Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Out of Commission
This article first appeared in Village magazine, November/December 2022 edition. What does the future of media look like in Ireland? If the reaction to a report of the same name is any guide then the omens are not promising. Catherine Martin, the tourism, culture, arts, Gaeltacht, sport and media minister, received the report of the […]
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Well that’s just, like, your opinion, man
This article first appeared in Village magazine, July/August 2022 edition. Consider the following opinion, which may have appeared recently in a newspaper near you: Should Ireland take a leaf out of Elon Musk’s playbook, and establish a colony on Mars? The Fine Gael party has not released an official statement on their position regarding the […]
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Media Blues: Pessimism about the future of media
This article first appeared in Village magazine, March/April 2022 edition. Looking ahead to 2022, it is hard to feel optimistic about the current reviews of the media landscape in Ireland. Freedom of Information (FOI) law is being reviewed again, ans the signals are not good. There is a tendency for new FOI laws to be […]
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Insidious, Invidious Covidious
This article first appeared in Village magazine, September 2021 edition. Covid inspired an appetite for quality media but they then bored people It used to be said that no ministerial career could survive three Sundays in a row on the front pages of the national newspapers. Any story so big that it could sustain public […]
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Watching the Media
This article first appeared in Village magazine, July 2021 edition. For many years, a regular feature of the American legislative process was what came to be known as the Christmas Tree Bill. Every year or so, a seemingly innocuous bill, unlikely to attract too much controversy or opposition no matter who held power in either […]
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Media Commission presages renaissance, or wake
This article first appeared in Village magazine, February 2021 edition. The first submissions to the Commission on the Future of Media in Ireland suggest that, while everyone involved in journalism knows what the problems are, nobody has any new solutions. The internet has been eating away at print revenues for years, as both circulation and […]
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The case of Danny McCormack
This article first appeared in Village magazine, February 2021 edition. The brother of a Tullamore man who died of a heart attack shortly after being released from Garda custody in 2019 has criticised the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) for a lack of transparency and openness in their dealings with the family during the subsequent […]
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Is podcasting about to take its next Great Leap Forward?
The article first appeared in Village magazine, July-August 2018 edition. Anyone using the Google mobile search app to look for a podcast on an android phone in the last month will have noticed something interesting happening. In addition to the usual links to relevant websites or iTunes directories, Google presents direct links to the most […]
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Journalists give conflicting accounts at Charleton tribunal
Charleton tribunal: summary of evidence for week ending 8 June 2018 Article commissioned by Sunday Independent Listening to journalists during the past week, Mr Justice Peter Charleton noted several times that he did not want to be an Irish Leveson reporting on the state of Irish media. Journalists and barristers have danced around the issue […]
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Journalists give evidence to Charleton Tribunal
Charleton Tribunal: Summary of evidence for week ending 1 June 2018 Article commissioned by Sunday Independent In its final phase, the Charleton tribunal is hearing from journalists about what they knew of smear campaigns and negative briefings against whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe. The week began with former commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan, who said she never sought […]
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