Eoghan Harris on the political party

brianthebard

This could go in politics either, but I thought it was a hilarious interview yesterday. Yer wan interviewing him got him flustered so he started protesting that their time was up and that he hoped they would re-record the interview, but was told it was recorded as live and would not be edited. He was complaining about being asked about hte Mahon tribunal, feeling he had been ambushed, so they moved to a different topic. He then proceeded to bring up that topic at least two more times without being asked! He's such a bull****ter its just one more nail in the coffin for that will stop politicans ever being taken seriously in this country again. Opinions anyone?

flogen

I uploaded a recording of the best bit (when he tries to stop the interview) to youtube last night:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMxLkBF3AiQ

It's probably the first time I've seen Halligan really corner someone on that show but the questions shouldn't have been too much of a challenge for someone who had spent the last week defending Ahern and saying the Tribunal should be closed down.

My favourite bit has to be when Halligan says "We'll move on, we'll move on, we'll move on... do you want to move on?"

Dudess

brianthebard wrote: »

Yer wan interviewing him

That would be Ursula Halligan. Sorry, but I've a particular aversion to the phrase "your one", not to mind when it's spelt "yer wan" - and particularly by someone who is obviously articulate.
I also have a particular aversion to Eoghan Harris, and enjoy greatly when he humiliates himself.

nacho libre

Dudess wrote: »

That would be Ursula Halligan. Sorry, but I've a particular aversion to the phrase "your one", not to mind when it's spelt "yer wan" - and particularly by someone who is obviously articulate.
I also have a particular aversion to Eoghan Harris, and enjoy greatly when he humiliates himself.

Should he/she really care what particular aversion you have to certain phrases? Anyway, I like seeing Eoghan tripping himself up too. Thanks for the upload.

Snickers Man

Oh that's just made my day!! :D:D

Thanks for that upload.

What a beautiful sight, seeing wee petite soft-spoken articulate feminine Ursula Halligan reduce that blustering buffoon to a gibbering wreck.

If she had a sling shot she'd be lethal.

Top telly moment.

jdivision

Eh Ursula is v good at asking tough questions. Anybody else remember when she had Bertie squeming with his fake smile trying to ignore her. Harris is a joke, he's regarded in the media as a joke and now in politics he'll be a joke too.

brianthebard

jdivision wrote: »

Eh Ursula is v good at asking tough questions. Anybody else remember when she had Bertie squeming with his fake smile trying to ignore her. Harris is a joke, he's regarded in the media as a joke and now in politics he'll be a joke too.

Yeah I've seen that programme a few times and she is easily as good as anyone on RTE for asking the hard questions (whether that standard is very high to begin with is another matter). Funnily enough I had started to thaw slightly with regard to Harris, and then he went and reminded me why I disliked him so much in the first place.

moe_sizlak

eoghan harris is completley mad , having said that , hes always always good value , be it on the late late , prime time or his collumn in the sindo

he hasnt a clue about music either , having seen him on glas vegas

Snickers Man

jdivision wrote:

Eh Ursula is v good at asking tough questions. .

Oh she's excellent. And it just goes to show that with a clear line of thinking, an earnest refusal not to accept bluster or obfuscation for an answer and the quiet determination to pursue a line of questioning until a satisfactory outcome is achieved ie a straight answer or a towel chucked in your direction as was the case here, you don't need to be an intimidating blustering windbag.

Some interviewers like to dominate people physically. Notably the arch windbag in the US Bill O'Reilly who is extremely tall and can be very intimidating, according to some people who had altercations with him, notably Jeremy Glick. Paxman too uses his imposing physicality and his sneering supercilious tone to belittle people and crush them.

But I never saw either of those reduce anybody to the gibbering pleading wreck that Harris was by Halligan.

If you'll forgive the phrase, it was a pussy wupping of the highest order. It should be required viewing for any young journalist seeking to become an interviewer.

Journalism is all about asking the right question.

flogen

Snickers Man wrote: »

Oh she's excellent. And it just goes to show that with a clear line of thinking, an earnest refusal not to accept bluster or obfuscation for an answer and the quiet determination to pursue a line of questioning until a satisfactory outcome is achieved ie a straight answer or a towel chucked in your direction as was the case here, you don't need to be an intimidating blustering windbag.

Some interviewers like to dominate people physically. Notably the arch windbag in the US Bill O'Reilly who is extremely tall and can be very intimidating, according to some people who had altercations with him, notably Jeremy Glick. Paxman too uses his imposing physicality and his sneering supercilious tone to belittle people and crush them.

But I never saw either of those reduce anybody to the gibbering pleading wreck that Harris was by Halligan.

If you'll forgive the phrase, it was a pussy wupping of the highest order. It should be required viewing for any young journalist seeking to become an interviewer.

Journalism is all about asking the right question.

I don't really watch The Political Party (always forget about it) so I've not really seen enough to judge Halligan on but on the very odd occasion I had seen it before I was unimpressed, to be honest.

One interview with Dempsey sticks to mind where she seemed to be just short of asking him what his favourite colour was.

That said the way she handled Harris was very good and she pursued the line of questioning without getting aggressive (which would have given him leave to do likewise). She also handled his tantrum quite well, made it clear that his protest was unjustified and then was willing to move on at the right time so it wasn't too quick (and obedient) but not so long as to have him end the whole thing there and then.

flogen

Just to re-raise the issue of Halligan's soft ball questions again after watching tonight's Political Party.

For the second part of the show she had Jackie and Michael Healy-Rae on. Her first question - what's up with the hats?

Then after 2 minutes of that she moved onto Jackie's history in politics, cue the stuff about FF and Jackie feeling betrayed that we've heard 100 times before, then they showed the clip where he had a joke at O'Donoghue's expense on the first day of the current Dáil, to which they all had a laugh...

Then after 6 minutes she finally asked a half-decent question - would Michael run for the seat in the next election - to which he gave a vague answer and they moved on. Then she asked Jackie if he thought O'Donoghue was doing a good job as CC, yet again cue the rivalries we've heard 100 times before.

After that she asked another half decent question - was there sign of a Healy-Rae / FF reconciliation but then undid that by moving onto Michael's connection with Katy French. In fairness they briefly discussed the issue of cocaine use in Kerry - basically is it a problem in Kerry, yes it's a problem everywhere - but the overall issue was completely irrelevant.

The last two questions were on how long Jackie Healy-Rae thought Bertie would last and what Michael thought of the proposed pay rise for ministers (they're asking a county councillor this?).

By my count that's two half-decent questions in the space of 15 minutes. Why didn't she ask about Jackie Healy-Rae's thoughts on the health service and the fact that people in Mayo will have to travel to Galway for cancer services under the plans? Ask him if he'd stop supporting the Government should the plans go ahead or why he voted for confidence in Harney with this issue in mind?

Or maybe she could have asked if Michael felt it was appropriate for the Mayor of Mayo to be spending his time on a reality TV show, even if it was for charity, while most likely still getting money from his job. Is it that he stopped doing all that work he goes on about for a week and if so why? Or is it that a major actually does nothing and if so why does the role exist?

Roanmore

The worst part of the interview was when JHR was asked about Katy French and he said how terrible it was that one of the nicest people in the country had died because of cocaine. He was then asked if he met her and he said kind of, he read the Evening hearald every day and she was in it. Total rubbish. She should also have asked MHR if it was appropriate for the Mayor of Kerry to wear the Mayoral chain to Katy French's funeral.

Dudess

Roanmore wrote: »

JHR was asked about Katy French and he said how terrible it was that one of the nicest people in the country had died because of cocaine. He was then asked if he met her and he said kind of, he read the Evening hearald every day and she was in it.

LMFAO!!!

Slice

For TV3's main Political Correspondent she strikes me as pretty clueless on most issues in her questioning and almost always too soft. When she does score a hole-in-one it's more a case of "if at first you don't succeed..."

jdivision

I think she's not as comfortable in studio. When she's reporting for the news she's much better.

Deflector

Agreed - much more heavy-hitting and perceptive when reporting. She turns very timid and overly chatty in studio.

Also, I don't quite understand people's interpretation of Halligan as being cutting and determined in her Harris interview. She just asked standard questions anyone would ask, and when it got nasty she backed down like a pussy cat. In fairness it was the right line to take, as it was the only thing that kept him there.

But she was nothing other than average in that interview. Great VT though!