Tis a tale of two days I have for you – a Saturday and a Thursday. If Ireland had beaten England at Twickenham last Saturday it would have been the icing on the cake, after that day’s stunning win for the No side in the referenda. But the cake is more important than the icing…
Category: TV & Radio
Govt’s ‘ideological allergy’ to gendered terms
There’s so much going on in society that is just so grim. The crises seem to be served up in rotation by the media. One of the minor crises was the unexpected amount of snow that fell last Friday. On Drivetime (RTÉ Radio 1, Friday) we heard from homeless men queuing up out the International…
Finding belief in God in a time of war
Last weekend saw the second anniversary of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and it’s depressing to see that peace doesn’t seem to be anywhere close. On Witness (RTÉ Radio 1, Friday) Ksenia Trofymchuk from a Protestant theological college in Ukraine pointed out that Ukrainians were somewhat used to war since earlier Russian incursions in 2014.…
‘Virtue signalling meaningless husk of an amendment’
So, the referendum debates go on. The media coverage is increasing, though I’m not so sure it’s that enlightening. Today with Claire Byrne (RTÉ Radio 1, Wednesday) gave plenty of time to it and was well balanced, though it became overly fractious. Minister Thomas Byrne struggled to define ‘durable relationships’. He said it would be…
Hope, encouragement and overcoming addiction
Some radio shows I listen to in the line of duty, some I actually enjoy, and it’s great when a show ticks both of these boxes. I really enjoy a relatively new feature on The Hard Shoulder (Newstalk Monday-Friday) – it’s the daily ‘Afternoon Update’ at 4pm when presenter Kieran Cuddihy chews the cud with…
We all know real aggression and it’s unpleasant
I don’t know anyone who approves of rudeness, though obviously there are people who are guilty of it. Maybe they don’t realise their behaviour is rude. Anyway, I’m not sure how many words we need to describe it. On Drivetime (RTÉ Radio 1 Thursday) there was a largely tongue-in-cheek discussion of ‘microaggressions’ – including eye-rolling…
Essential that referendum reporting objective
So, referendum time has come around again. It’s hard to deny the centrality of the process in a democracy. In a way it’s the purest form, though you can’t have referendums on everything – it’s just not practicable. Because it’s so important, it is essential that it be fair and transparent – treated with respect.…
The contradictions in Govt’s approach to public policy
Priests have been more in the news of late, thanks to that ‘Last Priests’ programme reviewed last week. Yet again we got another fine example of a priest in action on Mornings with Wendy (Spirit Radio, Friday) when Rob Clarke interviewed Fr Gabriel Dolan – a Kiltegan missionary in Kenya for the past 40 years.…
RTÉ’s ‘last priests and nuns’ swings from sympathy to cynicism
You know the way you sometimes get the impression that someone is trying to give you a hint, but you’re not quite sure. I felt that way when I saw two programmes flagged – about the last priests and nuns in Ireland – was this a nudge? Wishful thinking? An attempt at self-fulfilling prophecy? The…
The gravest injustice I have ever seen
When organisations are caught out doing something wrong it often happens that they get defensive and opt for cover up and obfuscation. Whistleblowers can be treated as pariahs rather than being welcomed as liberating the organisation from corruption or malpractice. This certainly seemed to be the case in Mr Bates v. the Post Office (UTV/ITV…
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