“Labour want US style political advertising” It wasn’t the biggest ever story, but the Sunday Times liked it enough to pay me for it. It even got a bit of social media traction at the time. And it was based on three lines at the end of an internal RTÉ memo. In May 2010, a […]
Category archives: Longform:200plus
Charity asked to pay for links to newspaper websites
A copyright licensing agency has told a domestic violence charity that it requires a paid licence to link to newspaper articles from its website. In an email sent to Women’s Aid, Newspaper Licensing Ireland said that “a licence is required to link directly to an online article even without uploading any of the content directly […]
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A Labour party delegation proposed the introduction of shorter US-style political advertisements in place of the staid party political broadcast format during a meeting with RTE Executives in the dying months of the last government. “We feel that there is merit in shorter more frequent broadcasts. This is something that would be worth examining in […]
The Wisdom of Crowds
Last weekend, I asked a question on twitter, Google Plus, Facebook and here, in preparation for a presentation to journalists on using social media. For the record, the question and the answers I received are gatered below. The answers are not always in agreement, and some of tem flatly contradict each other, but according to […]
Controversial religion questions on student teacher exam
I sent in this article to several newspapers last week, but none published it. So I’m publishing it here for the record. A sample examination test for trainee primary teachers taking religion as a subject includes questions which require the student to agree that ‘atheist humanism produced the worst horrors history has ever witnessed.’ Another […]
What’s my line?
A barman, a TV repairman, four trade union officials, five solicitors, a salesman, a stockbroker, a publican, a post office clerk, two postmasters, a political advisor, four political party officials, an operations manager, a plant hire company owner, a painter/decorator, a newsagent, a management consultant, a fisherman, a FAS community employment scheme supervisor, fourteen farmers, […]
Magda and the Ombudsman: Case closed?
As has been reported at length elsewhere, an interview with a Polish woman identified as ‘Magda’, which was reported in Wednesday’s Irish Independent, was “badly mistranslated“. ‘Magda’ – now known to be Gaia Kowalik – first went public on the John Murray show, 24 hours after he first raised questions about the article, and went […]
A freelance contract
This agreement is between the Publication (and all its subsidiaries), and the Author, Gerard Cunningham, an independent freelance writer. Project description Author agrees to write an article of agreed length on the topic required for the Publication. Author agrees to conduct interviews and research necessary for completion of the article. Author will submit the finished […]
Crowdsourcing a freelance contract
More than once, I’ve received an email (or an actual postal delivery) from a publisher informing me unilaterally that in any further work I submit, while I retain copyright, I agree to something along the lines of the following: “[The Author] grants [The Publisher] the exclusive right to use, publish or deal with the Material, […]
Statement from the family of the late Bob Buchanan
The family of the late Superintendent Bob Buchanan, acknowledges that the Tribunal of Inquiry, chaired by Judge Peter Smithwick in Dublin, is endeavouring to obtain the truth in relation to the events of 20th March 1989 and the possible collusion by members of An Garda Siochana and members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army. However, […]