Eoghan Harris v Fintan O'Toole on Today FM

[A Dub in Glasgo]

Just listening to this fantastic piece of radio. Harris was ranting & raving, calling people names then he storms out of the Last Word studio saying 'he has had enough'

I am in stitches here listening to mad hatter Harris

[flogen]

He's on RTÉ Radio 1 - maybe that's why he stormed out, had places to go.

[Dudess]

La link: http://www.todayfm.com/goout.asp?u=h...s/HARRIS-1.wma

[nacho libre]

Originally Posted by Dudess

La link: http://www.todayfm.com/goout.asp?u=h...s/HARRIS-1.wma

Thanks for providing the link. Great entertainment altogether from Harris. He would be right at home on Fox News

[landmonster]

Link doesn't seem to be working for me.

[monument]

Do you have Windows Media Player?

[Stargal]

It's going to be replayed on The Last Word just after 6pm this evening.

It's a great piece - O'Toole completely demolishes Harris's arguments, and he comes across as completely deranged.

[jdivision]

In fairness he changes sides more often that kevin myers. Harris isn't really credible on anything.

[shepthedog]

Heard it on the last word this evening. Harris came across extremely badly.. No structure to his argument, he just raved on and on.. Fintan o'toole did well to keep his composure and came out of it with dignity...

[Tom Dunne]

I heard it on the Ian Dempsey Breakfast show this morning - the lads were having a great laugh at it.

[crackity_jones]

Belligerent old windbag or not Harris has been spot on with a number of election issues in the past 6 months. When the media was calling for Ahern's head before Christmas in relation to the Manchester payments Harris stressed repeatedly that the public would not care one jot about this and Ahern's subsequent big bounce in the polls paid testimony to this. Harris does not even seem to be popular with his fellow hacks on the Sunday Independent but even they grudgingly admitted he got it right.

Ditto for stamp duty and FF cleaning up in the election just gone. He went on the Late Late the week before the election and backed Ahern to the hilt and was right again. How many times the quota did the man get? More's the pity.

People seem to get tone mixed up with substance. Sure he dominates debates and can be a general pain in the ass but as he said on the Late Late when you change your mind (you are allowed to do that) you do it with conviction and go all the way. Remember he was a dyed in the wool socialist.

Contrast that with journalists such as O'Toole who are still chasing the illegal payments issue. The Irish Times have egg all over their face following the election result and they don't seem to want to accept it.

[A Dub in Glasgo]

I did not appreciate before now that a journalist should not look into something because people are apathetic 'Ack sure, the people won't be bothering with this stuff, best sweep it under the carpet'

[crackity_jones]

"I did not appreciate before now that a journalist should not look into something because people are apathetic 'Ack sure, the people won't be bothering with this stuff, best sweep it under the carpet'"

I agree with you to a point. I suspect that part of the reason for this general apathy is down to the relatively small sums of money involved. That is relative to the sums that Haughey bagged. The one reason, more than any other, that I loathe Haughey is the state he left Irish politics in when he eventually shuffled off. Or rather the effect he had on the public's perception of Irish politics.

A generation of young Irish voters don't give a toss because they simply don't trust politicians. Is it any wonder that regardless of what facts are revealed about Bertie's alleged wrong-doings he keeps coming up smelling of roses?

[flogen]

Originally Posted by crackity_jones

Belligerent old windbag or not Harris has been spot on with a number of election issues in the past 6 months. When the media was calling for Ahern's head before Christmas in relation to the Manchester payments Harris stressed repeatedly that the public would not care one jot about this and Ahern's subsequent big bounce in the polls paid testimony to this. Harris does not even seem to be popular with his fellow hacks on the Sunday Independent but even they grudgingly admitted he got it right.

The role of journalism isn't to find what people want to hear and tell them it - the interest from the general public should never be a factor in the coverage an item gets.

Reporting in the public interest does not mean reporting only what the public is interested in.

Ditto for stamp duty and FF cleaning up in the election just gone. He went on the Late Late the week before the election and backed Ahern to the hilt and was right again. How many times the quota did the man get? More's the pity.

The amount of votes Ahern would get was never an issue for debate - he'd have had to have killed every newborn in Drumcondra to have not done so well.

What you're basically saying is that Harris as a journalist was right to back Ahern and ignore any questions in relation to him because he was going to get re-elected?

Contrast that with journalists such as O'Toole who are still chasing the illegal payments issue. The Irish Times have egg all over their face following the election result and they don't seem to want to accept it.

They have egg all over their face for reporting on the financial inconsistencies of our leader?

[crackity_jones]

Originally Posted by flogen

The role of journalism isn't to find what people want to hear and tell them it - the interest from the general public should never be a factor in the coverage an item gets.

Reporting in the public interest does not mean reporting only what the public is interested in.

I couldn't agree more Flogen. In fact I would go as far to say that journalists in general do not pursue enough items which, while they may not sell any extra papers, are vitally important to the public interest. I don't think this is quite as big a problem here as it is in the U.S. (the Florida hanging chad lark in 2000 being a good example) but as the newspaper market gets more and more competitive it will surely become more of an issue. Sports coverage and celebrity gossip are what sell papers.

My original intention was to highlight the fact that Harris is not given the credit he is due for the accuracy of his predictions. To many he is a figure of fun (certainly among younger people) and this is solely due to his debating technique which is very aggressive and the polar opposite to more thoughtful characters like Waters and O'Toole. He just rubs people up the wrong way even if they might agree with a lot of what he is saying.

Originally Posted by flogen

The amount of votes Ahern would get was never an issue for debate - he'd have had to have killed every newborn in Drumcondra to have not done so well.

I'm not contesting that. His seat was never in any doubt. I made the mistake of referring to Ahern's chances in Drumcondra rather than FF's in general. I think when Harris backed Ahern he was backing FF and urged several of the less loyal members to ignore the media furore and stand behind their leader.

Originally Posted by flogen

What you're basically saying is that Harris as a journalist was right to back Ahern and ignore any questions in relation to him because he was going to get re-elected?

I never said Harris was right or wrong to back Ahern. That was never the point of my original post. I'm playing Devil's Advocate here in that I personally feel that Ahern does have a case to answer in relation to the current issue of what money he did and did not receive. However, Harris did not have an issue with this as he felt it was not important and Ahern was the best man to lead the country. The Northern Ireland issue influenced his decision greatly to back him. And he does have a point on that one. Ahern has been very good for that.

And he loathes the Irish Times. Well, he loathes all forms of political correctness and maybe more of their journalists indulge in it.

Originally Posted by flogen

They have egg all over their face for reporting on the financial inconsistencies of our leader?

They have egg on their faces because they made a huge thing out of the financial inconsistencies and in the end it made no difference whatsoever to the final result. Yes, it is an important issue but some sections of the media took it too far. Of course you could say it greatly aided FF's chances in that it focused all attention onto The Great Leader and deflected it from the less than stellar performers (Cullen, Roche etc.)