What have déjà vu and doublethink got in common? I got a strong sense of both in the media last week. Mostly it was in relation to the assisted suicide debate that kicked off during the week as Gino Kenny TD intends to introduce a Dying with Dignity Bill. On three Drivetime programmes (RTÉ Radio…

There have been lots of interesting changes in the media landscape in recent times, and I’ll get through them in turn. It seemed natural that Joe Duffy would take over from the late Gay Byrne (Duffy was once his protégée) for the new series of The Meaning of Life (RTÉ One, Sunday). I was expecting…

What with the #Golfgate row, the thirst for punishments and polarising conflicts worldwide you’d wonder if Covid-19 wasn’t infecting brains and temperaments. There has been much honest grappling with challenging issues but also much casting of first stones. On Thought for the Day (BBC Radio 4) last Wednesday morning, Anglican Bishop Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani took…

The boundary bet-ween traditional and social media is still pretty clear, but there are some interesting things going on in the blurred border area. Facebook Live, for example, merges TV and social media very effectively. It gathers video content that people have posted on Facebook and lets you watch them in one place. Last week…

With such grim material in the news and current affairs programmes these days, it’s welcome when they are followed by something lighter. I enjoyed Des’s Island Discs (RTÉ Radio One) last Tuesday after Drivetime when Des Cahill’s guest was Archbishop Eamon Martin. I knew the Archbishop was a fine singer, but learned on the show…

The news cycle last week was dominated by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the Beirut bombing and the death of John Hume, and in a way they were all connected. As if the people of Lebanon hadn’t enough to put up with, what with political turmoil and the pandemic, that massive explosion earlier in the week…

It’s a pure fluke that the programmes under review this week all begin with the letter M! I’ve been catching up on the TV drama series Mrs America (BBC Two) which came to an end last Thursday.  It was an absorbing dramatisation of the culture war between radical feminists and activist conservatives over the Equal…

‘End of an era’ would be too strong; it was more a case of significant change in the media landscape. Last Friday saw Ivan Yates’ last outing as presenter on the evening show The Hard Shoulder (Newstalk). He could come across as cynical, brash, crude and laddish, but was open to diverse viewpoints, and in…

Religious TV shows aimed at a young audience are pretty rare, but last week I week I caught up with a few. Life on the Rock (EWTN) has a more youthful feel than most of that channel’s output but the format needs to be more energised. It can be more than a bit staid but…

At the end of every year I look back to see what outstanding religious programmes were broadcast on mainstream media and usually there’s not a huge lot, but last week there was one strong contender. Priest School (BBC Two, Tuesday) was an endearing insight into the training of priests in the Scottish College in Rome.…