Sky News.... is it them or me?

Hairy Homer

flogen wrote:

I noticed what to me was terrible grammer... or am I just wrong here?

You certainly are with regard to your spelling of 'grammar'.

seamus wrote:

Actually, that's an interesting one. If a man's name was Jones, and he had a car, you'd say "Jones's Car". But if the Jones family owned a dog, do you say "The Jones's dog", "The Joneses' dog", "The Jones' dog" or something entirely different?

I don't have 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves' but I do have a copy of Fowler's Modern English Usage which expounds on this topic as follows:


Possessive of names ending in -s

Add 's to names that end in s when you would pronounce then with an extra s in speech. (e.g. Charles's, Dickens's, Thomas's, the Times's, Zacharias's); but omit 's when the name is not normally pronounced without the extra s. (e.g. Bridges', Connors', Mars', Herodotus', Xerxes').

So that's as clear as mud.

How do you normally pronounce the plural or possessive of Herodotus or Zacharias?

Flukey

It is annoying when you see bad spelling and punctuation from what are meant to be professional organisations or journalists or whatever. We all, even us pedants, make errors sometimes, (read your post carefully again Wheel of Ire) and we can let one or two slip through after proof-reading, but you do see some howlers in publications that you would expect more from. Looking through a lot of the threads on Boards.ie you would wonder about the standard of education in this area nowadays, seeing as a lot of the people here are not long out of education, or even still in it. It would appear that they don't have the errors they make pulled up by those teaching them. If they were, we would have people learning better punctuation and errors would be less prevalent here. It seems that once people leave primary school, that it is forgotten about, even for people doing subjects like Honours English. Reading and writing, two of the fundamentals of education, should be given more emphasis. It is probably the case that even a lot of the teachers don't even realise that there are errors in the work they are reading.

wheels of ire

Touché, Flukey. Sorry, I see the error now. That's what happens when I answer the phone in middle of posting. What I had intended was to point out that where we pause in speech can affect the meaning of the sentence. In print we use commas for this.
And as for post 'where I hoped this elps'...

flogen

Hairy Homer wrote:

You certainly are with regard to your spelling of 'grammar'.

*cough*... hey everyone, look over there!!

Flukey, I couldn't agree more with you as regards mistakes in publications, but I wouldnt go too much on the state of posting here.
Most people, including myself wouldn't be too pushed about grammatical errors and so on, or precise spelling when posting here, once its readable. If and when I'm doing a test or were to be writing something for print, I'd be much more careful as regards mistakes... It can often be a lot of trouble when you're just slapping up a quick responce to someone here!

flogen

Flukey

I was just making the general point that there is a lack of grammar out there and that it is not being taught properly. I was using here as an example as it is someplace we can all see. While people might take more care if going to print, they should have a good enough knowledge to be able to minimise mistakes wherever they write or type. If they don't have that knowlege it will slip through into their professional work. We all mistype them, but even after reading back through it, a lot of people would not even know they have made any error, or not see them all at least. We've pointed out a lot of the common errors here, but many people would not be aware that they are errors. We know they're wrong, but many people wouldn't. To put that another way:

We no there wrong but many people would'nt. Its terrible that there grammar isnt up to the standard that there grammar should be. Wev'e seen it to often and its terrible. Your better at spotting these errors than some are but as for others, they're spelling and punctuation is'nt what it should be. Maybe they didnt learn it properly or maybe it was badly thought to them. How many would spot all the errors that their are in this paragraph.

Hairy Homer

Flukey wrote:

I was just making the general point that there is a lack of grammar out there and that it is not being taught properly.

I think you're correct in this regard. Where I were a lad, fado, fado, we were taught grammar in primary school as part of the curriculum. I'm not sure that the same applies to the younger (Under 40s) generation.

I was explaining to a younger (albeit English-educated) colleague a simple approach to hyphenation, namely 'we don't generally hyphenate nouns, or adverbial clauses but we DO hyphenate adjectival clauses', until I was blue in the face before I realised that he hadn't the faintest idea what the term 'adjectival clause' meant.

University educated to masters level as well. What do they teach them nowadays?

Mr Byrne

Thank god I'm finally registered because you guys were driving me grazy from pick ups on google, laying into Sky News. Now lets get a bit fair and balanced and get me into the topic:

I'm a loyal viewer of Sky News. I've watched Sky News since it was first pumped into the NTL package, or Cablelink and it was called back then. I remember the first main crises I watched on Sky news, the crises that sealed me as a Sky News viewer - it was the kosovo conflict, or maybe it was the bombing of baghdad in 1997, can't remember which came first. But I felt Sky News gave the best converage by far, Since then , I watch sky news sunrise over Breakfast, Sky News today with my lunch and if I want to find out whats going on in the World at night -time I tune into Sky. As regards Irish news, I now watch Sky News Ireland too, of course, I have pointed out faults in it, but not to the extent that you guys do...

Let me first take you back to the last Gulf War! Remember there was a Sky Correspondant reporting Live From Baghdad all through that period. His name is David Chatter, one of the most respected Investigative Journlists in Europe. While reporting from Croatia in 93 he was shot and nearly killed. But the point is, remember the great converage Sky News had? But to name a few other Journalists - David Bowden and Stuart Ramsy. In fact, Sky News broadcasted some great battles live. Now lets compare Sky news' coverage of the Gulf War, to RTE'S!!! - Fun fun fun - Ok so we have David chatter live in Baghdad and for RTE we have Richard Downs in Baghdad, seems good but he's not LIVE! - No, RTE can't aford nor do they have the technology to that. In fact I think that the reports he did film, were sent via someone elses satellite- Reuters! - Now lets get to the Combat Journalists on the field with the troops - Sky have Ramsy and Bowded, more, but to name a few, while back at RTE - we have our good friend - CHARLIE BIRD! - Yayyyyyyyyyy. Wheres charlier reporting form - you named it!!! - The biggest hot-spot of the war!!!! - Where all the big action is - KUWAIT CITY!!!! - wOOOM WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Then when the invasion is going on! - Cahrlie Bird remains in Kuiwait city , telling us whats going on - yeh, he's telling whats going on all right - he's telling us whats going on - on CNN!!!

Then when the invasion gets going, aboput three weeks into it, - The Chief- anchorman for sky Nes - Jeremy Thompson - You know him - real serious voice - He's on Live @ Five - he goes into the battlefield working his way up to baghdad, while good all charlie stays where the action is - in Kuwait city!

So you have such a great choice with News now in ireland - you can watch RTE, who will tell you whats going on 200 miles away from the battlefield - good thing to watch if you don't have CNN. You can watch TV3 news, poor TV3 Nes, they can't afford a foreign Affairs office, they buy all their foreign footage from agencies like Reuters. You can watch Fox news, - great service - where there anchormen live on tv say "You're asking me am I biased? Well damn right i'm biased" - You can watch BBC News - its great, traditional old fashioned news - ITS LAST WEEKS NEWS TODAY!!! And seen as they can't compete with anyone, they now have top make up the stories. - You can watch ITV!! - They are real fair - The really question the American administration - they are in fact, probaley the only News Service outside of America to call the war "war on saddam" - real fair and balanced! - Real independent! - Or you can watch CNN - owned by Time Warner - they have no political influence what so ever - seriously - the only political influence they have is that the Bin Laden family have shares in them!

- Or you can watch sky news - an accalimed global reach 24/7 news serive. I've lost count of how many years they've won News channel of the year!!!

- The choice is yours!

flogen

Mr Byrne wrote:

Thank god I'm finally registered because you guys were driving me grazy from pick ups on google, laying into Sky News. Now lets get a bit fair and balanced and get me into the topic:

Is this Fox News Fair and Balanced or real fair and balanced?

I'm a loyal viewer of Sky News. I've watched Sky News since it was first pumped into the NTL package, or Cablelink and it was called back then. I remember the first main crises I watched on Sky news, the crises that sealed me as a Sky News viewer - it was the kosovo conflict, or maybe it was the bombing of baghdad in 1997, can't remember which came first. But I felt Sky News gave the best converage by far, Since then , I watch sky news sunrise over Breakfast, Sky News today with my lunch and if I want to find out whats going on in the World at night -time I tune into Sky. As regards Irish news, I now watch Sky News Ireland too, of course, I have pointed out faults in it, but not to the extent that you guys do...

I watched sky news for years because I had no choice, it was the only 24 hour news channel going, and only when its a very big story will other channels break from regular viewing to cover it. However, when they do (such as Beslan), I go to BBC, who had about 3 reporters at the foot of the school, and a detailed account of what was happening as well as shots of the chaos. Went to sky news, and they had one guy near the school, a repeated 30 second clip of a shakey camera twirling around, and a lot of people with no idea as to what happened. They had these ex-SAS people on (who didnt seem to be of a high command, but I may be wrong), and they all speculated and said "They shouldn't have done that", even though they didnt know what 'that' was.

Let me first take you back to the last Gulf War! Remember there was a Sky Correspondant reporting Live From Baghdad all through that period. His name is David Chatter, one of the most respected Investigative Journlists in Europe. While reporting from Croatia in 93 he was shot and nearly killed. But the point is, remember the great converage Sky News had? But to name a few other Journalists - David Bowden and Stuart Ramsy. In fact, Sky News broadcasted some great battles live. Now lets compare Sky news' coverage of the Gulf War, to RTE'S!!! - Fun fun fun - Ok so we have David chatter live in Baghdad and for RTE we have Richard Downs in Baghdad, seems good but he's not LIVE! - No, RTE can't aford nor do they have the technology to that. In fact I think that the reports he did film, were sent via someone elses satellite- Reuters! - Now lets get to the Combat Journalists on the field with the troops - Sky have Ramsy and Bowded, more, but to name a few, while back at RTE - we have our good friend - CHARLIE BIRD! - Yayyyyyyyyyy. Wheres charlier reporting form - you named it!!! - The biggest hot-spot of the war!!!! - Where all the big action is - KUWAIT CITY!!!! - wOOOM WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Then when the invasion is going on! - Cahrlie Bird remains in Kuiwait city , telling us whats going on - yeh, he's telling whats going on all right - he's telling us whats going on - on CNN!!!

Then when the invasion gets going, aboput three weeks into it, - The Chief- anchorman for sky Nes - Jeremy Thompson - You know him - real serious voice - He's on Live @ Five - he goes into the battlefield working his way up to baghdad, while good all charlie stays where the action is - in Kuwait city!

Ok, you're trying to compare the war reporting of a 24 hour news channel with nothing better to while the hours away with (and with a endless pot of resources), to the Irish state broadcaster with limited resources and limited time (in which Irish issues are the top priority, international issues second)? Please.

You can watch Fox news, - great service - where there anchormen live on tv say "You're asking me am I biased? Well damn right i'm biased"

You do realise that Sky News is the UK (and Australian) version of Fox, don't you? Owned by the same people, run with a similar tabloid ethos, and often linking up with each other for cross atlantic reports...

You can watch BBC News - its great, traditional old fashioned news - ITS LAST WEEKS NEWS TODAY!!! And seen as they can't compete with anyone, they now have top make up the stories.

Wow, you really don't know the BBC do you? From what I've seen of the 24 hour news channel, its far supreme to Sky in quality of stories, speed of delivery and range of programming. The BBC is unquestionably one of the strongest forces in international journalism, and to believe the Hutton Inquiry is just naiive, that a government commissioned report on a story that could have ended Tony Blair is trustable? About as trustable as a corruption tribunal on Fianna Fail where Bertie is the judge.

Or you can watch sky news - an accalimed global reach 24/7 news serive. I've lost count of how many years they've won News channel of the year!!!

Yeah, this always made me laugh... they would win a British award for news channel of the year for the 8 or 9 years they ran as the only mainstream British news channel. Great stuff, should be proud.

The choice is yours!

Indeed it is.
And given that threads posted here in this forums short life have been so common that I have considered making a "Sky News mistakes" sticky says nothing about the quality of their journalism. As a matter of fact, one more and I probably will (and eventually send it to Sky News to show them what the fans think )

flogen

Mr Byrne

Show them what the fans think? Yuo're not a fan!

Sky News was around before Fox News! - they were created in 1989, as far as I know, fox NEWS came after sky news.

I have to laugh at you and the beslan because I was home when that got seiged and BBC were horrific, they didn't go into the bloody thing they stood well back. To prove that you didn't watch sky news and to prove that every thing you say is completely biased the sky news "guy" you talk about was none other than Rahel Ammet. Now unless you drive on both sides of the road, you would consider Rachel Ammet a women.

typical of a left-winger liek you. I bet you're anti-bush and you probabley vote for labour, or sinn fein or the green party. I'm sorry but you can't just watch a biased news agency that agrees with your views. Thats what people who watch Fox news do, you're no better than them.

Sky have been less and less taking footage from FOX. They ahve their own and they know well that Fox is unfair, thats why they broadcast CBS twice a day and use their footage more than FOX. Just because Murdock owns both, it doesn't mean that he decides what goes on.

besides NewCorp although they have the majoprity of shares in BSKYB they don't own all of them, did you not see the hamering James Murdock got at last years AGM?

flogen

Mr Byrne wrote:

Show them what the fans think? Yuo're not a fan!

Sarcasm is lost on this one.

Sky News was around before Fox News! - they were created in 1989, as far as I know, fox NEWS came after sky news.

For one channel to be the UK version of a US channel it doesnt have to be there afterwards, it can just become the UK version. If you want I'll rephrase my comment to "Fox News is the US version of Sky News". Whatever suits you.

I have to laugh at you and the beslan because I was home when that got seiged and BBC were horrific, they didn't go into the bloody thing they stood well back. To prove that you didn't watch sky news and to prove that every thing you say is completely biased the sky news "guy" you talk about was none other than Rahel Ammet. Now unless you drive on both sides of the road, you would consider Rachel Ammet a women.

guy to me is an asexual term, I'm not from the 1920's so I tend not to say "gal". The BBC had all the info accurate (as much as they could) they had streaming live footage from the event, and real experts who made constructive comments on the chaos. Sky had a repeated 30 second clip of bad footage, their reporter didnt have even a slight notion of what was going on, it was all guess-work and off the mark comments. Their experts knew even less.

typical of a left-winger liek you. I bet you're anti-bush and you probabley vote for labour, or sinn fein or the green party. I'm sorry but you can't just watch a biased news agency that agrees with your views. Thats what people who watch Fox news do, you're no better than them.

I am indeed anti-bush, but not because I'm liberal, its more because he's a nut case. Who I vote for is none of your business, but I can guarentee its not a party with a private army, or one that campaigns on non-issues like the threat of nuclear power plants in Ireland.

As for bias, I do my best to avoid bias or tabloid reporting. Sky News falls flat on both counts here.

Just because Murdock owns both, it doesn't mean that he decides what goes on.

That made me smile. Thank you. You honestly think the hard line right wing owner of a news channel wouldnt interfere with the reporting made on it? He wouldn't mind if his channel came out and made a damning report on his buddy politicians, or even he himself?

besides NewCorp although they have the majoprity of shares in BSKYB they don't own all of them, did you not see the hamering James Murdock got at last years AGM?

Listen to yourself. NewsCorp have a majority holding in BskyB, and thats all that matters. James Murdock could make hundreds of terrible errors and get a beating at the AGM, but so what? Once it pushes the Murdock regime and makes lots of money, who cares? He has the majority holding so he can do what he likes.

flogen

Mr Byrne

:rolleyes:

It took be fecking 30mins to get this up, what is up with these forums? You should ask Sky to host it, it'd go a lot faster.

You do know that Sky News is seen to be pro labour? this has been going back to when Sky first set-up. The Labour Party allowed sky to expand into the mass media service that it now is. I mean Sky get interviews with labour MP's and conservative party MP's and Lib dem MP's so I think you're very false.

There are producers editor etc. that decide what gets shown.

Why is Rachel Ammet treated as a hero for her great coverage? She went into the hot spot, where the gym was, of course she couldn't hold a steady LIVE camera while she was dodging bullets - its a bit difficult because you need to take around this big thing with you called a "satellite" - thats why she onl;y had voice while she was in the hot-spot. later we saw her full report. Meanwhile the live cameras sky had placed had just as good, if not better coverage than BBC. I switched on the BBC but had to turn it off, it was some dude talking live on a camera out of the action, while rachel ammat was in the action.

Now as regards the news channell of the year. There is Sky News, BBC 24 and ITV news 24 have been around a while and CNN London had also been up and runing, why does sky news still win news channell of the year? Why is it still the most popular channel in England and one of the most popualr in the world?

As regards Sky News Ireland, you are uninformed. SKY took a risk, they weren't going to come rushin gin with a 24 hour sky news for a population of 4 million, where only 2/3 of them have access to Sky News. However despite what you or anyone else says or hopes, Sky news Ireland has been successful - they're expanding. They were short staffed till now. they're getting a bigger news room, they're hiring an Executive Producer, more technicians, producers and more journalists.

Personally I don't understand why there isn't aSky News Ireland between 5:30PM-10PM - I'm sure that they aim to have that as a starter and when they do, that'll be the last time I watch RTE FOR EVER Because there is only two things I watch on RTE - 6.1 Newss (for ten minutes, because after that its all about sheep in Co. Clare) and The Sopranoes - but i can watch that on E4.

As I was saying times have changed - 24 hours news channels broadcasting in London include: Sky News, BBC News, ITV News and CNN. If you don't like sky then stop watching it and then you'll stop whining about it, good man, well done.

flogen

Mr Byrne wrote:

It took be fecking 30mins to get this up, what is up with these forums? You should ask Sky to host it, it'd go a lot faster.

Yeah, but we'd have nothing to say but "Bush Rules".

You do know that Sky News is seen to be pro labour? this has been going back to when Sky first set-up. The Labour Party allowed sky to expand into the mass media service that it now is. I mean Sky get interviews with labour MP's and conservative party MP's and Lib dem MP's so I think you're very false.

Oh right, Labour, that pseudo-liberal political party in the UK. You're trying to tell me that a news channel that shows any liking to any political party is a good thing? Just like Bertie here in Ireland, Murdock and Blair have a "I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine" kinda deal, and supporting Labour is naturally not hard to do while supporting Right wing ideology.

There are producers editor etc. that decide what gets shown.

mmm hmm, and who hires the producers and editors? Who has the power to sack them when they do a bad job too?

Why is Rachel Ammet treated as a hero for her great coverage? She went into the hot spot, where the gym was, of course she couldn't hold a steady LIVE camera while she was dodging bullets - its a bit difficult because you need to take around this big thing with you called a "satellite" - thats why she onl;y had voice while she was in the hot-spot. later we saw her full report. Meanwhile the live cameras sky had placed had just as good, if not better coverage than BBC. I switched on the BBC but had to turn it off, it was some dude talking live on a camera out of the action, while rachel ammat was in the action.

Hero? Give me a break. There are very, very few hero reporters out there, Ammet is not one of them. I guess were both looking for different things as regards coverage... I wanted the straight facts juxtaposed with accurate footage, you wanted guess work, semi-experts and repetetive footage of nothing.

Now as regards the news channell of the year. There is Sky News, BBC 24 and ITV news 24 have been around a while and CNN London had also been up and runing, why does sky news still win news channell of the year? Why is it still the most popular channel in England and one of the most popualr in the world?

BBC News 24 and ITV News are only in their infancy, BBC News was setup in 1997 and has grown in leaps and bounds since then. I find it difficult for anyone to deny that the BBC is a journalistic supremo, and the fact that it does all this without advertising or shareholders means you can actually get some trustable news. ITV News is just as bad as Sky.

As regards Sky News Ireland, you are uninformed. SKY took a risk, they weren't going to come rushin gin with a 24 hour sky news for a population of 4 million, where only 2/3 of them have access to Sky News. However despite what you or anyone else says or hopes, Sky news Ireland has been successful - they're expanding. They were short staffed till now. they're getting a bigger news room, they're hiring an Executive Producer, more technicians, producers and more journalists.

Fair enough that Sky took a risk, if you want to nit-pick the launch of any new show is a risk in itself. Now, I can see the point as to not starting Sky News Ireland 24, but you'd think that the hour they do broadcast a day they'd do a decent job. We've had reports of stories being rejected if they come in after 5, I've seen extremely dated news (not just hours old, but days old), and I've seen horrible reporting and the Sky-style pointless use of technology and features, such as one report that saw Grainne conversing by video link with another reporter who was on the Sky-Roof (or balcony, or some crap like that). Basically he was standing out on a balcony facing the Quays, but his story had nothing do with his backdrop. He could have easily reported this news from the studio right beside Grainne, but they decided to make a pointless change.
Also, I've seen nothing to suggest that Sky News Ireland is thriving, quite the opposite actually (be that true or not).

Personally I don't understand why there isn't aSky News Ireland between 5:30PM-10PM - I'm sure that they aim to have that as a starter and when they do, that'll be the last time I watch RTE FOR EVER Because there is only two things I watch on RTE - 6.1 Newss (for ten minutes, because after that its all about sheep in Co. Clare) and The Sopranoes - but i can watch that on E4.

Well maybe they should, but I can't see that happening, I haven't seen any great response to the current situation that would encourage a widening of service.

As I was saying times have changed - 24 hours news channels broadcasting in London include: Sky News, BBC News, ITV News and CNN.

Yes, times have change, but must we sacrifice un-bias, quality journalism just because we're getting the news a bit quicker? I don't see why we should sell ourselves when there are other options.

If you don't like sky then stop watching it and then you'll stop whining about it, good man, well done.

Ah the classic argument... if you dont like it then look away. Is that your general philosophy? If you don't like what Bertie Ahern or Tony Blair is doing, just ignore him, or if you don't like what some scumbag is doing to someone just ignore it? I may be dramatising the situation, but I must say that to ignore something you have strong feelings against is idiotic.
I don't like to see the globalisation of media, and the bastardisation of reporting. I don't like to see the viewers mis-educated and mis-led. Now, I will keep an eye on Sky (without watching it all that much), so I know what the problem is, and so I can voice my opinion using personal experience in the hope of pointing out the reality of the situation to someone who may not have cared before.

flogen

billy the squid

Ooh Ooh can I have a go

Thank god I'm finally registered because you guys were driving me grazy from pick ups on google, laying into Sky News. Now lets get a bit fair and balanced and get me into the topic:

welcome to boards.ie

'm a loyal viewer of Sky News. I've watched Sky News since it was first pumped into the NTL package, or Cablelink and it was called back then. I remember the first main crises I watched on Sky news, the crises that sealed me as a Sky News viewer - it was the kosovo conflict, or maybe it was the bombing of baghdad in 1997,

correct me if I am wrong but wasnt there two years between these two events kosovo being in 1999, around the time B95 was ripped off the air by Slobadon Melosovich. which was it, kosovo or bagdad, ones a desert and ones got trees and stuff in it. Flogen correct me if i am wrong on the date on kosovo, but still I could tell them apart.

By the way sky news was on cable link since 5 february 1989 if I am not mistaken. Alison Holloway and Scott Chism used to present the news at 7pm. . I used to watch it myself because Cableink dropped CNN. even at the age of 12 I found CNN more interesting.

But I felt Sky News gave the best converage by far, Since then , I watch sky news sunrise over Breakfast, Sky News today with my lunch and if I want to find out whats going on in the World at night -time I tune into Sky. As regards Irish news, I now watch Sky News Ireland too, of course, I have pointed out faults in it, but not to the extent that you guys do...

maybe if you tried watching other news providers the flaws with Sky news would become more obvious. as it says in the good book "man cannot live on bread alone"

Let me first take you back to the last Gulf War! Remember there was a Sky Correspondant reporting Live From Baghdad all through that period. His name is David Chatter, one of the most respected Investigative Journlists in Europe. While reporting from Croatia in 93 he was shot and nearly killed. But the point is, remember the great converage Sky News had? But to name a few other Journalists - David Bowden and Stuart Ramsy. In fact, Sky News broadcasted some great battles live. Now lets compare Sky news' coverage of the Gulf War, to RTE'S!!! - Fun fun fun - Ok so we have David chatter live in Baghdad and for RTE we have Richard Downs in Baghdad, seems good but he's not LIVE! - No, RTE can't aford nor do they have the technology to that. In fact I think that the reports he did film, were sent via someone elses satellite- Reuters! - Now lets get to the Combat Journalists on the field with the troops - Sky have Ramsy and Bowded, more, but to name a few, while back at RTE - we have our good friend - CHARLIE BIRD! - Yayyyyyyyyyy. Wheres charlier reporting form - you named it!!! - The biggest hot-spot of the war!!!! - Where all the big action is - KUWAIT CITY!!!! - wOOOM WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Then when the invasion is going on! - Cahrlie Bird remains in Kuiwait city , telling us whats going on - yeh, he's telling whats going on all right - he's telling us whats going on - on CNN!!!

Neither Rupert Murdoch (sky) or Ted Turner (CNN) pay the wages for RTE. You and I do. Back in 1991 satelite feeds were about ten times more expensive than they are now. But if you want to have lives scenes of people getting blown to pieces "all the battles live" like you said, it would involve a licence fee increase, which you would probably be the first to moan about. RTE might not have the resources of the likes of CNN and Sky, but at least they will be more balanced than Sky, taking information from more than one source. from both left and right of the political spectrum. Even sky has to depend on other organisations when a story breaks.

Let me throw this name at you. John Simpson, BBC News. He would run rings around ten Sky news "reporters". This man was in BOTH gulf wars. and if you seen the footage of his crew getting cought in friendly fire you would be horrified. I can still see the blood on the camera lens when I think of it. One of the BBC crew were actually killed in that friendly fire incident. Now that is real journalism.

On the subject of the last gulf war. or should i say the current gulf war, all the sky news reporters were imbedded and were only allowed to say what they were told to say by what ever army superior was with them. Simpson was on his own with his team in Kurdistan,.

ou can watch BBC News - its great, traditional old fashioned news - ITS LAST WEEKS NEWS TODAY!!!

Is this a statment of fact or are you just insulting the BBC?

They are real fair - The really question the American administration - they are in fact, probaley the only News Service outside of America to call the war "war on saddam" - real fair and balanced! - Real independent! - Or you can watch CNN - owned by Time Warner - they have no political influence what so ever - seriously - the only political influence they have is that the Bin Laden family have shares in them!

Firstly Osama bin Laden has something like 50 or 60 brothers and sisters. who have DISOWNED him. okay.

secondly, Fox W News supports george bush, which has ordered more killing, Osama Bin Laden or George Bush?

Sky news and Fox news are part of the same organisation which is owned by Rupert Right Wing Murdoch, that is really balanced news isnt it. only difference is that the union jack isnt displayed on the screen 24/7 like it is on fox news.

billy the squid

Sky News was around before Fox News! - they were created in 1989, as far as I know, fox NEWS came after sky news.

good point rupert murdoch owned MORE of sky news in 1989 before it merged along with the other channels of the Sky television network with Brittish Satelite broadcasting (BSB) (o/t) remember the squarials )

seriously though what does this have to do with anything?

typical of a left-winger liek you. I bet you're anti-bush and you probabley vote for labour, or sinn fein or the green party. I'm sorry but you can't just watch a biased news agency that agrees with your views. Thats what people who watch Fox news do, you're no better than them.

dont tell anyone but there are cookies from indymedia on my PC too. i'm afraid the FBI might get someone to take it away for them.

whats wrong with being anti bush? bush is a war monger plain and simple. Shin Fein are wafflers I wouldnt vote for them if they were the only party on the ballot sheet.

Sky news are too sensationalist for my liking, why, because unlike the BBC, they are driven by profit. and as for you comments about beslen. I personally dont care if the jurnalist is 100 metres from the school or whether he/she is ramming microphones into little kids faces as they are being loaded into ambulances, as long as I get the facts at the end of the day.

Sky have been less and less taking footage from FOX. They ahve their own and they know well that Fox is unfair, thats why they broadcast CBS twice a day and use their footage more than FOX. Just because Murdock owns both, it doesn't mean that he decides what goes on.

Ah CBS news, the station which cannot decide whether their copies of George Bush's army records are real or fake, oh that CBS news.

If George Bush can bring in laws that can allow Murdoch to make loads of money then he'll put naked ladies on Fox if Mr. bush wants to see them.

besides NewCorp although they have the majoprity of shares in BSKYB they don't own all of them, did you not see the hamering James Murdock got at last years AGM?
Mr Byrne is offline Add to Mr Byrne's Reputation Report Bad Post Reply With Quote

That uproar was caused because uncle Rupert wanted to give his son a high ranking job in BskyB not because he know anything about the business, but because he was his son, no other reason.

No large company likes to see their share price go down, which would have happened if the rest of Sky's shareholders decided to jump ship.

billy the squid

You do know that Sky News is seen to be pro labour? this has been going back to when Sky first set-up. The Labour Party allowed sky to expand into the mass media service that it now is. I mean Sky get interviews with labour MP's and conservative party MP's and Lib dem MP's so I think you're very false.

When Sky Channel became Sky Television, the conservatives were in power in the UK and it was the ITC that allowed them to become the mass media corporation that they are, not the government.

remember that date 5 february 1989?

Now as regards the news channell of the year. There is Sky News, BBC 24 and ITV news 24 have been around a while and CNN London had also been up and runing, why does sky news still win news channell of the year? Why is it still the most popular channel in England and one of the most popualr in the world?

Where abouts is BBC news 24 on the Sky EPG, Sky news is 501 and news 24 is only availible by manually tuning it in here in ireland, could that have something to do with BBC news 24's audience.

I bet Sky didn't like BBC going FTA. And slightly off topic, does sky still charge its irish customers for BBC 1 and 2 even though you can watch them when the card is switched off.

Personally I don't understand why there isn't aSky News Ireland between 5:30PM-10PM - I'm sure that they aim to have that as a starter and when they do, that'll be the last time I watch RTE FOR EVER Because there is only two things I watch on RTE - 6.1 Newss (for ten minutes, because after that its all about sheep in Co. Clare) and The Sopranoes - but i can watch that on E4.

Firstly, It goes to show how out of touch Sky news ireland are with their audience, considering that Ireland is highly dependent on agriculture for its economy. therefore, at least when RTE show stories about sheep in Co. Clare then someone will be interested in it.

Secondly, episodes of the sopranos are probably on RTE first, I know that RTE were ahead of sky with 24 and were ahead of E4 with the likes of ER, I think the sopranos is crap so i don't know.

Mr Byrne

sorry, its been taking days to finally get to answer this - you seriously need to speed this up!

I didn't read all your messages either.

I'll keep it short and simple. I know someone in northern Ireland who has a niece that works for the Times in Russia. He was quite worried when the belsan thing was happening . Usually he watches BBC news but he told me he switched to Sky because they were giving the best coverage!

BBC 24 is not available here but it is available in the UK. (referring to Sky digital)

I agree that there are few really good heroic reporters, but sky have some - lets point at David chatter, the guy had a narrow escape in Croatia, sky filmed several live battles in the war, what about Stuart Ramsy sneaking into Zymbabwe.

Anyway, we will never agree so lets agree to dissagree, but I just have to say the facts and figures put sky as one of the most popular News channels in Europe,

now lets leave that because I'll get nowhere with you and vice versa.

so lets talk about Sky News Ireland.

You referred to a guy on the top of some roof in the quays - Are you referring to the Weather Girl - Lisa Burke on the top of the civic entre in Sky Nes Irelands first broadcast? Because if you are, I'm goign to scream,

ohh -0 and you'll tune into sky every now and again to point out faults - very informed and balanced opinion you're going to have of sky!

flogen

Mr Byrne wrote:

I didn't read all your messages either.

You really do follow the Sky ethos of not getting all the info before broadcasting your spiel, dont you?

I'll keep it short and simple. I know someone in northern Ireland who has a niece that works for the Times in Russia. He was quite worried when the belsan thing was happening . Usually he watches BBC news but he told me he switched to Sky because they were giving the best coverage!

I don't believe that for a second, but I have no way of disproving you, no more than you have of proving yourself right.

BBC 24 is not available here but it is available in the UK. (referring to Sky digital)

It can, actually, but you need to manually tune it in Ireland.

so lets talk about Sky News Ireland.

You referred to a guy on the top of some roof in the quays - Are you referring to the Weather Girl - Lisa Burke on the top of the civic entre in Sky Nes Irelands first broadcast? Because if you are, I'm goign to scream,

No, that wasn't it. I think it may have been Brian Daly, but I can't be 100% certain.

ohh -0 and you'll tune into sky every now and again to point out faults - very informed and balanced opinion you're going to have of sky!

Well yes, it will be. I'll be watching it as much as I can, and if it's doing a good job then grand, good stuff, but that has still to happen.

flogen

Mr Byrne

I don't care if you don't believe me, this man is from Bangor. You just find it hard to believe that the majority of people that day tuned into Sky for the best coverage.

Mr Byrne

By the way:

"Real Name:
Adam
Biography:
Enjoying the ride
Location:
dublin
Interests:
Picking Funkles for tea
Occupation:
high lord of FlogHasa Inc. "

- Are you one of those stereotypical leprechauns that make me ashamed to be Irish?

flogen

Mr Byrne wrote:

I don't care if you don't believe me, this man is from Bangor. You just find it hard to believe that the majority of people that day tuned into Sky for the best coverage.

yes, yes I do.

And stay on topic please, the subject of me being a walking stereotype or not really isn't for here.

flogen

billy the squid

Mr. Byrne. It took me a while to write my responses to you. It would be a matter of good manners if you could read what people type before you critisise them.

Your friend in Russia would not be able to watch BBC news 24 as the footprint of the satelite it is on does not reach that far.

As you don't take the time out to read our posts I present you with this -rep with complements.

as for leprecauns - slagging will get you no where.

Flukey

Sky gives good news coverage, but once you've seen one hour you needn't bother looking for another few hours as you are going to see the same thing over and over again. In the hour that you do watch, much of it isn't news, but features, often with very tenuous connections to the story of the day. The day the Shuttle crashed last year, they kept showing JFK's speech on going to the moon that he made in the early 60's. Very loosely relevant. When they do go to blanket coverage mode, they do so at the loss of the regular slots for things like sport. That was a Saturday and they could easily have been showing the sports news while we were having to watch JFK again.

They claim to bring us all the news, but when they go to blanket mode, absolutely no other story gets a look in, although there would be plenty of slots for it. Even when people want to see a big story, no matter how big it is they would be glad of a break for a short while to cover some other things. It is as if nothing else was happening in the world. It appeared they were lucky that Princess Diana died when she did, as there was no other news on for a whole week. But for her death they'd have had to go off air for that week, or so it appeared.

Their onscreen snippets can be something too. Hours after a story has been first reported, you still see "Sky News Flash" or "Breaking News" on the screen. You see other headlines onscreen that are at best a minute element of the story. They do that at the top of the hour too with their presenters giving a list of so-called headlines which, bar the first one or two, are minor elements of the same story. This is done to the exclusion of other stories of the day, as I mentioned earlier. It is good to get extensive coverage on stories, but they do go way over the top, filling the hour with a lot of stuff that could be usefully used for other stories or their regular hourly slots for things like sport.

In terms of their coverage, there is a very obvious slant and the BBC and RTE are far more balanced in their coverage of stories. Backing Bush and Blair on this totaly cocked-up escapade that they have called a war is a joke. The war has been completely dis-credited. Calling it a war against terror or a liberation of Iraq is a joke. It is a war that has created more terrorism and the only thing it has done was to liberate the Iraqi people of their mortal existence. Saddam is gone, which is good, but that could have been done with one man, one gun and one bullet and that bullet might not even have had to be fired. But we are getting into another debate here, one that has long since been lost by the pro-Bush mob, even before the war started at all. Everything said by the anti-war people back then has proven to be correct.

Anyway, let's get back to Sky News. They have good points, but they are far from perfect. The only reason people turn it on is because they know it will be broadcasting. But to get a really good balanced coverage of the story in question and news on other stories, they'll wait until RTE or BBC News comes on air.

Mr Byrne

I don't have any friends in Russia. Perhaps you'll take the time to read what I said, I have a friend in Bangor who has a Niece working for The Times, he was very worried for her when the shool was being seiged and insted on tunin ginto BBC, he tuned into Sky.

Mr Byrne

Sky News don't go calling the war a "opperation iraqi liberation" I was referring to ITN calling the war "War on Saddam"

I do not believe that BBC is fair and balanced, it is a shdow of its past. there is competition now.

As for the murdock influence thing, I mean, there is a thing called the Epuality act and unfair dissmissals act. If Mrudock went sacking people that reported stuff that he doesn't agree with, well he'd be in trouble. Besides, ever listen to Tim Marshall? I my opinion one of the most informed and fair Foreign Editors there is.

I watch Sky in the morning, at lunch time usually and I usually watch Sky News Ireland @7. I can assure you that the news is different during those three time periods that I watch it. I think its the same with all 24 hour serives. You can't just dump the news flashes from the morning, someone that tunes in at 6 o clock wants a round up of the day yet you need to keep brining the news in for the people who are more informed. I think Sky have much better resources, enthusiasm and capabilities to report LIVE. And as regards Sky News Replaying things, it happens on all 24-hour netowrks for the reasons I just mentioned.

Now lets go onto RTÉ. If RTÉ said they want to set up a 24-hour news network but in condition that they upped the TV licence by 50 €- I would gladly pay it. I'm not anti-RTÉ. But I do think that every single alternative that I have paid for or could pay for (other packages) are much better than anything RTÉ has to offer. I still think that RTÉ gives the best national coverage on Irish affairs, but you need to turn off after the first 15-20 minutes, after that its about molly mc Cába in Ballygobackwards that lost a sheep. And RTÉ cannot give any good internaitonal coverage, maybe that will be the way it always will be - thats why I'm glad we have Sky News Ireland. As they hire more staff and expand, I will watch RTÉ News less and less.

flogen

I don't have any friends in Russia. Perhaps you'll take the time to read what I said, I have a friend in Bangor who has a Niece working for The Times, he was very worried for her when the shool was being seiged and insted on tunin ginto BBC, he tuned into Sky.

Ok, so what you're saying is that a friend of yours has a relative who works for the times. And this friend of yours would watch sky over BBC? What exactly is your point? That people who know journalists who work for The Times watch Sky? Oh, and if it's the Sunday Times in Ireland or The Times in England it's worth noting that Murdoch runs them... just to let you know.

Mr Byrne wrote:

I do not believe that BBC is fair and balanced, it is a shdow of its past. there is competition now.

On the contrary, I believe BBC is easily one of the most balanced news outlets going at the moment, and it has become more and more free of the government as time goes on.

As for the murdock influence thing, I mean, there is a thing called the Epuality act and unfair dissmissals act. If Mrudock went sacking people that reported stuff that he doesn't agree with, well he'd be in trouble.

Thanks for the legal update, but I can't see the unfair dissmissals Act coming into play here. If they were hired to report the news the company wanted them to report, and they didn't, they would be in breech of contract. And I'm not saying you get sacked if you don't report what Murdoch wants to here, I'm saying you would be left behind and/or given a crappy job until you quit.

I watch Sky in the morning, at lunch time usually and I usually watch Sky News Ireland @7. I can assure you that the news is different during those three time periods that I watch it. I think its the same with all 24 hour serives. You can't just dump the news flashes from the morning, someone that tunes in at 6 o clock wants a round up of the day yet you need to keep brining the news in for the people who are more informed. I think Sky have much better resources, enthusiasm and capabilities to report LIVE. And as regards Sky News Replaying things, it happens on all 24-hour netowrks for the reasons I just mentioned.

Not always, and Flukey was referring more to Sky's consistent focus on one story, so they spend hours reporting 1 incident, but only have 10 minutes of material to go with. Marlon Brandos death was reported for at least an hour straight, and it was all just clips of his movies and the same quotes from film buffs. It was a big story, but there was plenty else going on too.
Also Sky avoid having any news shows or features on their channel. BBC have finance shows, business shows, tech shows, news updates from the US, Asia etc. etc. Much more rounded look at the days events. Sky just stream the same format constantly, with the exception of CNN at night (for an hour).

I still think that RTÉ gives the best national coverage on Irish affairs, but you need to turn off after the first 15-20 minutes, after that its about molly mc Cába in Ballygobackwards that lost a sheep. And RTÉ cannot give any good internaitonal coverage, maybe that will be the way it always will be - thats why I'm glad we have Sky News Ireland. As they hire more staff and expand, I will watch RTÉ News less and less.

Firstly the idea of an RTE news channel has been discussed before, I like the idea, but it just wouldnt work at all, for financial reasons mainly.
Now, your comment has baffled me. RTE give the best national coverage on Irish affairs, but its gets crap after 15 minutes because it's covering Irish affairs? Your reference to a type of story is obviously meant to be a joke, and I do see your point that some of the later stories may not be as generally gripping as the big stories of the day, but they are still Irish affairs stories from across the country, and its RTE's job to report them, and they do it well.

I would like to think that Sky News Ireland is gone in a year, but I'm not sure. Plenty of people, like yourself, enjoy watching it, and the company has plenty of money to spend. I can see the problems with the station, and the Irish show, and I intend on pointing them out. If Sky stop making errors, stop bias reporting and stop using News Flashes and so on stupidly, I'll have nothing to complain about.

flogen

Flukey

If you only tune in briefly, a few well separated times of the day, of course you will see different news. You may get your round up of the news of the day in the evening and get all the news of the day, but stories that broke hours ago are no longer breaking news or news flashes, even if it is the first time you have seen them. If you are tuning in for the news of the day and they are in blanket mode, you won't get the news of the day, just a single story. The details of that will be covered in the first 10 minutes, after which they go into recycle. Even if RTÉ starts telling you about a lost sheep after 15 or 20 minutes of their news, at least it is a different story. If that story was on Sky they'd spend much of the hour telling you that you can make a blanket from the wool of a sheep as one of their 'features' on the story and as part of their blanket coverage, or telling you that lamb chops are not the same as pork shops, instead of giving us some of the other news of the day. If the story was at the top of the hour, they'd have a list of different elements of the same story all as their main headlines, when the first would cover it:

• Prize sheep goes missing from a farmers land.
• The farmer looked into the field.
• The sheep was not there.
• The farmer said he was worried.
• He owns other sheep.
• None of them are missing.

No other story would get a look in.

billy the squid

ok i will rephrase that your CONTACT in russia

my apologies

at least I will hold up my hand and admit when I am wrong.

Mr Byrne

OK, so let me get this straight. now murdock owns how many dozens of newspapers and news channels in so many countries and so many languages, yet he control everythign tat goes on all those news channels and papers?

- he must be superman!

Anyway, TV3 do irish news good, they don't waffle on about dead sheep. Sky News don't either! -= because they're not interested. You missed my whole point! - A lost sheep would never be considered important enough to go on sky news or even on their close up kind of reports. BUT a lost sheep would be deemed good enough for RTE. After awhile, RTE get talking about crap! - thats why more and more people weretuning tinto TV3 - and now they're starting to tune into Sky News Ireland

Now I think that a 24 news channel could be made in ireland, they could do a few 1/2 hour bulletins in the moening, then repeat them until lunch time, do a other few 1/2 bulletins, repat to 5:30 then keep going to 10, repaeat till morning .

That is the only economical 24 channel that could exist and I think that is what Sky News Ireland will be aiming for but the repeats would only be showed on News Active, like they are right now, Sky News Ireland is shown on news active between 8-10 and its also shown in the UK!

Now despite what you think, sky news ireland is actually successful! - They are exapanding! Bigger studio being built, exec producer, producers, editors, technicians andmore reporters are being hired.

So, Sky News Ireland will get bigger, and more and more people will tune into it. I watched sky news ireland @ 7 yesterday. I hope some of you did. They had a very good report on the Irish born hostage, then they went live to a correspondant in Baghdad, about the Irish hostage! - they questions asked were of interest to Irish people. Then they went on about the A&E crises, they had a report on the footballer that broke a blokes Jaw. Then they had a report on new advertsiements to be placed on cigarette packs. Then they had a special report from Sky's Africa Correspondant Stuart Ramsy (And if you know who he is, you'll have as much respect for him as I have for him, he's done a lot) it was about a group of irish builders out near Cape Town doing charity work to convert shanty towns to real houses. It was very interesting and really tocuhed the heart. Then the sports news, now I'm not a big sports fan but I was talking to my brother the other day and says one of the reason he watches Sky News is because they have the best Sports coverage.

Then the weather, well maybe not as detailed as RTE, but certainly better than TV3 and good enough for me, I want to know what the weather going to be like tomorrow, not aten page essay on low pressure and rhuabrbs building up and then at the end they tell us what its going to be like!

billy the squid

OK, so let me get this straight. now murdock owns how many dozens of newspapers and news channels in so many countries and so many languages, yet he control everythign tat goes on all those news channels and papers?

- he must be superman!

maybe not, but Mr Murdock has a say in who is appointed to these newspapers higher up positions.

Anyway, TV3 do irish news good, they don't waffle on about dead sheep. Sky News don't either! -= because they're not interested.

It is not whether or not the station itself is interested in dead sheep, it is whether or not the viewer is. This is how Sky are so out of touch with their irish viewers with sky news ireland. BTW they showed a couple of thousand dead sheep on sky news during the foot and mouth outbreak.

You missed my whole point! - A lost sheep would never be considered important enough to go on sky news or even on their close up kind of reports. BUT a lost sheep would be deemed good enough for RTE.

you seem to have an obsession with sheep, seriously though, if I was a farmer and sheep went missing off my land, it would be important to me, it would be my source of income after all just the same as news of a factory closing down is important to a factory worker when the factory is their source of income.

After awhile, RTE get talking about crap!

Same question I asked you about the BBC, is this a statement of fact? and if so give examples, or are you just insulting RTE now. you never answered my question on the BBC by the way, was it an insult that they show news which is a week old or do you actually have evidence of it.

thats why more and more people weretuning tinto TV3 - and now they're starting to tune into Sky News Ireland

do you have links or statistics to confirm this. Last report I read about Sky News Ireland was in the evening herrald several weeks ago and stated that sky news ireland's viewership was actually falling.

Now I think that a 24 news channel could be made in ireland, they could do a few 1/2 hour bulletins in the moening, then repeat them until lunch time, do a other few 1/2 bulletins, repat to 5:30 then keep going to 10, repaeat till morning

http://www.irelandlivetelevision.tv

nice and repetative like sky.

So, Sky News Ireland will get bigger, and more and more people will tune into it. I watched sky news ireland @ 7 yesterday. I hope some of you did. They had a very good report on the Irish born hostage, then they went live to a correspondant in Baghdad, about the Irish hostage! - they questions asked were of interest to Irish people. Then they went on about the A&E crises, they had a report on the footballer that broke a blokes Jaw. Then they had a report on new advertsiements to be placed on cigarette packs. Then they had a special report from Sky's Africa Correspondant Stuart Ramsy (And if you know who he is, you'll have as much respect for him as I have for him, he's done a lot) it was about a group of irish builders out near Cape Town doing charity work to convert shanty towns to real houses. It was very interesting and really tocuhed the heart. Then the sports news, now I'm not a big sports fan but I was talking to my brother the other day and says one of the reason he watches Sky News is because they have the best Sports coverage.

Did they mention any of these peoples names in the bulletin, I think the hostage in iraq is named margaret Hassan, as for the footballer, i dont follow football so his name could be michael jackson for all i care.

Then the weather, well maybe not as detailed as RTE, but certainly better than TV3 and good enough for me, I want to know what the weather going to be like tomorrow, not aten page essay on low pressure and rhuabrbs building up and then at the end they tell us what its going to be like!

RTE's wether is not a part of the news gathering team, met eireann (people who know what they are talking about ) do the weather for RTE.

RTE is a public broadcaster, its not their job to compete with sky news.

flogen

Mr. Byrne, I really have had enough of your muppetry. As far as I'm concerned you're just being a troll now, and nothing more.

RTE don't report on missing sheep, and as Billy pointed out, it doesn't matter what the station thinks is interesting or important, its what the viewers think. RTE workers are paid to cater for all of Ireland, they dont always do a good job, but they do a damn better one that Sky.

Murdoch does ensure that everything he owns he controls, why do you think he put his son in charge of BskyB?

And stop making statements like "RTE talk about crap" and "people stopped watching RTE and started to watch TV3" without facts to back them up. Of course people started to watch TV3 news, it was on a half hour earlier and it's tabloid. The fact is some people like tabloid, others dont.

Now, we all gather you like Sky News. I'm sure you've gathered that I don't, and others don't. The fact is that Sky News make error after error (I'll see if I can find that map of Ireland they had on their ads for Sky News Ireland, the one where they had a red dot over Wicklow and 'Dublin' written beside it). As long as they do, people here and everywhere will point them out. You can do the same with RTE if you like, but saying they talk about sheep doesn't count, and I don't want to see it again.

flogen