Phoenix Magazine Cover This week

tbh

Has anyone seen the cover of the Phoenix this week? It has a pic. of Charlotte and Linda Mulhall, who were convicted of the murder and manslaughter of the Somali guy whos body was found in the Canal. One is saying "why did you do it?" and the other is saying "I lost the head".

Is it just me that finds this beyond the pale? I've a fairly black sense of humour, but to be honest, i think that's pretty sick. I don't want to appear overly PC, I just wonder if it was a joke about Rachel O'Reilly or Meg Ryan would they have printed it?

IMO, it's just there to shock, not to satirize.

flogen

Yes, it's far less witty than some of their previous efforts and a bit more crude for the sake of being crude.

r3nu4l

Haven't seen it but the description certainly makes it sound very 'tabloidy'!

Phoenix usually do a lot better than that.

Victor

tbh wrote:

One is saying "why did you do it?" and the other is saying "I lost the head".

Its the person in the background (a garda or prison officer) that says "why did you do it?".

Dundalk Daily

You can check it out here

Funny I thought the same when I saw it for the first time, going a wee bit too far. If it was an "Irish" person referred to then there would in deed be a national outcry especially if it had been someone like Veronice Guerin. But then its that type of controversy that Pheonix would thrive on.

DMC

tbh wrote:

I don't want to appear overly PC, I just wonder if it was a joke about Rachel O'Reilly or Meg Ryan would they have printed it?

They've been through the court system, unlike the two other cases, so the media can freely can comment on it.

Its very close to the bone, but what are they going to do?

mike65

I just wonder if it was a joke about Rachel O'Reilly or Meg Ryan would they have printed it?

No! Its a tacky cover and the sort of quip best suited to mocking politicans and terrorists.

Mike.

Dundalk Daily

I dont think those two are going to do anything about it. What I was commenting on was that this cover was somewhat acceptable because the victim was a foreign national and an unknown.

tbh

DMC wrote:

They've been through the court system, unlike the two other cases, so the media can freely can comment on it.

Its very close to the bone, but what are they going to do?

fair point dmc, I kind of forgot that those two cases have the fact that they have not been prosecuted in common - I just meant had it been and Irish victim. I just don't see the point in the cover - I think it's just shock for the sake of shock.

DMC

When I saw that cover, I didn't get any impression that there was a joke on his nationality/origin?

Like, this is standard fayre with the Phoenix, it has "bog cuttings" every week remarking on our own natives doing things in front of Gardai and being brought to the court, sentenced and fined. The front page is in the same vein.

tbh

I have to say, I don't really want to bring the whole race thing into it. I'm just wondering, whats the point? Like, when they take the piss out of the government, or the media, or the church I think - fair play - it's good to have a system where jokes - even stupid jokes - can be made, but who's this having a pop at? For example, if you saw a pic of Wayne O'Donohue making some smart comment about hiding Robert Houlihan, would that be funny? Don't get me wrong, I'm so far from being one of the "won't someone think of the children" brigade - or maybe not - I just think that the cover is in poor taste, and was wondering if it was just me.

mike65

If they had killed and decapitated Meg Walsh or similair they would have not run the cover, or if they had the sh1t would have hit the fan.

Mike.

DMC

Hold on a sec.... forget about the victim is Somali for a second.... I don't think his nationality was relevant to The Phoenix.

The media have thrived on women murderers. Catherine Nevin, christened the "Black Widow", for example. These two women represent a part of society that the press goes to town over, one of them is a convicted prostitute. They are in the eyes of the press, "scum" and are seen as fair game.

So back to my previous point, the victims nationality has nothing to do with this, only in terms of where the man came from, and the details of his grizzly death. He's got justice, where as those jailed for his murder are now fair game, in the media's eyes. And they can, because the facts are proven by the law.

Whether they are fair game or not in your eyes, is entirely up to you, dear reader.

tbh

moved my edit, to reply to dmc

edit: on reflection, I also think the quality of the joke comes into it - hypocritical as that might make me. I suppose I just wonder, why bother to publish a joke that hurtful and crass, when it's such a ****e joke - there must have been a dozen better alternatives. The cynic in me says they just thought "his family won't see it, theirs wont care and it'll generate a bit of comment".

feckin worked too, didn't it

FlutterinBantam

Agree with you there TBH, race had something to do with it.

To Phoenix he was just some nameless piece of flotsam who "deserved" to get what he got.He was a nomad miles away from home, who gives a fcuk?

Guarentee if the victim was Irish that cover would not have been published.

Cabaal

Its in bad taste imho, never read the rag anyway though

Dundalk Daily

Dont want to wonder of the thread too far but while we are on the subject of controversial front covers Private-eye has several pages of their best front covers over the last 20 years. They are marking Ian Hislop`s 20 years as editor of the magazine, well worth a look.

DMC

We're all agreed that the cover is in either bad taste or very close to being bad taste. Its rare for the Phoenix to stray outside of politics for its front covers, but I feel there are hit and miss; some are good, some are bad.

My favourite Phoenix cover has to be the one the week the Pope died, and a big splash "The Whole World Mourns" or something, alongside a picture of Paisley with his thumb up... Quality!

flogen

I don't think race comes into this at all, I think it's just the nature of public reaction to a crime.

Would similar have been done if it was Meg Walsh who had been decapitated? No, but the public reaction to Walsh's murder has been shock for the most part, while a lot of the public reaction to this case has been one of morbid curiosity, hence paper after paper giving minute details of what they did (just like the Catherine Nevin case).

It wasn't that funny, really and as I said, was witless... compare it to the one recently of Ahern and McDowell shaking hands with McDowell saying "I'm glad we didn't split up" and Ahern saying "Yeah, the last one cost me a fortune!" or something to that effect; I'd say some people saw that as close to the bone but it had enough wit to hold it together.

mike65

Private Eye is quality - 20 years of Hislop? Good grief! Is Ingrams over it yet? Bah it was Dempster/Dumpster that got huffy was'nt it.

Best cover - the one that got banned - sort of.



Mike.

DMC

My personal favourite, and the site with all of the covers (or as complete as dammit)

http://www.ugandandiscussions.co.uk/598/

Dundalk Daily

Mike great link thanks.

Mad Finn

OK so it was in bad taste but that's all the rage in comedy now. Ask Jimmy Carr.

Call me sick but I thought it was quite funny and no more racist than Private Eye's cover the week the SAS took out an IRA team in Gibraltar in 1988. Even though they were unarmed and nowhere near a bomb, the three provos were peppered with bullets by the SAS hit team.

The Eye's cover had two SAS guys in balaclavas and black uniforms, H&K assault rifles at the ready. One bubble asks 'Why did you shoot him 20 times?' The other replies 'I ran out of ammo'

You want to talk about real racist reporting? According to the Village, several tabloids ran stories when the body was first found to the effect that 'informed sources' were saying the mutilation suggested a voodoo involvement in the killing. More reason to despise dark skinned foreigners. Especially if they carry dolls around with them. They're only sticking pins in them to cause harm.

Turns out of course that the guy was killed by a local prostitute and her sister, allegedly because he was ill treating their mother.

Voodoo me arse.

flogen

Mad Finn wrote:

OK so it was in bad taste but that's all the rage in comedy now. Ask Jimmy Carr.

Bad taste has never not been a part of comedy, someone will always find something to be in bad taste; but there's a difference between provoking a reaction to make or while making a point (Brass Eye: Paedophile special) and provoking a reaction for the sake of getting a reaction (gross out humour).

Call me sick but I thought it was quite funny and no more racist than Private Eye's cover the week the SAS took out an IRA team in Gibraltar in 1988. Even though they were unarmed and nowhere near a bomb, the three provos were peppered with bullets by the SAS hit team.

The Eye's cover had two SAS guys in balaclavas and black uniforms, H&K assault rifles at the ready. One bubble asks 'Why did you shoot him 20 times?' The other replies 'I ran out of ammo'

You're not sick, that's just your thing... as for the Private Eye cover you mention, I don't see anything racist about that at all, in fact I think it fits into the "provoking a reaction to make a or while making a point category... this one isn't racist either, but it's just pretty lowbrow
.

Mad Finn

flogen wrote:

You're not sick, that's just your thing.

Actually I am. But just a bit.

flogen wrote:

.. as for the Private Eye cover you mention, I don't see anything racist about that at all,
.

Nor do I. But some people were suggesting that the Phoenix would not have printed that caption if the victim had been Irish. I'm not so sure.....

Victor

FlutterinBantam wrote:

To Phoenix he was just some nameless piece of flotsam who "deserved" to get what he got.He was a nomad miles away from home, who gives a fcuk?.

No, I think you are reading things into it that aren't there. By the way, your use of 'flotsam' is offensive.

Guarentee if the victim was Irish that cover would not have been published.

Actually, there was a cover about 2 years ago, I think the caption was "Bleedin deadly" which featured McDowell and a murder accussed(?). I (and other) thought it was pushing the line. But its not very different to this one. So the precedent exists.

DMC

Victor wrote:

Actually, there was a cover about 2 years ago, I think the caption was "Bleedin deadly" which featured McDowell and a murder accussed(?). I (and other) thought it was pushing the line. But its not very different to this one. So the precedent exists.

They don't shirk away from Sinn Fein either, the previous edition had the following lines

Ian Paisley: Will you recognise the police?
Gerry Adams: Sure we have pictures of all of them!

FlutterinBantam

Victor wrote:

No, I think you are reading things into it that aren't there. By the way, your use of 'flotsam' is offensive.
Actually, there was a cover about 2 years ago, I think the caption was "Bleedin deadly" which featured McDowell and a murder accussed(?). I (and other) thought it was pushing the line. But its not very different to this one. So the precedent exists.

I can understand your point,but it was not used in the literal sense.