The first time I heard of the town of Arundel in England it was in connection with the intriguing poem ‘An Arundel Tomb’ by Philip Larkin. Unfortunately the tomb, in nearby Chichester, with its romantic husband and wife statues did not figure in last Sunday’s Songs of Praise (BBC One). We did learn about the…
Writing this column is not a dangerous business, but some journalists do put their lives on the line in pursuit of their stories. Recently we had the shooting of Dutch journalist Peter R de Vries in the Netherlands and he’s still in critical condition at the time of writing. On Times Radio Breakfast last Saturday…
I’m thoroughly cheesed off with media outlets telling us how great they are. Unfortunately, it’s more often the spin than the reality. So, for example, RTÉ is telling us constantly, with very slick video ads, how great they are with news, trust, integrity and journalism. And yet, in current affairs coverage, I think they are…
On Tuesday of last week the sad story of the healthy baby aborted in Holles Street Hospital was the main story on RTÉ News at Nine, a welcome acknowledgement of a high profile casualty of repealing of the Eighth Amendment. Next morning on Newstalk Breakfast presenter Ciara Kelly mentioned it first in her review of…
It’s always good to see a new channel being launched, though the level of welcome depends on the quality. GB News (more opinions than news actually), which launched last week, has been described as ‘right-leaning’ or ‘anti-woke’ and has been compared by its detractors to being like Fox News (I hope it isn’t!). One of…
The Leap of Faith (RTE Radio 1) is nearing the end of its run and last Friday’s edition dealt with water, which has long been a central symbol in religious ritual. This episode marked National Holy Wells Day (June 13) with Fr Brian Grogan SJ and Sr Helen Grealy, who is involved in the Loving…
Sometimes I have to leave the room when I think someone is going to give away crucial plot twists in a TV drama series, so have no fear that I’ll include spoilers this week. I’ve largely enjoyed the new crime drama series The Pact which finished on BBC One, Tuesday of last week. It was…
Sometimes media bias is a matter of what stories and issues are not covered. There was a rather muted coverage of last week’s third anniversary of the referendum for the repeal of the Eighth Amendment. And what there was was almost entirely on the pro-choice side. For starters I couldn’t find any coverage on RTÉ…
“Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.” This worrying phrase comes back to me every time I hear conspiracy theories being obsessed about in the media. And predictably such discussions are usually linked to obsessions about the ‘far right’. The Pat Kenny Show (Newstalk) has been particularly guilty as charged…
The issue of the homeless got something of extra profile when Covid-19 kicked off, with extra efforts being made to make sure they had shelter and protection. It showed we could move on the problem when there was enough motivation. On Times Radio Breakfast last Saturday morning presenter Jenny Kleeman covered an aspect of homelessness…