know each other well., so when we saw some of friends on Main Street after leaving Sister Sara’s, we went over to say hello.

I then saw that one of our Lithuanian friends was being arrested so I decided to film the arrest with my mobile phone just in case it would be needed as evidence.

I was told to ‘get the f*** out of here with your mobile phone’, they then grabbed and handcuffed me and put me into the Garda van.

As I was sitting in the van, I heard someone walking past and I asked if they could loosen the handcuffs as they were really hurting me. I was told to ‘f*** off’ and ’shut up’.

‘The Gardai then took me to the station where I told them that I had chest pain and my wrists were sore and I asked them for a doctor.

I also asked them where my phone was, it was not mentioned in the custody record. When I was released they told me ‘You can go and see a doctor now’ and as I went outside a Garda came out of the darkness and gave me back my mobile phone.

The footage I had filmed was no longer on it. It I was guilty  of the offences I am charged with the footage would have shown it.’ said Morkunas.

Garda O’ Mahony told the court he ‘believed’ the defendant was filming, upon being questioned by the judge who said ‘You took an oath to tell the whole truth, why did you not mention this before?’.

The Garda then replied that he ‘was not aware’ if Morkunas had been filming or not and that it wasn’t the offence that he had been arrested for.

Judge Kilrane again asked Garda O’Mahony why he had not told him that the defendant had been filming the his evidence. The Garda said he had ‘no reason’. Dismissing the case, Judge Kilrane said he expects ‘the whole truth’ and not parts to be ‘left out’.

Is this stuff happening everywhere in the country regularly? Am I wrong to be surprised reading it?

The story below this on page 30 was about someone who ‘Tried to frustrate Garda procedure by wetting himself’.  I’ll leave that one alone.

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Tonight watching X Factor and reading my twitter stream I saw a few too many jokes about Susan Boyle’s mental health and intellectual disability.

Some people seem to have found other people’s jokes funny too and retweeted them. Colm O’ Gorman, (Bio: Author, activist, director of Amnesty International Ireland) for one.

And people wonder why some in the disability community view Amnesty Ireland’s campaign on Mental Health issues with more than a bit of cynicism?

Stunned and very disappointed.

Update:

Colm has responded in the comments and has also blogged on the matter on his own blog.

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The online news evangelist and tweeter extraordinare (@marklittlenews) is heading for the superhighway on a years leave of absence. Best of luck to him!

RTÉ Prime Time presenter, Mark Little, has announced that he is taking a year’s leave of absence from RTÉ in the New Year to pursue a project combining digital media and global journalism.

In a statement today, he said: “During eighteen happy years with RTÉ as a correspondent and presenter, my first love has always been reporting on global affairs. The rise of social media platforms like Youtube, Twitter and Facebook provides an opportunity for journalists to change the way we report the world. I would like to take a more direct role in that transformation. Unfortunately, that means taking a break from my work with Miriam and the Prime Time team who have been like a family to me. In particular, I would like to mention Miriam who has been a great personal friend to me and someone who has taught me an amazing amount about broadcasting. Whilst I will be leaving in the New Year, I look forward to maintaining a long-term relationship with RTÉ.”

Ken O’Shea, Editor of RTÉ Current Affairs, said “We are delighted for Mark who is leaving us temporarily to embark on an exciting new project, but are obviously going to miss him and the enormous contribution he makes to Prime Time and the area of current affairs. He is an outstanding journalist with a natural talent for broadcasting”.

Mark began his journalistic career at the Sunday Business Post before being hired by RTÉ as a TV news reporter in 1991. He launched RTÉ’s first Washington office and as its first correspondent, covered three US presidential election campaigns during his tenure there from 1995 to 2001. He returned to Dublin to take up the post of RTÉ’s Foreign Affairs Correspondent before joining Prime Time in 2002.

Mark specialises in coverage of world affairs and was named TV Journalist of the Year in 2001 for his reporting on the situation in Afghanistan just months prior to the Sept. 11th attacks.

He wrote and presented the documentary series Who’s Afraid of Islam? in 2006 for which he travelled to Muslim communities throughout the Middle East, Europe and America. Mark has also reported from several disaster and conflict areas including Iraq, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas.

He is the author of three books, Turn Left at Greenland, Zulu Time and last year’s The New America – The Rise of the Obama Generation, which follows the American presidential election and the birth of a new era in U.S. history.

Mark was born in 1968 and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and Dublin City University. He is married with two children and lives in Dublin.

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The weekly ritual that is the reading out of ‘interesting’ bits of the paper from home took place in the henhouse yesterday. Given that my partner is from Donegal it is the Donegal News that she tries to entertain me with.

After a few pages of court reports involving scraps, using false driving licences bought on the internet and making away without paying for petrol etc., I paid attention when I heard the words ‘Charges dismissed after garda admits ‘kneeing defendant in ribs.’

Three brothers from Letterkenny have had public order charges against them dismissed after a garda admitted kneeing one of them in the ribs during his arrest. The charges were dropped at Letterkenny District Court before two members of the public, who were due to give evidence about concerns relating to garda conduct, were able to do so.

The court also heard that CCTV footage fo the arrest had not been obtained by gardai despite a written request from the defence solicitor three days after the incident.

…The court heard allegations from defence solicitor Frank Dorrian that members of the public saw gardaí knee Connell Ferry in the ribs, hold him to the ground placing a knee on the back of his neck and kick him while he was on the ground. Mr Dorrian also levelled criticism at the Gardaí for jumping to the wrong conlusion without making proper inquiries and for failing to obtain CCTV from the premises that would have clearly showed the incident.

Giving evidence Garda Ian Oates admitted under cross-examination that he had kneed Connell Ferry in the ribs during a struggle in which the defendant had grabbed him by the testicles.

The case was adjourned shortly after Garda Ian Oates admitted kneeing Gerry in the ribs and when the case resumed Inspector Denis Joyce dropped the charges.

The incident that the three were charged with took place on January 24 of this year. Gardai intervened in what they said was a row between a couple, however the brothers asserted that they were out alone and that a woman began shouting at one of them after being told by one of them that the Abrakebabra was closed. The brother refused an adult caution and reinforcements were called in.

There were two members of the public in court, both who had remonstrated at the manner of the arrest and one of whom had took independent legal advice and made a statement to the Gardai protesting the manner of the arrest. Both were willing to give evidence on behalf of the defence.

Three Gardai (McKenna, Mulvihill, Morrison) gave evidence saying they did not see Mr. Ferry getting kneed in the ribs before Garda Oates made his admission under defence questioning.

The very extensive report in the Donegal News contains full coverage of the case, the failed and delayed attempts to get the CCTV coverage, and the fact that two members of the public (unconnected to the defendants) complained to the Gardai about the treatment of the defendants by the Gardai shortly after the incident had taken place.

I cannot find a link to the case report in any other media source and am not aware of it being on RTE. I assume it was reported on Highland Radio? If I cannot find it reported elsewhere to link to in the next week I’ll transcribe more of the report as it makes for interesting reading regarding the manner of the arrest and subsequent investigation.

One wonders how the case ever came to be heard at all. And what investigation will now take place?

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