Dennis OBrien Vs Sam Smyth?

neris

Flickingh around between newtalk and today fm this morning got listening to dunphy for a few minutes where he read out a tweet about himself and Sam Smyth never talking about dennis obrien in a bad way. Dunphy then said that Obrien was suing Sam Smyth but he never said what he was suing him for. Seems odd that the head of the company running today fm would sue a presenter who still works for them

jimmynokia

neris wrote: »

Flickingh around between newtalk and today fm this morning got listening to dunphy for a few minutes where he read out a tweet about himself and Sam Smyth never talking about dennis obrien in a bad way. Dunphy then said that Obrien was Smyth but he never said what it was about. Seems odd that the head of the company running today fm would sue a presenter who still works for them[/QUOTE
denis o brien owns newstalk

JonathanAnon

I heard that bit as well Neris... I really hate the way Dunphy gets a little clique in the studio and sneers at everybody else.. And it was in response to a tweet from Elaine Byrne, who he then proceeded to sneer about, that the subject was brought up... Byrne accused them of not exactly being impartial in relation to the coverage (or lack of) of the story on the front of the papers about Denis O'Brien..

constitutionus

also conveniently ignores the fact that while both dunphy and smyth can mouth off , that most certainly does not apply to the vast majority of employees of newstalk, today fm and INM.

they dont have the options and as such will toe the line.

and thats before you look at how long it took dunphy and co to get in that postion in the first place.

and smyth STILL got targeted .

Wertz

RTÉ are no saints here either...who can forget Kenny's handling of O Brien's interview after the Moriarty report...
Bilderberg candidate tbh

godtabh

When I get a chance to listen to him I like Sam Smyth .

Had Dunphy on over the weekend as it was on the car when I turned it on. Found it hard to follow the conversation as it was all over the place. Dunphy had to repeatedly say who was talking as every one just jumped in.

So what is Sam Smyth getting sued over?

BrianD

Apparently Smyth it's over remarks made about the Moriarty Tribunal that were published in the Irish Independent.

easychair

Wertz wrote: »

RTÉ are no saints here either...who can forget Kenny's handling of O Brien's interview after the Moriarty report...
Bilderberg candidate tbh

I love the way Bilderberg is invoked as a way to make innuendo that the person concerned is involved in The Big Conspiracy. LOL

Wertz

Yeah I should have just stuck with calling him a lizard or something...

easychair

Wertz wrote: »

Yeah I should have just stuck with calling him a lizard or something...

Why do you feel the need to call him names at all?

Wertz

Where am I callling him names?

easychair

Wertz wrote: »

Yeah I should have just stuck with calling him a lizard or something...

Wertz wrote: »

Where am I callling him names?

-

henry11

When the opportunity I like to listen to Smyth Sat
It was the Dunphy has over the weekend, as it was in the car when I turned. It 'was difficult to follow the debate, because it was all over the place. Dunphy had repeatedly said that he has spoken to everyone just jumped in

Customised mugs

easychair

henry11 wrote: »

When the opportunity I like to listen to Smyth Sat
It was the Dunphy has over the weekend, as it was in the car when I turned. It 'was difficult to follow the debate, because it was all over the place. Dunphy had repeatedly said that he has spoken to everyone just jumped in

Customised mugs

Did you enter this post using voice recognition software?

Wertz

easychair wrote: »

-

Ah so you're not familiar with David Ickes theory on things then... but yet you know about bilderberg (which I was referring to not in some grand conspiracy aspect, but rather on the notion that O'Brien's the type that would be in attendance at any such conference, like Peter Sutherland or Paul Gallagher, wealthy powerful individuals who attend these meetings)

...and again, where did I call O'Brien names.

Rubik.

Wertz wrote: »

Ah so you're not familiar with David Ickes theory on things then... but yet you know about bilderberg (which I was referring to not in some grand conspiracy aspect, but rather on the notion that O'Brien's the type that would be in attendance at any such conference, like Peter Sutherland or Paul Gallagher, wealthy powerful individuals who attend these meetings)

...and again, where did I call O'Brien names.

I would have thought the David Ickes Lizard People reference was fairly obvious, then again, I'm not the forums resident contrarian.

mbur

Is this what O'Brian is upset about?

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/disgraced-lowry-in-attack-on-moriarty-tribunal-2012988.html

Sneakily attacking the boss in a Lowery press release.. such treachery.

Worthy of a lizard man.:)

Crackity Jones

Guess its come to a head....the editor of the Sunday Times just tweeted -

SunTimes News: Sammy Smyth gets the bullet from DEnis O'Brien's Today FM and the NUJ doesn't pull its punches

robo

Saw that tweet & looks like Anton Savage is to take over from Smyth!! Bad call & choice IMO! Smyth was and is a fine journalist. Any other station would be mad not to to offer him a position elsewhere! Wonder how it will go on this weeks show.

Saw another tweet from Damien Mulley - "Matt Cooper next? Sam Smyth axed from TodayFM, remember O'Brien said Smyth and Matt Cooper were out to get him? http://www.publicinquiry.eu/2009/07/29/denis-o%E2%80%99brien-they%E2%80%99ve-damned-us-all-i-tell-ya-damned-us-all/ "
See this quote in the article metioned above -

He asserts that articles written by journalists like Matt Cooper and Sam Smyth were off the wall, crazy theories fed to them by O’Brien’s competitors for the phone licence.

mike65

Heard this in the paper review, silly stuff from O'Brien - makes him look like what he is!

Anton Savage...........................NO! :mad:

Sam Smyth is enough of a name to not get picked up by RTE in some capacity. 9 am show maybe?!

He is on right now so it'll be interesting to hear what he says.

Crackity Jones

mike65 wrote: »

Heard this in the paper review, silly stuff from O'Brien - makes him look like what he is!

Anton Savage...........................NO! :mad:

Sam Smyth is enough of a name to not get picked up by RTE in some capacity. 9 am show maybe?!

He is on right now so it'll be interesting to hear what he says.

Yea I'm tuning in but if he is receiving legal advice on this I doubt he'll say anything. Anton Savage sure is no replacement.

EDIT: Ha he's just mentioned it by reading out story headlines! Oh bad form. He said he has to clear any discussions of his story with Willie O Reilly and he doesn't have that clearance. Justine McCarthy says she's not bound by this and she is talking about it. Class!

Crackity Jones

robo wrote: »

Saw another tweet from Damien Mulley - "Matt Cooper next? Sam Smyth axed from TodayFM, remember O'Brien said Smyth and Matt Cooper were out to get him? http://www.publicinquiry.eu/2009/07/29/denis-o%E2%80%99brien-they%E2%80%99ve-damned-us-all-i-tell-ya-damned-us-all/ "
See this quote in the article metioned above -

Only problem with that though is Matt Cooper's significant larger listenership.

mike65

Aha! He just made it clear they he can't discuss the matter with clearance from the senior management who (surprise surprise) will not allow such discussion.

Oh the guests are rebelling.

Sir Oxman

Dunphy is NOT VERY HAPPY - I thuink I can see a resignation by the end of this program!

He's pointed out O Brien's ownership/majority shares in Irish media and asks where Smyth can go?

Also, has attacked Smyth's replacement - Enda Kenny's PR man Anton Savage.

It's all very Irish and shady.

fred funk }{

Disgraceful stuff. Denis Obrien is too powerful and has far too much influence in a small country like Ireland.

vince

sam smyth 4 fm sunday mornings? nice

Donahg

vince wrote: »

sam smyth 4 fm sunday mornings? nice

No. Sam smyth has very poor listenership on Today FM only 60k listeners, He is lucky to have lasted this long. 4fm have moved away for this kind of chat show.

mike65

Missed the end, was it goodbye or au revoir?

fred funk }{

mike65 wrote: »

Missed the end, was it goodbye or au revoir?

I heard Dunphy say earlier that he's there until November.

Crackity Jones

mike65 wrote: »

Missed the end, was it goodbye or au revoir?

He said see ya next week. Also show from NYC on the 6th November. May be his last one.

littlefriend

Could someone explain please what its all about? Thanks in advance if you do.

closifer

http://www.thejournal.ie/today-fms-sam-smyth-changes-topic-during-discussion-about-his-own-sacking-255216-Oct2011/

omerin

http://www.newstalk.ie/2011/programmes/the-panel-on-sam-smyth/

godtabh

Is out of contract or just fired?

The indo article was sayin NUJ would get involved but can they do anything? So much for free speech

splendid101

So much for free speech

I'm sorry, but Sam Smyth's right to free speech isn't being compromised here.

People are not obligated to provide a soapbox in order for others to be allowed say what they want.

It'd be like me saying I was being denied the right to free speech if you wouldn't let me give a talk from your living room window.

Rubik.

splendid101 wrote: »

It'd be like me saying I was being denied the right to free speech if you wouldn't let me give a talk from your living room window.

You're not the owner of two national radio stations and a large shareholder in a national newspaper, so the comparsion is a bit irrelevant tbh. Do we want our national radio stations to have editorial independence or do we want Denis O'Brien "run spin"?

mike65

QFT, O'Brien should be compelled to divest himself of one station, I'll let him choose which he wants to keep but two in a market as small as this is taking the piss.

Infoanon

mike65 wrote: »

QFT, O'Brien should be compelled to divest himself of one station, I'll let him choose which he wants to keep but two in a market as small as this is taking the piss.

Pat Rabbite is the minister in charge, NUJ are on the case and theres a report due to be released after the presidential election.....interesting times a head

easychair

Rubik. wrote: »

You're not the owner of two national radio stations and a large shareholder in a national newspaper, so the comparsion is a bit irrelevant tbh. Do we want our national radio stations to have editorial independence or do we want Denis O'Brien "run spin"?

Who are the "we" you ask about? Like it or not, the owner of a business must be allowed to run that business as he sees fit, and your "we" should not have a veto.

When Sam Smyth started he was the only show in town, and since then RTE and Newstalk have launched successful shows in the same slot. The fact is his show has lost ratings and the style of the show has not changed, for example spending considerable time talking to some man in the USA every week.

I will miss his show, but to claim that I, or we, should be able to force Today FM to keep Sam Smyth is, ironically, the very editorial interference which you seem to be against.

Rubik.

easychair wrote: »

Who are the "we" you ask about? Like it or not, the owner of a business must be allowed to run that business as he sees fit, and your "we" should not have a veto.

When Sam Smyth started he was the only show in town, and since then RTE and Newstalk have launched successful shows in the same slot. The fact is his show has lost ratings and the style of the show has not changed, for example spending considerable time talking to some man in the USA every week.

I will miss his show, but to claim that I, or we, should be able to force Today FM to keep Sam Smyth is, ironically, the very editorial interference which you seem to be against.

Boardcasting is not like other businesses, as the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources said recently - " an excessive concentration of media ownership and control involves risks that go beyond those involved in the case of ordinary goods and services”.

If you don't see anything wrong with an associate of Denis O'Brien attempting to have Sam Smyth removed from covering the Moriarty Tribunal for the Irish Independent, or think the fact that Smyth was sacked 2 weeks after he won a libel case against Micheal Lowery over an article he wrote (which Denis O'Brien is also suing him over) is a bit suspicious - that's your prerogative.

mbur

easychair wrote: »

Who are the "we" you ask about? Like it or not, the owner of a business must be allowed to run that business as he sees fit, and your "we" should not have a veto.

Welcome to earth easychair. The remark above is pretty good proof that you are new around here. We are all working on a project called civilisation and right from the start a few thousand years ago 'we' found that our biggest problem was keeping our leading citizens in check. A bit of study will reveal plenty of examples. Greek and Roman history would be a good place to start. More recently some germanic dude called Guttenberg invented this thing called the printing press. This was supposed to help with 'freedom of the press' being the big call. Sadly it was only good for people who owned printing presses. Again there are plenty of examples but you might like to round off your studies with Kerry Packer's biography. This might help you understand the post that you were quoting. Good luck.

FlutterinBantam

What the heck happened here.?

A northern hack found out he couldn't serve TWO masters.And draw two pay packets:cool:

No loss, no loss at all, good riddance.

GSF

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

What the heck happened here.?

A northern hack found out he couldn't serve TWO masters.And draw two pay packets:cool:

No loss, no loss at all, good riddance.

Yes its a banana republic and why should we be surprised. No point hoping for anything better.

easychair

mbur wrote: »

easychair wrote: »

Who are the "we" you ask about? Like it or not, the owner of a business must be allowed to run that business as he sees fit, and your "we" should not have a veto.

Welcome to earth easychair. The remark above is pretty good proof that you are new around here. We are all working on a project called civilisation and right from the start a few thousand years ago 'we' found that our biggest problem was keeping our leading citizens in check. A bit of study will reveal plenty of examples. Greek and Roman history would be a good place to start. More recently some germanic dude called Guttenberg invented this thing called the printing press. This was supposed to help with 'freedom of the press' being the big call. Sadly it was only good for people who owned printing presses. Again there are plenty of examples but you might like to round off your studies with Kerry Packer's biography. This might help you understand the post that you were quoting. Good luck.

Thanks for your reply You'll excuse me if I don't adopt your patronising tone, as I prefer to try to treat others as adults.

If you are advocating a change in the law to forbid the owners of newspapers the ability to hire or fire whomsoever they like, then I wish you well in your attempt.

In the meantime, the law is firm in fully allowing any business owner, which includes a newspaper business, to hire and fire whoever he or she likes.

Wertz

Come on easychair you know exactly what he means, never mind taking umbrage with the tone of his reply... the issue behind all this is the interference of a media business owner, with a journalist in their employ that refuses to toe the line regarding not directing the spotlight toward that business owners dodgy affairs...something which is in the public interest.
The issue is also whether such individuals should be allowed to own such swathes of the media that they can effectively "steer" the agendas of the radio stations or newspapers under their control.

If I criticise my boss by blowing the whistle on them about some such issue I've noticed, they would probably very much like to sack me...however, until such time as I do something that is a sackable offence, they cannot legally sack me.
As far as I can see that's what happened to Smyth here and what could happen to others in the employ of such media moguls in the future.

Rubik.

easychair wrote: »

In the meantime, the law is firm in fully allowing any business owner, which includes a newspaper business, to hire and fire whoever he or she likes.

That's not entirely true, we have something called the Unfair Dismissal Act, 1977. How relevant it is to this incident will no doubt be determined by a court in the not too distant future.

mbur

easychair wrote: »

Thanks for your reply You'll excuse me if I don't adopt your patronising tone, as I prefer to try to treat others as adults.

If you are advocating a change in the law to forbid the owners of newspapers the ability to hire or fire whomsoever they like, then I wish you well in your attempt.

In the meantime, the law is firm in fully allowing any business owner, which includes a newspaper business, to hire and fire whoever he or she likes.

Ok easychair, lets be very adult about this. So please do some research before spouting off. A short search on irish employment law sez you are wrong about the law. Do I have to Google 'unfair dissmissal' for you?? It's been illegal here since 1977.

And a note for Fluttering Bantam. The is nothing illegal or wrong about having two jobs. In the Celtic Tiger days almost everyone was at it.

I'd say wertz has pretty much nailed down the real issues here. If Sam Smyth has endured a summary dismissal and doesn't even bother to take the ex employer to court, what does that say about the system? Too big to fail?

splendid101

Rubik. wrote: »

You're not the owner of two national radio stations and a large shareholder in a national newspaper, so the comparsion is a bit irrelevant tbh. Do we want our national radio stations to have editorial independence or do we want Denis O'Brien "run spin"?

I'm not saying that it's great that Denis O'Brien owns two radio stations. I'm saying that sacking Sam Smyth doesn't compromise Sam Smyth's right to freedom of speech.

Rubik.

splendid101 wrote: »

I'm not saying that it's great that Denis O'Brien owns two radio stations. I'm saying that sacking Sam Smyth doesn't compromise Sam Smyth's right to freedom of speech.

But does the sacking of Smyth, given his history with O'Brien regarding the mahon tribunal, compromise the freedom of the press? It comes down to whether you accept Today fm's claim that it is purely a matter of ratings, or you think there is more to it than that.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/so-whos-afraid-of-denis-obrien-enda-kenny-is-2907544.html

"Senator John Whelan made a profound statement in the Seanad last July which did not receive the attention it deserved at the time.
The former regional journalist and editor with 30 years of experience noted that there was "irrefutable evidence that across a broad range of print and broadcast-media outlets attempts have been made to shape the coverage and interfere with the reporting of the recent Moriarty Tribunal".
What did he possibly mean?
The coverage by Newstalk of the Moriarty Tribunal report is curious. On the day that the tribunal's report was issued, Newstalk's flagship Lunchtime Show gave most of its airtime to a vocal critic of the tribunal.
The Breakfast Show on the following day consisted of an interview with Denis O'Brien, which was used to attack the tribunal. Both shows were one-sided and unbalanced.
Is this what the senator was referring to? To what extent, if any, does Denis O'Brien exert editorial interference in his vast media empire?"

mbur

Maybe this thread should be renamed O'Brian Vs Moriarty. Poor old Sammy is just a pawn in this game. I think I have read the relevant reports and in all I've seen Smyth was just reporting what was said at the tribunal. Nothing more. The sacking and legal action will no doubt serve to give the rest of O'Brians minions cause to tread lightly around this subject. Now that is a problem if you expect freedom of the press.

Not everyone here seems that concerned. So for the benefit of our diverse friends on Boards and depending on what parallel universe you come from, you may wish to stand behind one of the following Headlines:

STUPID SMYTH'S SORRY SACKING
I mean really, what did Smyth expect? A medal?

SMART SMYTH GETS FREEBIE CAREER BOOST
All that free publicity will be great for the career what? I'd never heard of the guy until this happened.

MONEY JUNKIE'S STARK WARNING: SUCK UP OR SACK
I know Megalomania when I see it, even at this distance.

Feel free to add your own.

One more thing: From now on I'm going to use more accurate names to describe the outlets of this privately run media empire. The banana republic won't do it for us so I invite all to do the same. TODAY FM will hence forth be know in my house as O'BRIAN FM and NEWSTALK will be called O'BRIAN'STALK. That'll show'em.

easychair

Wertz wrote: »

Come on easychair you know exactly what he means, never mind taking umbrage with the tone of his reply... the issue behind all this is the interference of a media business owner, with a journalist in their employ that refuses to toe the line regarding not directing the spotlight toward that business owners dodgy affairs...something which is in the public interest.
The issue is also whether such individuals should be allowed to own such swathes of the media that they can effectively "steer" the agendas of the radio stations or newspapers under their control.

If I criticise my boss by blowing the whistle on them about some such issue I've noticed, they would probably very much like to sack me...however, until such time as I do something that is a sackable offence, they cannot legally sack me.
As far as I can see that's what happened to Smyth here and what could happen to others in the employ of such media moguls in the future.

It is possible to dislike a poster being patronising, and not take umbrage. I believe in not finding offence where none is intended, and not taking offence where it is intended.

I have often enjoyed SamSnyth's show on today, and am sad at his departure. The issue here is the the individual does own today FM, and as such he is legally entitled to hire and fire who he likes.

It may well be that such individuals should not be allowed to own "such swathes" of the media,but currently he does own the particular swath which is Today Fm,and while you and I may not like it, he is entitled to hire and fire whomsoever he likes, subject to the various employment legislation as is every employer.