Good journalists?

benjamin d

So I think its pretty clear who people around here don't rate as journalists, but is there anyone out there that you do pay heed to and think are worth their salt? And lets keep it positive because there are plenty of threads for bashing the crap ones in AH!:p

mloc123

Alison O'Riordan is decent

Snakeblood

mloc123 wrote: »

Alison O'Riordan is decent

She lays bare the heart of man as with a scalpel. Dizzying insight into the modern condition.

benjamin d

That's this thread ruined before it started so...:rolleyes:

PanchoVilla

I hear Bertie Ahern is writing an exposé on corruption in Irish politics.

Snakeblood

PanchoVilla wrote: »

I hear Bertie Ahern is writing a memoir on corruption in Irish politics.

There you go.

bonerm

PanchoVilla wrote: »

I hear Bertie Ahern is writing an exposé on corruption in Irish politics.

Well they do say "write about what you know."

Poly

PanchoVilla wrote: »

I hear Bertie Ahern is writing an exposé on corruption in Irish politics.

and his former girlfriend is a super journalist too.

Nodin

benjamin d wrote: »

........... because there are plenty of threads for bashing the crap ones in AH!:p

....that get locked, because pointing out shoddy journalism and factual inaccuracies upsets some people....

shizle

I've always been very impressed by Christina Lamb, whenever I've read anything of hers. She's the foreign correspondent for The Sunday Times and often writes feature length articles in the News Review supplement.

jimmyw

Niamh Lyons, Fionnan Sheehan.

Micky Dolenz

Careful now

Orange69

Oxymoronic thread title is oxymoronic.

sollar

Gene Kerrigan, i think fintan o toole is very good too.

OutlawPete

Kevin Myers.

Yes, he can be vitriolic and senstaionlositic and I agree with only around 25% of what he writes and the opinions he expresses.

However, when I read his articles, I feel like I am getting an opinion that he is invested in, right or wrong.

There so much left wing, formulaic, ****e that is served up in today's newspapers that you don't feel like it is written by journalist at all, but a bunch of sheep that have only one interest and that is to not offend, be as politically correct as possible and make sure that the masses will approve.

Sarah Carey's articles I find interesting also, again - don't always agree withe her, but she is a thoughtful writer and so I enjoy reading her as, even when I don't agree with her opinions, they will at least challenge my thinking on matters and the odd time even change my opinion them.

Paparazzo

Kevin Myres. He always tells it like it is, his article is always 100% fact. Unlike some other journalists that just make shít up and be controversial.

Terry McGeehan in The Star is the funniest, always worth a read.

bonerm

Snakeblood wrote: »

She lays bare the heart of man as with a scalpel. Dizzying insight into the modern condition.

Agreed. Not to mention how Hannover Street comes alive when I read her powerful prose. A chilling exposé on life in the big bad city from a unique talent who has taken gonzo journalism to the next level.

themadhair

Paparazzo wrote: »

Terry McGeehan in The Star is the funniest, always worth a read.

Cracks me up everytime. But then I feel like crying afterwards because what he has wrote is true )-:.

Have to give a nod to Jim Gallagher of the Sunday World for doggedly digging up the details regarding the House of Prayer. But then I may be biased on that one.

Fulton Crown

Good Journalist...now just what is that ?

Someone entertaining ? someone funny ...someone investigative ?

Or maybe a combo of all three + more.

These are straightened times ..we need journalists who are not afraid to tell it like it is ...lay bare the facts and go after the sacred cows.

Allas in Ireland we have not got even one .....

OutlawPete

Be class if Biggins got his own column

epgc3fyqirnbsx

Can we mention sports journalists???

Conor Bourke

Victoria Mary Clarke





























*I joke, please don't hurt me

ascanbe

Myers isn't a journalist; he's a polemicist.
Apparently he used to be a journalist, once upon a time.

Millicent

ascanbe wrote: »

Myers isn't a journalist; he's a polemicist.
Apparently he used to be a journalist, once upon a time.

Agreed, he is a columnist, not a journalist in any way. Myers saddens me a bit because he has a great writing skill and is obviously incredibly intelligent. He could be capable of some great journalism if only his bias and narcissistic tendency to favour his own view as absolute could be reigned in.

Millicent

Paparazzo wrote: »

Kevin Myres. He always tells it like it is, his article is always 100% fact.

:pac: You get the Pacman face because I refuse to believe you're serious!

Fulton Crown

Millicent wrote: »

Agreed, he is a columnist, not a journalist in any way. Myers saddens me a bit because he has a great writing skill and is obviously incredibly intelligent. He could be capable of some great journalism if only his bias and narcissistic tendency to favour his own view as absolute could be reigned in.

Myers is the only one with the BALLS to tell it like it is ...he is on the money 90% of the time.

Vincent Brown is the only other to come near him in staring down the foookoos in the FF party and going after the sacred cows of Irish Society.

Who for instance is going to call those cnunts in the Universities to task for their shameless self agrandisment and blatent nest feathering.

Who CONTROLLS these fookoos...how do they get away with it ...somebody is failing to do their job.

Who will kook arter our interests..the interests of John Q Taxpayer !!

Its a disgrace a fcukin disgrace...aploogies for the language but it makes me so fcukin maaaaddd

OutlawPete

Millicent wrote: »

Agreed, he is a columnist, not a journalist in any way. Myers saddens me a bit because he has a great writing skill and is obviously incredibly intelligent. He could be capable of some great journalism if only his bias and narcissistic tendency to favour his own view as absolute could be reigned in.

I don't agree that he is anymore narcissistic than any other journo or that he should reign in his own views as they are what make his articles refreshingly unformulaic (most likley not a word ).

I thought his "bastards" remark when accusing unmarried mothers of leeching from the state was disgraceful and as a nationalist, I find his views of Northern Ireland and indeed, republicanism also, a disgrace.

However, I still find what he writes and the way he writes it most engaging and he never fails to stir emotion, whether for the good or for the bad. His articles are obviously well written, I don't think anyone would deny that - but there is much more to him than the fact that he his mastery of the English language.

He's someone who has opinions and he is invested in them, undoubtedly - but also that he has conviction in them and that is what is rare, right or wrong.

RoundyMooney

OutlawPete wrote: »

Be class if Biggins got his own column

He'd be goosed, he could only write one a day.

Seriously, a right good political satirist is what we need, someone who lands heavier, more incisive punches than the likes of Miriam Lord.

I like Gene Kerrigan, pity he writes for a paper I don't, and will never pay money for.

Millicent

OutlawPete wrote: »

I don't agree that he is anymore narcissistic than any other journo or that he should reign in his own views as they are what make his articles refreshingly unformulaic (most likley not a word ).

I thought his "bastards" remark when accusing unmarried mothers of leeching from the state was disgraceful and as a nationalist, I find his views of Northern Ireland and indeed, republicanism also, a disgrace.

However, I still find what he writes and the way he writes it most engaging and he never fails to stir emotion, whether for the good or for the bad. His articles are obviously well written, I don't think anyone would deny that - but there is much more to him than the fact that he his mastery of the English language.

He's someone who has opinions and he is invested in them, undoubtedly - but also that he has conviction in them and that is what is rare, right or wrong.

I actually agree with just about all of this Pete. As I said, I do greatly admire his style (of writing that is). I do think newspaper columns, by their very nature, favour narcissism, more than your typical news article would. He does utilise a very personal style that I don't think anyone could replicate and I admire him for that. Were he not writing on political matters, I think I'd even enjoy his work.

I can admire the strength of his convictions -- where he falls down in my eyes is refusing to consider any other viewpoint as credible outside of his own.

mloc123

mloc123 wrote: »

Alison O'Riordan is decent

Who the **** is Alison O'Riordan? She's talked about here constantly and I honest to **** have no idea who the hell she is!

Millicent

Thought of a journalist I admire -- Colm Keena and his and Geraldine Kennedy's refusal to name sources.

bigwormbundoran

Charlie Brooker

Vincent Browne

Im just about stumped after them two

ascanbe

Fulton Crown wrote: »

Myers is the only one with the BALLS to tell it like it is ...he is on the money 90% of the time.

Vincent Brown is the only other to come near him in staring down the foookoos in the FF party and going after the sacred cows of Irish Society.

Who for instance is going to call those cnunts in the Universities to task for their shameless self agrandisment and blatent nest feathering.

Who CONTROLLS these fookoos...how do they get away with it ...somebody is failing to do their job.

Who will kook arter our interests..the interests of John Q Taxpayer !!

Its a disgrace a fcukin disgrace...aploogies for the language but it makes me so fcukin maaaaddd

The only criticisms i've ever seen Myers make of FF were as part of his endless, running 'you bloody stupid, corrupt Irish, blah, blah, blah,' witterings; he damn's pretty much every other aspect of Irish political and social life in the same manner.
There is certainly a lot to criticise but he doesn't bring anything constructive or 'journalistic' to the task.
Never saw him write anything prescient regarding the situation we find ourselves in today; in fact he became a bit of a FF fan during the Celtic Tiger as he thought its 'success' was due to Thatcherite economic policies and that he could use this to admonish the 'bloody stupid Irish' for ever having doubted her.
As with much else of his work, he was talking/writing through his hole.

shinikins

Deleted User wrote: »

Who the **** is Alison O'Riordan? She's talked about here constantly and I honest to **** have no idea who the hell she is!

Google(or in this case the forum search facility) is your friend


:D:D

Fulton Crown

ascanbe wrote: »

The only criticisms i've ever seen Myers make of FF were as part of his endless, running 'you bloody stupid, corrupt Irish, blah, blah, blah,' witterings; he damn's pretty much every other aspect of Irish political and social life in the same manner.
There is certainly a lot to criticise but he doesn't bring anything constructive or 'journalistic' to the task.
Never saw him write anything prescient regarding the situation we find ourselves in today; in fact he became a bit of a FF fan during the Celtic Tiger as he thought its 'success' was due to Thatcherite economic policies and that he could use this to admonish the 'bloody stupid Irish' for ever having doubted her.
As with much else of his work, he was talking/writing through his hole.

A little like yourself pal ...if I may make that observation.

I have read Myers extensively and frankly what you are implying is a load of Balls.

Thatcherite economic policies ?

The fcukin problem pal is that the gombeen men in FF and their nod and wink friends from the Galway Tent had not sufficient principles to make ANY policies work..let alone Thatcherite ones,

Just look at them ? Heavy testosterouned fuelled gimps with balls the size of footballs ...fuelled by naked avarice and greed.

Cnunts will fight like rats and hide behind their equally avaricious wives to hold on to their ill gotten wealth.

Root them out i say ....root out that cnunt Aherne from whatever cupboard he is hiding in and make them accountable.

Mick Neary is reported to be having a great time in the Carrib...mmm ?

Fingers is reported to be sunning heself in Porto B....

Davy is in a palatial pad on the cape....me I'M payin for these cnunts ....an my kids and grand kids .

Rum deal innit ?

Bob the Builder

Willie O'Dea, one of the finest and most honest journalists ever....

ascanbe

Fulton Crown wrote: »

A little like yourself pal ...if I may make that observation.

I have read Myers extensively and frankly what you are implying is a load of Balls.

Thatcherite economic policies ?

The fcukin problem pal is that the gombeen men in FF and their nod and wink friends from the Galway Tent had not sufficient principles to make ANY policies work..let alone Thatcherite ones,

Just look at them ? Heavy testosterouned fuelled gimps with balls the size of footballs ...fuelled by naked avarice and greed.

Cnunts will fight like rats and hide behind their equally avaricious wives to hold on to their ill gotten wealth.

Root them out i say ....root out that cnunt Aherne from whatever cupboard he is hiding in and make them accountable.

Mick Neary is reported to be having a great time in the Carrib...mmm ?

Fingers is reported to be sunning heself in Porto B....

Davy is in a palatial pad on the cape....me I'M payin for these cnunts ....an my kids and grand kids .

Rum deal innit ?

I don't disagree with much of what you have written there.
But i do think your barking up the wrong tree if you think Myers 'journalism' went far beyond general carping.
If you wanted actual, forensic uncovering and condemnation of the corruption endemic in FF in the last decade and more, then Fintan O'Toole would be your man.

ordinary_girl

For both interesting and humorous pieces I really like Marina Hyde and Charlie Brooker. (They both write for The Guardian.) Otherwise, I find John Pilger's reports and documentaries incredibly interesting.

Fulton Crown

ascanbe wrote: »

I don't disagree with much of what you have written there.
But i do think your barking up the wrong tree if you think Myers 'journalism' went far beyond general carping.
If you wanted actual, forensic uncovering and condemnation of the corruption endemic in FF in the last decade and more, then Fintan O'Toole would be your man.

Yes I agree FO'T is a fine journalist and a competent media pundit.

What has he achieved though apart from a dubious "headbanger" image,

He may be forensic, he may be uncovering , he may be condemming but what the fcuk has changed ?

Answer me that one .....

ascanbe

Fulton Crown wrote: »

Yes I agree FO'T is a fine journalist and a competent media pundit.

What has he achieved though apart from a dubious "headbanger" image,

He may be forensic, he may be uncovering , he may be condemming but what the fcuk has changed ?

Answer me that one .....

Not much, it would seem.
Can't condemn him for that, though; if there were more like him, maybe something would've changed.

Nodin

Fulton Crown wrote: »

Myers is the only one with the BALLS to tell it like it is ...he is on the money 90% of the time.

....emmm, not as far as I've seen, no. He uses inaccuracies and omissions of fact to back his own rants.

cson

Mary Kenny.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgvwfvTcNl0

Paparazzo

Richard Littlejohn writes some fantastic stuff for the Mail

K-9

Shane Ross isn't bad at highlighting corruption and double standards.

mojesius

Robert Fiske and John Pilger. Granted, they're both more foreign affairs and conflict journalists, but they seem extremely informed in their areas of expertise and you don't catch them regurgitating crap off the newswires or other journalists.

Irish journalists? Meh. They're all irritating in their own way. I do enjoy Dave Kenny's column pieces in the Sunday Tribune though, very witty altogether.

K-9

Eamonn McCann is good as well, really hits the nail on the head at times.

epgc3fyqirnbsx

mojesius wrote: »

Robert Fiske and John Pilger. Granted, they're both more foreign affairs and conflict journalists, but they seem extremely informed in their areas of expertise and you don't catch them regurgitating crap off the newswires or other journalists.

Irish journalists? Meh. They're all irritating in their own way. I do enjoy Dave Kenny's column pieces in the Sunday Tribune though, very witty altogether.

I have reservations about Fisk. I find him to be very biased.
Perhaps I am missing the point as he is a conflict journalist but he seems to focus completely on the injustices commited by the Israelis, which are obviously abundant. But when he was reporting on the drama between themselves and the Lebanese a few years back there was no mention of the Israeli soldiers kidnapped through a tunnell if I remember correctly, which initiated that new conflict.

I'm no fan of the Israeli actions but I do like to see a non-biased reporting that examines wrongs on each side

Rebelheart

Fulton Crown wrote: »

Myers is the only one with the BALLS to tell it like it is ...he is on the money 90% of the time.

Caoimhín is misguided, although I still laugh - not just smile - when I think of his unforgettable rant with George Hook earlier this year calling some lad a "gobshíte" and "arsehole" because, well, read the thread!

He's still the supertroll of Irish media. He even beats Eoghan Harris's quotidian emotionally unstable whinge. Nobody can touch Kevin ... although many would like to very, very hard.

Rebelheart

Fintan O Toole is a perceptive columnist and superb at digging up the history behind issues in public life. His article about Mary O'Rourke's claim that anybody who criticised Bertie Ahern was guilty of 'treason' was badly needed. Having said that, he fundamentally misjudged the entire immigration/multiculturalism issue, and has made an apology about some of his mistakes in that regard, albeit a very belated apology.

Ireland badly needs a Public Inquiry body similar to those which exist in the US. Chuck Feeney financed one a few years ago but Michael McDowell and Independent Newspapers didn't take too kindly to it and got it closed down promptly.

I'm surprised that some prominent person in society has not proposed establishing another one. It could be one of the best things to be established in Ireland. We'd also get a return to investigative reporting in Ireland, something which is all but lost except for Donagh Diamond and a few others on Prime Time and maybe Carl O Brien in The Irish Times.

Independent Newspapers is ineffably bad when it comes to journalism.

mojesius

Hadley Creamy Gunslinger wrote: »

I have reservations about Fisk. I find him to be very biased.
Perhaps I am missing the point as he is a conflict journalist but he seems to focus completely on the injustices commited by the Israelis, which are obviously abundant. But when he was reporting on the drama between themselves and the Lebanese a few years back there was no mention of the Israeli soldiers kidnapped through a tunnell if I remember correctly, which initiated that new conflict.

I'm no fan of the Israeli actions but I do like to see a non-biased reporting that examines wrongs on each side

You have a point, he is very anti-Israeli and maybe doesn't reflect their side enough. But, I admire him because he's the only journalist consistently commenting on the illegality of the Iraq war to date and he doesn't hold back. Pilger's quite similar, I found his early documentaries on Vietnam and Cambodia fascinating.

I suppose its their exposition of wrongdoings by Western powers that I find interesting, and sure, they sometimes come across as politically-motivated in what they choose to cover and what they leave out of the discussion. It may be a chicken-egg scenario, but I think their views are shaped more by what they have gradually uncovered over the years in the field, as opposed to a desire to promote some sort of leftist agenda via their journalism.

I certainly find their pieces far more engaging than rehashed crap in the Irish world news pages, bought from the same reporter in Reuters or AP.

Rebelheart

K-9 wrote: »

Shane Ross isn't bad at highlighting corruption and double standards.

Are even half of the rumours connected to Ross's private life true, or is it a sign he's so good at digging up the dirt on "vested interests" that he inspired these rumours?

The fact that he works in Independent Newspapers doesn't bode too well for his ethical standards, in my view.