Is this what passes as journalism these days?

McCruiskeen

The Independent has done it again. Cutting edge analysis of a complex situation.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/dear-mr-cowen-i-am-sad-that-you-have-hurt-ireland-2436748.html

My heart just sank at the woeful standard of journalism here. How could any editor include this absolute ****e in their paper?

Spore

I accidentally the whole journalism

ejmaztec

Not as bad as "Brian Cowen ate my hamster".

Helix

sure a woman wrote it, what do you expect

red menace

Yes, yes, it is, there is nothing more important than what an 8 year old thinks of the economic situation,

super_furry

The Independent is a rag.

mike65

McCruiskeen wrote: »

The Independent has done it again. Cutting edge analysis of a complex situation.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/dear-mr-cowen-i-am-sad-that-you-have-hurt-ireland-2436748.html

My heart just sank at the woeful standard of journalism here. How could any editor include this absolute ****e in their paper?

I see no spelling errors, no syntax errors, the construction is acceptable. The story itself may be of very little import but one can say that about almost all the contents of almost all publications.

Faith+1

What do you expect from the Independant? The same newspaper that called for the Volunteers to be executed after the Easter Rising.
Would rather use it to wip my ass than read that drival they call journalism.

mike65

Faith+1 wrote: »

What do you expect from the Independant? The same newspaper that called for the Volunteers to be executed after the Easter Rising

:pac: Good to see you've got over that editorial.

Pretty much every newspaper in Ireland is a rag. Same old bollox, but with a twist.

Irish Guitarist

"I don't want to lie to him so I'm telling him the very basics -- that we have to work harder for less money," said Aoife.

Meanwhile, also on Evan's mind lately has been the looming worry that Santa might not be making toys this year.

If she doesn't want to lie why make up crap about Santa not making presents?

Pookah

Do journalists have nightmares about AH?

parker kent

Faith+1 wrote: »

What do you expect from the Independant? The same newspaper that called for the Volunteers to be executed after the Easter Rising.
Would rather use it to wip my ass than read that drival they call journalism.

Two things: That is over 90 years ago so I somehow imagine that nobody working at the paper was involved in that editorial. Also, that was not exactly an unusual opinion to hold in 1916.

Irish Guitarist

They should really buy that child some lined writing paper. http://www.independent.ie/multimedia/archive/00749/letter_indo_749782t.jpg

Holybejaysus

This really was scraping the bottom of the barrel I thought. Jeez, when you have to bring in the "poor wikkle lil' kids" angle to try and tug and the heartstrings...

Cheesy, just so unbelievably cheesy. Was Tiny Tim busy working on the chimneys that they had to get this chap instead? I hope his black lung isn't too bad in these cold times.

What utter drivel. :rolleyes:

"devastating simplicity"
:rolleyes:
It's an 8 year old's letter. One I would have been ashamed of if I was 8.
Will ye fcuk off with your "devastating simplicity".

What a load of tripe.

pagancornflake

You see, this is why I hate kids. He didn't even have the foresight to leave room for his signature at the bottom. Stupid child. Would he not make the effort to type a letter that he intends to send to the Taoiseach? Might as well just save time and take up heroin.

Absurdum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh2sWSVRrmo

ps any pics of his ma?

Fight_Night

What a shite letter. All I got out of it was that he likes his mammy and daddy.

I only just saw the actual letter now. Fcuk me.
My family would have been ashamed if I tried waving that monstrosity around at age 8 :mad:

Did nobody teach you how to write in a straight line!!

ScumLord

It's put in a language Brian can understand though, he may well turn around and say "ooh, now I get it, me did bad".

Dudess

Hmmm... I could have sworn there was much love for Fianna Fáil in the hallowed corridors of Independent Newspapers not too long ago at all...

And if anything was a symbol of Celtic Tiger flash wankology, it was the Sunday Independent.

bonerm

/Disappointed to open not-latest-AlisonO'Riordan-bashing thread.

Truley

When I first saw the thread title I thought Yesss! another Alison O'Riardon article.

Disappointed

Faith+1

mike65 wrote: »

:pac: Good to see you've got over that editorial.

When did I say I was over it??

Ulysses Gaze

Ah the Indo is pro 'Won it on the Horses' Ahern and anti-Cowen.

Sure the Sunday Indo had that Fat Cork Clown O'Connor wishing for the return of Ahern as Taoiseach.

They're getting the knife in on Cowen, because his days as Taoiseach are numbered.

INM are as bad as Pravda-RTE.

mrsdewinter

I'm having a little bit of difficulty tracing how this letter appeared in a national newspaper...
Little boy writes letter, little boy shows letter to parents... Mammy or Daddy telephones newsroom of Irish Independent, telling them they have a scoop on their hands?
And people wonder how Celtic Tiger cubs ended up with their sense of entitlement...

mike65

Faith+1 wrote: »

When did I say I was over it??

*slow hand clap*

Irish Guitarist

When I was a kid my aunt died on Christmas Eve. When I was in my early twenties my father died around Christmas time. He didn't die on Christmas day or anything, but we all knew he wasn't going to last much longer so it was a terrible Christmas for my family.

Instead of letting their kid send this letter to Brian Cowen the parents should have sat down with him and told him they loved him. They could buy him a €10 board game and sit around as a family playing it. If he's anything like I was as a kid that would mean more to him than a load of expensive toys.

I have very little sympathy for a kid who thinks it's the end of the world because he isn't going to get a load of expensive presents.

It may be a cliche but the real meaning of Christmas isn't about getting presents. If the Independent thinks this is going to tug at my heartstrings they're wrong. It just makes me wish I was a kid again with very little to worry about (and a father that was still alive).

That may all be off topic but it angers me when I see people getting worked up over crap that doesn't matter around this time of year.

aDeener

Dudess wrote: »

And if anything was a symbol of Celtic Tiger flash wankology, it was the Sunday Independent.

truer words have never been spoken

PeterIanStaker

Ulysses Gaze wrote: »

Ah the Indo is pro 'Won it on the Horses' Ahern and anti-Cowen.

Sure the Sunday Indo had that Fat Cork Clown O'Connor wishing for the return of Ahern as Taoiseach.

They're getting the knife in on Cowen, because his days as Taoiseach are numbered.

INM are as bad as Pravda-RTE.

They're putting the boot into Clowen because he didnt buy out Sir Tony O'Reilly's Waterord Glass.

And the average 8 year old could have written a better article by a country mile. Whicch means that whoever wrote this is a hack trying to think like an 8 year old, and not suceeding.

NapoleonInRags

It reminds me of the reporter in the Wire who was making stories up to win a pulitzer.

Not saying the kid or the letter are not real but the tone of the article is drenched in phoniness.

Wompa1

Pffff they print that tripe and don't even entertain the thought of printing my pictures of Spiderman

wyndham

Damn, I thought this thread was going to be more AO'R bashing!

ebixa82

I know someone working for the Indo and we were discussing this last night...

He told me how that article came about was that Alison O'R came up with the concept of writing her own heart felt letter to An Taoiseach to see what reply she would get..

She wanted to hand write it for dramatic effect. When she showed it to the sub-editor he was touched by it but decided that the profile of the letter writer needed to be changed to someone of a suitable intellectual capacity..

So they chose an 8 year old child and handed it to another journalist to write a piece on.

AOR was fuming!

Holybejaysus

If you really want a good laugh, read this letter but imagine a patronising Stewie Griffin voice in your head.

"Dear Mr. Cowen".......

Birneybau

Faith+1 wrote: »

What do you expect from the Independant? The same newspaper that called for the Volunteers to be executed after the Easter Rising.
*Would rather use it to wip my ass* than read that drival they call journalism.

Kinky

judestynes

Whatever about the article or the letter itself, I'd like to commend this young fellow for giving a shít in the first place. Most eight year olds today wouldn't.

senordingdong

bonerm wrote: »

/Disappointed to open not-latest-AlisonO'Riordan-bashing thread.

I was going to suggest that she was using a pseudonym to evade AH.

ebixa82 wrote:

I know someone working for the Indo and we were discussing this last night...

...I want to believe this but...

dr ro

judestynes wrote: »

Whatever about the article or the letter itself, I'd like to commend this young fellow for giving a shít in the first place. Most eight year olds today wouldn't.

he only give's a sh1t about his pressies. Most 8 year olds today would.

CDfm

Irish Guitarist wrote: »

If she doesn't want to lie why make up crap about Santa not making presents?

So this is the hub of the problem - she has screwed up on Santa provision and wants to blame someone else.

She stages the whole thing here and gets paid for it.

Does the money go to get presents sweets and toys for Junior -No.

This is outrageous.

She needs to be Named and Shamed.

javaboy

From the look of that letter, it's Education ministers past and present that he should be directing his ire towards.

hondasam

I blame the parents for allowing the paper to print this as written by their son when clearly it was not. The parents should be ashamed and so should the editor.

Im suprised the did not try and say he is a future leader of this country.

As for the mother having to work, most mothers have to work she is hardly the only mother in the country working.