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 …
Tag Archive: media
Feb
04
No comment
For a while, I’ve been toying with an column idea. Call it The Raised Eyebrow. Part Flat Earth News, part questioning conventional wisdom. Last week, an editor agreed to a column. Depending on how it worked out, more might follow. …
Jan
29
Ripped from the headlines
BBC News carries a story about a ‘Jack the Ripper manuscript‘, discovered in a museum two years ago and about to be published in book form. But the ‘confession’ as described in the article sets off several alarm bells, not …
Jan
29
Scibernia: The SFI Think-In
I’m an occasional contributor to Scibernia, the Science podcast also broadcast on Near fm. Too occasional, unfortunately. While I’ve done a few reports for the project, scheduling problems mean I rarely get a chance to sit in on the studio …
Jan
29
A torrent of words
I write. As a freelance, I hold copyright on those words. “Ireland’s SOPA” wants to protect those words. But copyright already protects them. My words have been pirated a few times. The first time, articles were cut and pasted wholesale …
Jan
08
Flying by the seat of your pants
Last week, the Sunday Independent front page carried a Ryanair story. Michael O’Leary addressed a conference on innovation, the newspaper reported, where he outlined how the European Commission invited him to Brussels, but refused to pay for his flight because …
Nov
02
Quantum Satis
Imagine a politician released research proving their arguments on a point of public controversy. Imagine every journalist in Ireland knew the research was faulty. Let’s go further. Imagine the paper looked like a work of fiction, and it appeared the …
Oct
23
Decline and Fall or Brave New World?
Last night, thejournal.ie won the Best Online Only Publication at the Irish Web Awards. Congratulations. The award led to some reaction online, with journalist Philip Nolan observing: “So, let me get this straight. Traditional media spends millions on journalism but …
Jul
08
Rules and regulations
I’ve never had much time for the UK’s Press Complaints Commission. Like its Irish counterpart, the Press Council of Ireland, there are too many industry faces on the board, and industry voices were far too keen to set it up. …
Jun
29
That Johann Hari apology in full
I have earned every cent. And in all of my years of public life I have never obstructed justice. People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I’m not a crook. I’ve earned everything …