Irish Journalism

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  • #12448
    mammycool
    Participant

    There has been a story run in most of the Irish Newspapers this morning that is of particular interest to me. When I went to school, we had an English teacher who was very mucha "Times" man. He taught us that journalism should be unbiased and represent both sides of the story.

    I cannot go into the specifics of this particular article but unfortunately, I had no choice but to witness the entire event and what lead up to it. I was totally shocked when I read the account in the paper. It bears no resemblence to the actual truth or the opinions of the people it claims to represent.

    Are Irish journalists as bad as the English? will they do anything for a good story? Are the actual facts not important?

    #114831
    Jedt
    Keymaster

    I think it depends on the newspaper in question Mammycool…

    I sometimes write for the Irish Independent & Irish Times and they are reputable papers and I make sure my articles are of a high standard and very well researched. If they weren’t they would not be accepted!

    But other papers seem to make stuff up – or they ‘rewrite’ a story from another newspaper and change the tone of it.

    For e.g. I wrote an article about a mum who had a home birth and it was going on a bit long so the midwife decided to transfer her to hospital, just because she was tired. When the ambulance came the mum stepped into it and as she did, baby moved down and he was born there and then, in her driveway in the back of the ambulance. He just needed a little shift in position to be born and when she stood up, this is what happened. The paramedics were delighted to be called to such a happy event and as mum & baby were both doing well, they were put to bed with no need to go to the hospital at all. It was a lovely, positive story.

    Then a trashy newspaper got it and re-wrote it and made it sound like a horror movie. The poor mum called me and was so upset, they made it sound awful and the worst thing, they had not interviewed her, they just seemed to take elements of what I wrote and make up the rest! I was stunned someone would do that but this is what happens all the time with the tabloid papers.

    Sad but it happens!

    #114834
    mammycool
    Participant

    Oh, that is just nasty – but we come to expect that of the tabloids – they do not care who they hurt.

    #114836
    Jedt
    Keymaster

    Nope, they could not care less.

    My husband and I were interviewed for an article about miscarriage a few years ago and we talked about how difficult we found it to come to terms with our loss and how we struggled to communicate with each other. We were so naive; we were really open with the journalist and never imagined we would be mis-represented.

    During the interview my husband made a comment that some nights, when we were not talking to each other much, he would blow off some steam by playing some playstation games and having a beer.

    They put in the paper that our marriage was falling apart so my husband ‘turned to the drink’!!! 😯 😯 That was not what we said but they sensationalize things and decided to write it up like that. We were so annoyed but nothing we could do.

    Well, one thing we learned – be careful what to say to a journo!!

    #114839
    mammycool
    Participant

    Oh lord, that would not do much for you in difficult times. I am a total cynic – have nothing to do with any of them. They print what sells stories.

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