BBC's "and finally" take on Irish stories

fricatus

I notice the BBC doing this all the time, and now I've caught them in the act.

Any time there's a big story making the news in Ireland, it's either ignored completely or pushed down the order (like when the seven fishermen drowned off the south-east in January). But if such a story is covered, they put a quirky, almost comedic spin on it. And what kind of spin do they use? Yes of course, the diddly-eyedley, bejaysus, Paddy-McGinty's-goat, priests-and-pixies angle!

Check this out: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/6507933.stm

The Galway drinking-water issue is a big story in this country. It threatens economic damage to the tourist industry in one of our major centres and has the potential to cause illness and even death in the case of people with weakened immune systems.

Of the reports I've heard in the Irish media, there has only been a passing mention of the holy water angle, yet the BBC sees fit to make this the central point in their report.

To add insult to injury (look at the URL) the story is filed under "UK - Northern Ireland", whereas there's a perfectly good category called "Europe" that we fit neatly into.

Am I just being paranoid? Am I just looking to be offended?

Your thoughts please...

The Black Oil

Most of the Irish related stories I've seen on there have been under the NI section, something mentioning the Gardaí or whatever. Maybe email them. Parts of that article seems a bit daft.

odonnell

fricatus wrote:

I notice the BBC doing this all the time, and now I've caught them in the act.

Any time there's a big story making the news in Ireland, it's either ignored completely or pushed down the order (like when the seven fishermen drowned off the south-east in January). But if such a story is covered, they put a quirky, almost comedic spin on it. And what kind of spin do they use? Yes of course, the diddly-eyedley, bejaysus, Paddy-McGinty's-goat, priests-and-pixies angle!

Check this out: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/6507933.stm

The Galway drinking-water issue is a big story in this country. It threatens economic damage to the tourist industry in one of our major centres and has the potential to cause illness and even death in the case of people with weakened immune systems.

Of the reports I've heard in the Irish media, there has only been a passing mention of the holy water angle, yet the BBC sees fit to make this the central point in their report.

To add insult to injury (look at the URL) the story is filed under "UK - Northern Ireland", whereas there's a perfectly good category called "Europe" that we fit neatly into.

Am I just being paranoid? Am I just looking to be offended?

Your thoughts please...

I can see your angle mate - its just plain ignorance on the part of whomever categorised that article on the website. I share a lot of what you said given Im Scottish but I dont get too offended when things like this happen. Its typical of the BBC...

But as for Irish news - is it that you reckon the BBC ought to be putting more time into Irish stories - do you think they are pushed down the order relative to other EU countries mentioned on the bbc site? Or do you want to see Irish headlines on the BBC site alongside Scottish, NI, Welsh, and English news?

I ask because, and I dont mean to offend, but its a British Broadcasting company with British concerns - and everything else is pretty much categorised and subdivided......but theres no accounting for their outright ignorance.

superdudeman007

Sky News was worse when Gerry Adams and Ian Paisley agreed on power sharing in the north - no mention whatsoever. The main Sky News channel was covering the Anna Nicole Smith piss take.. erm... story, as were 2 screens of Sky News Active. No mention of Northern Ireland at all.

J.S. Pill

I think whoever wrote this has derived all his notions of Ireland from Father Ted.

mike65

Understandable!

fricatus, its the British Broadcorping Castration so ROI stories will rightly be well down the order unless its really big or has a direct link to the UK.

As for Holy Water thats daft but so was the Irish media madness in 1985 about moving statues.

Mike.

fricatus

odonnell wrote:

But as for Irish news - is it that you reckon the BBC ought to be putting more time into Irish stories - do you think they are pushed down the order relative to other EU countries mentioned on the bbc site? Or do you want to see Irish headlines on the BBC site alongside Scottish, NI, Welsh, and English news?

No, they can put as much or as little time into them as they like. I know we're a small country - we're probably about level with Slovenia or Denmark on London's radar, and I don't mind that so much. It's that they when they cover an Irish story, their interest is usually only piqued when there's a Leprechaun angle there.

odonnell wrote:

I ask because, and I dont mean to offend, but its a British Broadcasting company with British concerns - and everything else is pretty much categorised and subdivided......but theres no accounting for their outright ignorance.

You needn't worry about offending, odonnell, your questions and comments are perfectly reasonable.

It's true that they're a British organisation with British concerns. I suppose what annoys me about their not covering Irish stories is not what appears or doesn't appear on the mainstream BBC coverage, but the NI coverage. I guess this has coloured my attitudes too, even though I'm going a little off topic now.

Whenever an ant farts up north (as in NI), RTE give it the headline spot on the news, and they've been doing so for 40 years. However, BBC (and UTV, though to a lesser extent) seem to be blind to anything but the biggest stories from south of the border.

I know the mainstream BBC coverage has major national and international stories as its brief, and I also know that the NI coverage is supposed to be NI news. However, any time I visit NI, I find that there's a very low level of awareness about current events south of the border. And I find this to be the case irrespective of, shall we say, political allegiances or lack thereof!

I think given that NI is so close to the Republic (45 minutes from Belfast to the border, for crying out loud!), the BBC should be offering coverage of Irish stories relative to their importance as news, rather than pandering to the tabloid instinct of poking fun at the Paddies!

Judt

Err, since when does a Galway water story have anything to do with the BBC? It's an "And finally..." thing if they can find some angle on it, which they've done here. The NI stuff is obviously news, but the BBC doesn't have to either cover Ireland religiously or not at all. They can pick up on these "And finally in..." stories all they want, it ain't gonna offend me when it's about the holy water in Galway or Jesus appearing on toast in Peru.

NUTLEY BOY

Judt wrote:

Err, since when does a Galway water story have anything to do with the BBC? .

It might be of interest to the considerable numbers of their listeners/viewers who visit Ireland, especially the West, for fishing and golf and all the rest of it. If I was a Brit I think that I would be happier with BBC than some of the rhubarb from RTE as a source of information !!

mike65

Whenever an ant farts up north (as in NI), RTE give it the headline spot on the news, and they've been doing so for 40 years

Thats a failing of RTE, they are obsessed with NI but don't give a toss about places within thier own legal area of operations.

Mike.

copacetic

mike65 wrote:

Thats a failing of RTE, they are obsessed with NI but don't give a toss about places within thier own legal area of operations.

Mike.

I don't agree with this, RTE got complaints last week that they didn't cover the stormont stories enough compared to the UK channels..

OPENROAD

fricatus wrote:

I notice the BBC doing this all the time, and now I've caught them in the act.

Any time there's a big story making the news in Ireland, it's either ignored completely or pushed down the order (like when the seven fishermen drowned off the south-east in January). But if such a story is covered, they put a quirky, almost comedic spin on it. And what kind of spin do they use? Yes of course, the diddly-eyedley, bejaysus, Paddy-McGinty's-goat, priests-and-pixies angle!

Check this out: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/6507933.stm

The Galway drinking-water issue is a big story in this country. It threatens economic damage to the tourist industry in one of our major centres and has the potential to cause illness and even death in the case of people with weakened immune systems.

Of the reports I've heard in the Irish media, there has only been a passing mention of the holy water angle, yet the BBC sees fit to make this the central point in their report.

To add insult to injury (look at the URL) the story is filed under "UK - Northern Ireland", whereas there's a perfectly good category called "Europe" that we fit neatly into.




Am I just being paranoid? Am I just looking to be offended?

Your thoughts please...

Sorry can't see why you are getting so upset? I think you are paranoid,So what if they have the story listed under Northern Ireland, big deal!

Have noticed that the BBC have more and more Irish stories in recent years, I have also noticed the same in the UK press, i.e. UK versions not Irish versions.

Sometimes, and please take no offence but we seem to have a chip on our shoulder re these sort of issues.

Is it me or do the bbc sports praise the Irish when they do well while the Irish give no credit to English success, Am I just being paranoid?

mike65

Ah but thats condescension the UK media can't win that one.

Mike.

J.S. Pill

This story had a 2 inch column in the Guardian yesterday. Very last sentence was churches have had to find an alternative source of holy water - or something to that effect (Don't have a link). Exact same approach as the BBC just a bit more condensed.

luckat

However nice-but-dim the BBC might be, they're playing to their viewership. In BBC Northern Ireland, that's maybe a viewership who like to see Ireland as leprechaun-haunted and flowing with Guinness and charming feyness, begob?

OPENROAD

luckat wrote:

However nice-but-dim the BBC might be, they're playing to their viewership. In BBC Northern Ireland, that's maybe a viewership who like to see Ireland as leprechaun-haunted and flowing with Guinness and charming feyness, begob?

Well it is flowing with Guinness is it not and come nxt Thursday the country will be in a panic.

DMC

Going back to the original article... there might be another issue at play here... burying bad news.

I mean, ok, holy water, a bit of a twee angle, but this could have a serious knock-on effect on one of our countries major tourist areas. If bad news regarding that the water in Galway is more the headline, it will have a serious impact on tourism.

Whereas the BBC report is light hearted in nature, it masks the true extent of the issue.

Just a note on Sky News and Irish issues, they've seriously scaled down operations in NI and Ireland since Sky News Ireland closed as a TV opt-out in October last year. So much so, it was almost impossible to see a NI or Ireland story on Sky News since then. I dunno how they covered the St. Andrews talks in November, but they gave it shorter shrift than before. Paisley meeting Adams etc was something that they couldn't ignore. It will be interesting to see how they cover the general election here in a few weeks time, if at all.

OPENROAD

[Just a note on Sky News and Irish issues, they've seriously scaled down operations in NI and Ireland since Sky News Ireland closed as a TV opt-out in October last year. So much so, it was almost impossible to see a NI or Ireland story on Sky News since then. I dunno how they covered the St. Andrews talks in November, but they gave it shorter shrift than before. Paisley meeting Adams etc was something that they couldn't ignore. It will be interesting to see how they cover the general election here in a few weeks time, if at all.[/QUOTE]

OK while sky have a large subscription base here they are a UK station, so why should they cover the general election here, I'm sure it will get some coverage, but what sort of coverage do you expect, do you expect them to send reporters to each polling station. People in the UK will have no interest in the Irish election. I feel it is different for us, as culturally we are very closely linked to UK hence our coverage and interest in all things UK.

DMC

OPENROAD wrote:

OK while sky have a large subscription base here they are a UK station, so why should they cover the general election here, I'm sure it will get some coverage, but what sort of coverage do you expect, do you expect them to send reporters to each polling station. People in the UK will have no interest in the Irish election. I feel it is different for us, as culturally we are very closely linked to UK hence our coverage and interest in all things UK.

We'll never know how Sky News Ireland would've covered it, but going by what happened before in 2002, they had the likes of Adam Boulton in Dublin for the count, and updates every hour.

OPENROAD

DMC wrote:

We'll never know how Sky News Ireland would've covered it, but going by what happened before in 2002, they had the likes of Adam Boulton in Dublin for the count, and updates every hour.

actually you are right, remember seeing Adam Boulton numerous times on the wayback to London, but as I said just feel that we are far more interested in UK issues than your average UK citizen would be in Irish issues, due to how influenced we are culturally with the UK.

DMC

Its normally one way traffic, its true.

LordSutch

The UK has a population of some (Sixty Million) people and we have a population of some (Four point one million) people ~ and yes, I agree that there are discrepancies in BBC News bulletins, but lets not forget that there are also many discrepancies in Irish broadcasting too . . . . .

So lets start with News stories pertaining to the "UK & Northern Ireland" . .

(This is my number one Bug Bear with most Irish Media News outlets who are 100% responsible for this smart ass political jibe)!

RTE, TV3, Today FM, Newstalk 106~108 (please note).

Nuff said...........................

mike65

he! I've lost times of the number of times England is confused with Britain or UK.

Mike.

marco murphy

Thats some article. All anyone can do is complain about these things by email. I for one could'nt be arsed.
Sky News makes me laugh. They pronounce foreign names wrong etc and seem totally ignorant to what they are covering. The covered to topic of ''Snow hits Britain''. This was on ALL day, repeat repeat and more repeat. There was the Sky News helicopter bringing coverage of ''Snow hit Britain'' and spent 5 mins following a lad trying to get to work on his bike.
Eejits like.

rlogue

They did actually follow that story up with a more serious take on the story and yes, it was filed in the 'Europe' section.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6530721.stm

Dudess

Bottom line: we're more concerned about Britain than Britain is about us. Hence, RTE will have coverage of the British election, but you can be sure BBC/ITV/C4 won't devote a jot to the Irish election. I suppose that does raise questions, particularly when there's a large Irish community in Britain.
But we're Canada to the US, New Zealand to Australia. That's just the way it is. Britain is one of the world's biggest super-powers. Ireland is... not a whole lot in the global scheme of things.

J.S. Pill

Guardian did a half page piece today on the water supply in Galway. Still thought it relevant to mention the f**king holy water.

They also called Galway 'Ireland's party capital' - when did it get the accolade? Somebody clearly had a bord failte brochure as a source.

mike65

They proberly heard about the Fianna Fail Galway races fundraising tent and got confused.

Mike.

flogen

Dudess wrote:

Bottom line: we're more concerned about Britain than Britain is about us. Hence, RTE will have coverage of the British election, but you can be sure BBC/ITV/C4 won't devote a jot to the Irish election.

I disagree, I'm sure the RTÉ coverage of a British election would probably be a little heavier than vice versa, but the BBC, C4, Sky News and probably ITV would all give some coverage to the Irish election, even just the final result.

That's just the way it is. Britain is one of the world's biggest super-powers.

Not anymore.

mike65

Yes it is! (No it is'nt! etc)

Mike.

Eirebear

fricatus wrote:

Whenever an ant farts up north (as in NI), RTE give it the headline spot on the news, and they've been doing so for 40 years. However, BBC (and UTV, though to a lesser extent) seem to be blind to anything but the biggest stories from south of the border

First up, there are almost double the amount of people in London alone as there are in Ireland and they are going to play up to generalisations, it sucks i know, but lets face it they do the same with scottish and welsh news ffs.

secondly, the news relating to the troubles in NI is extremely important to many people in the Republic how can it not be?
We are living on a very small ireland, and it is soaked in history relating to the problems up there, so why shouldnt it get more coverage than Jimmy mcGintys goat having twins?

darkman2

The BBC are covering the election here. They've had several features on their website in the Europe section about issues relating to Ireland ahead of the election. BBC News 24 will give it some coverage. Sky news will also give this election more coverage then it deserves aswell like last time. They have articles on their website in 'World News' about it.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6646223.stm


TBH How much coverage are you expecting. On election day itself all networks will cover it to varying degrees.

senordingdong

Hmmm...I recall a show on UTV doing some election coverage and kept usinf the term, the 'Irish Prime Minister'.
That really boiled my blood.

_blank_

senordingdong wrote:

Hmmm...I recall a show on UTV doing some election coverage and kept usinf the term, the 'Irish Prime Minister'.
That really boiled my blood.

Why? It's what he is.

Would you refer to François Fillon as the Premier Ministre, or the French Prime Minister?

What about Fidel Castro? Is he 'El Presidente de Cuba' (sorry, my Spanish may be a bit rusty) or The President of Cuba?

flogen

senordingdong wrote:

Hmmm...I recall a show on UTV doing some election coverage and kept usinf the term, the 'Irish Prime Minister'.
That really boiled my blood.

But when Irish news organisations refer to François Fillon they don't say he is 'le Premier Ministre', and when they refer to Angela Merkel they don't say she's 'Die Kanzler' - they say he's the French Prime Minister and she's the German Chancellor.

I know you're talking about a Northern Ireland-based news organisation but they're still British, like it or loathe it. From what I see of both UTV and the BBC some reporters put the effort in and use the terms Taoiseach and Tanaiste - following them up with an explanation like "The Taoiseach - that's the Irish Prime Minister - Bertie Ahern..."

But they don't always and we shouldn't expect them to.

_blank_

senordingdong wrote:

Hmmm...I recall a show on UTV doing some election coverage and kept usinf the term, the 'Irish Prime Minister'.
That really boiled my blood.

Why? It's what he is.

Would you refer to François Fillon as the Premier Ministre, or the French Prime Minister?

What about Fidel Castro? Is he 'El Presidente de Cuba' (sorry, my Spanish may be a bit rusty) or The President of Cuba?

mike65

Prime Minister is a 'generic' term like Police

Mike.

senordingdong

No, I don't refer to them by their proper titles, even tough I should. Infact, I'm not sure the examples presented are correct as they are infact just literal translations whereas Taoiseach isn't a translation of Prime Minister.

But that's not the point I'm making. UTV is supposed to be representative of the people of Northern Ireland. It may be a part of Britian but it's sill Irish. A part of Ireland and full of Irish people. The term shouldn't be alien to them.