Why do so many people hate the Sunday Independent?

silverdolphin

Nearly everyone says it's a rag. I heard someone say once about its sister paper "Ew, I can't believe I touched the Irish Independent." I agree the content could be better. I don't read it too much, but I've read some pieces and I don't think the reporters are bad writers (although some of them may have poor judgment). To be honest, I kind of prefer the Sindo's style of writing to the Irish Times because it's more engaging to me.

What? Oh Rly!

silverdolphin wrote: »

Nearly everyone says it's a rag. I heard someone say once about its sister paper "Ew, I can't believe I touched the Irish Independent." I agree the content could be better. I don't read it too much, but I've read some pieces and I don't think the reporters are bad writers (although some of them may have poor judgment). To be honest, I kind of prefer the Sindo's style of writing to the Irish Times because it's more engaging to me.

Maybe because people see someone else say it is a rag

tippspur

I work in the the public sector,the indo is anti public sector and always has been,It's a pure rag.

Plus,the papers treatment of Liam Lawler after his death in a road accident in Russia some years ago was a disgrace.

digzy

as an example of the rubbish it prints, refer to it's edition of 2 or 3 weeks ago when it's editor saw fit to put the niamh horan story with that scumbag mcfeehily on its front cover.
now anyone that follows current affairs is aware of his disgusting business dealings-priory hall for example. yet he's on the front page for basically telling niamh to **** off and smashed a glass. i'd be more curious to know how a 'bankrupt' is on holidays in portugal yet he cant compensate the victims of the priory hall debacle.
again today there's more claptrap about horan/mc feehily:rolleyes: so basically scumbags can threaten people without any coverage but woe betide if they threaten a journo.

i'd agree with tippspur that it's anti public sector and they're always having a right pop at the government no matter who's in charge. however colm mc carthy is always the voice of reason.

If you want to know whats going on buy the business post. However tbf to the sindo it's a catch all, sport the rag mag etc, covers most of the population hence it's populatity. I buy it every sunday-i think my wife would die without it:)

EchoO

It's not really a newspaper, it's almost entirely made up of opinion pieces written by people whose opinions I have no interest in. There are a few exceptions, but not enough to make me want to buy the thing.

mike65

So true, the Sindo really is little more than a collection of lengthy rants (AH in print!), celeb photos, vacuous lifestyle nonsense and sport.

The Idyll Race

tippspur wrote: »

I work in the the public sector,the indo is anti public sector and always has been,It's a pure rag.

Plus,the papers treatment of Liam Lawler after his death in a road accident in Russia some years ago was a disgrace.

The really big mystery for me about the Lawlor case was that it was the Observer, the UK Sunday that historically has been pro-Ireland that printed the original version of the story. The Sindo simply lifted it. The Observer would have had no axe to grind with Fianna Fail or indeed any Irish politician.

kunst nugget

digzy wrote: »

i'd agree with tippspur that it's anti public sector and they're always having a right pop at the government no matter who's in charge.

Do people really have memories this short. What about all the fawning they did over Bertie? More than one article was written sympathizing with his 'plight' over the Moriarty tribunal. Articles like the one below seemed to be part of a concerted effort to denigrate the work of Moriarty:

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/the-ahern-years/theyve-got-him-and-sunk-to-a-new-depth-1339720.html

While we're on O'Connor, how can we forget his infamous article about the smart, ballsy guys:
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/the-smart-ballsy-guys-are-buying-up-property-right-now-1047118.html

Helping to push up property prices was another goal of the Sindo. Only recently they had an front page article saying the Irish property market was going to rise like a ping pong ball in water. :rolleyes:

Not to mention it's love for trying to make faux celebrities for the Irish market and it's ability to write completely tasteless articles like this:
http://i51.tinypic.com/2poqk2v.jpg

As a paper, it is utterly reprehensible. I only ever see it if I call into my parents on a Sunday but any time I read it I'm still shocked by how utterly vile it is.

jack presley

Sunday Independent = tabloid in broadsheet form

Who cares what Brian McFadden or Rosanna Davidson get up to?

anbrutog

jack presley wrote: »

Sunday Independent = tabloid in broadsheet form

Who cares what Brian McFadden or Rosanna Davidson get up to?

..and with that, Barry Egan. Surely one of the most vilest men in the country ?? His puke inducing sycophantry to an assortment of airhead models and talent free so-called celebs is reason enough on its own to hate the paper.

paddyandy

Sunday Papers are like bad sex ;you feel bad but uncertain why .

redalan

I think it is because people are marched at gunpoint to buy it.

Arciphel

Niamh Horan rubbish still grinding on, they have got Anne Harris to have a go this week - and now the angle is that everyone who doesn't like "brave" Niamh Horan is a sexist pig. If anyone out there is still buying this paper, please stop!

Snickers Man

Because Eoghan Harris writes for it.

Maybe that's just me.

BarackPyjama

Because this type of anti-male aggression is published on its front page:

He is like men everywhere. They shout, they roar, they threaten. Eventually they may calm down but the damage is done. O Cuiv, like most men, will realise he should have listened to the voice of reason, which is usually the voice of a woman.

Simple. Many of their journalists are utter scumbags - in this case, Jody Corcoran.

Aside from the odd letter of complaint, I'm still in utter shock and disbelief how this article in particular was not the subject of massive media scrutiny, criticism and uproar. But it seems it's okay for certain sections of the media to abuse men.

And don't even get me started on Niamh Horan.

Tool_

kunst nugget wrote: »

Do people really have memories this short. What about all the fawning they did over Bertie? More than one article was written sympathizing with his 'plight' over the Moriarty tribunal. Articles like the one below seemed to be part of a concerted effort to denigrate the work of Moriarty:

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/the-ahern-years/theyve-got-him-and-sunk-to-a-new-depth-1339720.html

While we're on O'Connor, how can we forget his infamous article about the smart, ballsy guys:
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/the-smart-ballsy-guys-are-buying-up-property-right-now-1047118.html

Helping to push up property prices was another goal of the Sindo. Only recently they had an front page article saying the Irish property market was going to rise like a ping pong ball in water. :rolleyes:

Not to mention it's love for trying to make faux celebrities for the Irish market and it's ability to write completely tasteless articles like this:
http://i51.tinypic.com/2poqk2v.jpg

As a paper, it is utterly reprehensible. I only ever see it if I call into my parents on a Sunday but any time I read it I'm still shocked by how utterly vile it is.

I'm new (and a luddite) so haven't worked out how to thank that post, but agree with every word of it. A horrible paper written by horrible people to promote prejudices I want nothing to do with.

Its more widely available in England than other Irish papers but there's still no danger of me buying it. Occasionally pick-up a copy kicking about the pub on a Sunday and its always the same dispiriting gutter nonsense.

Fenian Army

Because its full of opinion pieces by complete gob****es such as Eoghan Harris (aka Own Arse)who managed to use Katie Taylors victory and religious beliefs and the death of Con as a way to have a go at Sinn Féin.

Its the rants of the arrogant arsehole (the "setting the agenda" ego trip) down the pub who thinks he knows all there is to no about everything in print form.

Except it's slightly more sinister:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2012/0425/1224315145169.html

(the above is worth a read)

Arciphel

Another stirring article by intrepid Sindo journalist Niamh Horan today all about what women wear when going to visit their men in prison!!! The Purlitzer surely beckons at this stage...

Motorist

I view the paper as a Fianna Fail mouthpiece especially when you have hack journalists such as Jody Corcoran onboard. I used to buy it but can no longer bring myself to support the vile it produces.

It is fitting a journalist of the calibre of Brendan OConnor works for such a toxic rag along with behemoths such as perjurer Willie O'Dea , Bertie's old love interest Celia Larkin (and failed beautician), celebrity journalists Alison OConnor and Niamh Horan not to mention old delusional Harris who defended Bertie to the hilt during the Mahon Tribunal. Now deceased, editor Fanning said on the Late Late Show last year that he wasn't going to vote in the last general election - he was too embarrassed to mention the party his paper had cheerleaded since 1997 - FF.

Finally, I have to grin when I think that the Sindo played a huge part in getting their Fianna Fail masters back into power in 2007. And now that is the very reason Fianna Fail are struggling so badly with 20 seats won in 2011.

BarackPyjama

If there was any doubt as to whether the Indo was a tabloid or not, this should just about put the argument to rest.

coylemj

Arciphel wrote: »

Another stirring article by intrepid Sindo journalist Niamh Horan today all about what women wear when going to visit their men in prison!!! The Purlitzer surely beckons at this stage...

Yes indeed, when not taking photographs of people in bars without their permission, she is writing this tripe (in yesterday's Sindo about Quinn Jr's wife visiting him in Mountjoy) under the heading of National 'News'.....

Dressed in a lilac soft-knit cropped sweater, skin-tight black jeans and black ankle boots -- carefully accessorised with an oversized Marc Jacobs handbag and patterned scarf, she injected a splash of colour into the drab wet morning outside the dreary exterior of one of Ireland's toughest jails, Mountjoy Prison.

Her blonde locks swept up in a tousled roll, she finished off the look with a dainty pair of diamond studded earrings.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/karen-fights-to-support-her-man-but-her-crime-is-looking-good-3210215.html

Pass the sick bag. Wouldn't wipe me arse with that rag.

grover_green

not one single major media outlet in ireland presents a right of centre viewpoint except the sindo and it does a pretty poor job of it , i used to buy it , i dont buy any sunday newspaper now

podgeandrodge

BarackPyjama wrote: »

If there was any doubt as to whether the Indo was a tabloid or not, this should just about put the argument to rest.

Hilarious.

The Indo/Sindo are just tabloids now. Opinion pieces and copied/pasted news from other sources.

That's the problem when you hire tabloid journalists. (Excluding Niamh whatshername - who you couldn't call a journalist at all)

The Idyll Race

grover_green wrote: »

not one single major media outlet in ireland presents a right of centre viewpoint except the sindo and it does a pretty poor job of it , i used to buy it , i dont buy any sunday newspaper now

So the Business Post and the Sunday Times are pinko peddlers? *surprised*

You'd hate me, I take the Observer *smug*

grover_green

The Idyll Race wrote: »

So the Business Post and the Sunday Times are pinko peddlers? *surprised*

You'd hate me, I take the Observer *smug*

the sunday times and the sunday business post dont have a large enough circulation to form any significant opinion

every other major media outlet is left of centre

irish times
rte

marymarcy

Tool_ wrote: »

I'm new (and a luddite) so haven't worked out how to thank that post, but agree with every word of it. A horrible paper written by horrible people to promote prejudices I want nothing to do with.

Its more widely available in England than other Irish papers but there's still no danger of me buying it. Occasionally pick-up a copy kicking about the pub on a Sunday and its always the same dispiriting gutter nonsense.

Dispiriting sums it up completely.

donaghs

tippspur wrote: »

I work in the the public sector,the indo is anti public sector and always has been,It's a pure rag.

Plus,the papers treatment of Liam Lawler after his death in a road accident in Russia some years ago was a disgrace.

Liam Lawlor? What?! That story didn't originate with them, and they apologised after the full story emerged. The slighting of one of Ireland's most corrupt people ever is strange to be the main reason to dismiss an entire newspaper?

Main reason, as mentioned previously, most rational-minded people don't like it is that for a "newspaper", its short on news, and full of "opinion" pieces and "celebrity" stuff.

dartsfan

It's complete and utter rubbish, and is out of touch with the average Joe in the country.

Most of the opinion pieces are irrelevant.

I enjoy reading about crime in Sunday papers, but their crime correspondent Jim Cusick is a joke. Almost every other piece he used to write was about Sinn Fein trying to take over the country. He might have changed tune since I last read, I doubt it though

Geri Male

Niamh Whore-an is a terrible journalist.

Sligo Quay

Snickers Man wrote: »

Because Eoghan Harris writes for it.

Well thats 1 of the many reasons why I don't support this rag, I mean Eoghan Harris is so self opinionated, he's right and everybody else is wrong. Well after his very infamous performance backing Bertie the chancer in the 2007 General Election on The Late Late Show and then getting a cushy job on the Seanad Eireann gravy train, his reward from Bertie, he certainly showed flawed judgement on that account, then he has the gall and hard neck to slagged off public sector workers, he certainly feels at home in the Sindo because no other papar would have him. He was never elected by anybody, not even in the Seanad, just a Bertie appointee, these days he's just a sad old man with another opinion.

9959

Sorry to break-up the cosy consensus, but I occasionally take the Sindo.
IMO, Gene Kerrigan, Maeve Sheenan and Declan Lynch are good writers and Dion Fanning knows his footy.
However, I can do without the photos of that fat 'celebrity' solicitor and his unfortunate looking moll.

AlarmBelle

Arciphel wrote: »

Another stirring article by intrepid Sindo journalist Niamh Horan today all about what women wear when going to visit their men in prison!!! The Purlitzer surely beckons at this stage...

horan is an idiot

kunst nugget

What dirt have the Quinns got on the Indo to make them write muck like this?

podgeandrodge

kunst nugget wrote: »

What dirt have the Quinns got on the Indo to make them write muck like this?

Great stuff above from Carol Hunt - especially

"Two female friends said that yes, the sight of him all casual in Ralph Lauren emerging from jail, looking far more handsome than he went in, had caused them to stop and think "yes, I would".

And

"In general the consensus from my impromptu straw poll was a dawning comprehension that, yes, Quinn Jr had gone to prison a boy and emerged a man, and that this was a very attractive quality indeed in a country which so desperately needs a hero or two."


Here's some amazing journalism from Nicola Anderson of the Indo in relation to a recent murder scene she visited:

"I'm on a muddy dirt track, in the isolated townland of Coppoley, outside Portlaoise, Co Laois where silence hangs heavily in the air, broken only by the hoarse cry of rooks.

The last shrivelled blackberries still cling to their branches and the hedgerows are tall with overgrown foliage in startling shades of gold."

Wonderful stuff.

Then we have Niamh Horan (thanks to coylemj for this classic quote):

"Dressed in a lilac soft-knit cropped sweater, skin-tight black jeans and black ankle boots -- carefully accessorised with an oversized Marc Jacobs handbag and patterned scarf, she injected a splash of colour into the drab wet morning outside the dreary exterior of one of Ireland's toughest jails, Mountjoy Prison.

Her blonde locks swept up in a tousled roll, she finished off the look with a dainty pair of diamond studded earrings."

Between Carol, Nicola and Niamh I think we can safely say we have the cream of the crop of female Irish journalism in the Indo.

PaddyORuadhan

Lets see... its because its a tabloid that masquarades as a broadsheet.

There is no news in the Sindo.... its purely editorial opnion based stuff, 90% of which I disagree with...

For example... Eilis O'Hanlon defending the Ansbacher tax dodgers

mike65

There's (fools) gold in them there pages! Great stuff.

Benny_Cake

podgeandrodge wrote: »

Here's some amazing journalism from Nicola Anderson of the Indo in relation to a recent murder scene she visited:

[COLOR="red"]"I'm on a muddy dirt track, in the isolated townland of Coppoley, outside Portlaoise, Co Laois where silence hangs heavily in the air, broken only by the hoarse cry of rooks.

The last shrivelled blackberries still cling to their branches and the hedgerows are tall with overgrown foliage in startling shades of gold."[/COLOR]

Completely accurate, provided that by "isolated" she means that it's bisected by the M7 and 5 minutes from the centre of Portlaoise. Laughable.

sallywin

And it's far too incestuous. The coverage of the arts is pathetic.

Snickers Man

Because of it's penetrating (fnaar fnaar) coverage of all that is important in the news today.

Like, hold the front page. Two of the most gruesome looking people in the country have stopped having sex with each other.

Hardly something to cause the world to shift on its axis.

Unless of course it's Barry Egan's world.......

tipptom

Every agenda on that paper is set by Eoghan Harris and has got worse since his ex wife took over.They have even have some bertie wooster type from Cork who is self confessed disciple of his to print the same sh*t alongside cheerleaders like Declan Lynch(I used to be an alchoholic,now you are all drunken celtic supporting wasters,Rory mcilroy,burn the Irish flag because were all eejits, read my new book, etc etc).
Most of the articles are about themselves and why they cant understand why THEY are not on radio/tV programmes and then spend their time giving out about them.Punch magazine was probably not as critical of Irish people.
Not a fan of Denis O Brien but hope he cuts a swathe through them,they talk about monopoly of the media but not a thing about Sir Antos manipulation for his own ends for decades.

Sligo Quay

tipptom wrote: »

Every agenda on that paper is set by Eoghan Harris.

True, but backing ''bertie the chancer'' in his re election, and Harris's reward on the Seanad Eireann gravy train will always be a skeleton in Harris cupboard, he'll never be able to shake that off because ordinary decent people have looooong memories, and don't take an overbearing idiot like that serious.

JBG2011

It's a horrendously bad newspaper.

The egomania of its political writers, Harris principal among them, is cartoonish. They think they have the pulse of the nation and lecture to their readers on how they should live their lives.

It regularly features stories on its own journalists. Time and time again they will put one of their own writers - usually the complete no mark Brendan O Connor - on the front page of their magazine. There's something very wrong with a publication when it thinks its own writers are "news".

The magazine itself is borderline soft porn. It'll try to cram as many scantily clad women - usually Georgia Salpa - as it can get away with. Each week they get a selection of photo calls featuring models wearing bikins promoting Paddy Power on Grafton Street and write "humourous" jokes about boobs and jizz and call it satire. Fair enough, there's a market for this kind of thing but don't pretend it's a serious newspaper.

goulders

If they think Eoghan Harris is good enough to write for the sunday indo, then they have set a very very low standard for them selves

mike65

Another Barry facking Egan classic

http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/independent-woman/celebrity-news-gossip/i-tried-to-laugh-it-off-but-it-was-just-too-hurtful-3367843.html

Tuning into Wagon's Den last Thursday night on RTE to watch Katherine Lynch humiliate Lisa Murphy, I felt like the modern-day equivalent of those 17th-century people who used to visit insane asylums to be entertained by the madness of the inmates. Lynch – or her character, Sheila Chic – was the near-sadistic ringleader.

Her mocking comments about Lisa's "Frisbee lips" were hurtful to the woman she was directing them at, as was bile such as: "She looks like Jay Leno dressed up as Joan bleedin' Rivers."

The questioning of Ms Murphy – sitting on the RTE couch with her Dublin Wives co-star Jo Jordan – bordered at times on the crass and almost the misogynistic. It was unpleasant to watch.

I had an idea of what was coming. After the show was recorded, Lisa texted me: "Wagon's Den totally destroyed me. I am so upset."

RTE's website describes Wagon's Den as an exercise to "skewer the dead meat and baste it in a satisfyingly bitchy marinade of coruscating wit and savvy outrage". It was certainly bitchy, whatever about savvy.

Yesterday morning when I spoke to Lisa, she wasn't seeing the savvy in it. The Dublin Wives star was "extremely upset" after her interview, she told me. "I am still hurt by what went on that night. It was terrible. I was humiliated."

Read more: http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/independent-woman/celebrity-news-gossip/i-tried-to-laugh-it-off-but-it-was-just-too-hurtful-3367843.html#ixzz2JB8DA2ck

Hard to know who is more loathsome Lisa Murphy for being dumb enough to whore herself on Wagons Den and then whining about it to a friendly media whore or the whore himself for going along with it and submitting this tittle-tattle for publication.

podgeandrodge

podgeandrodge wrote: »

Between Carol, Nicola and Niamh I think we can safely say we have the cream of the crop of female Irish journalism in the Indo.

Sorry. I meant to include Egan in this list.

fly_agaric

grover_green wrote: »

the sunday times and the sunday business post dont have a large enough circulation to form any significant opinion

every other major media outlet is left of centre

irish times
rte

I dunno about that -maybe they are not "right" enough for you?

Irish Times is quite conservative. I think editorial is economically right wing (pro austerity/cuts in public services, anti tax rises) even if a lot/most of the fluffier pieces bleat about "disadvantage" etc. I don't really see much economic right/left bias in rte, the main thing I've noticed is they try not to annoy the govt. of the day too much whatever they are reporting!

IRE60

A papers circulation is no measure of how the publication may sway on opinion.

In any case The Sunday times outsells the Irish times so if the IT has influence at their level of circulation then so does the Sunday Times

delthedriver

Would not believe the date printed on the front page of the Independent!

IRE60

today? or yesterday or...............!

tipptom

podgeandrodge wrote: »

Sorry. I meant to include Egan in this list.

And any amount of daughters,sons,present wives,ex wives,girlfriends,boyfriends,sons in law,daughters in law,friend that was involved in the cricket club,friend that was involved in the Jazz club,daughter of the flavour of the month boutique owner,anyone of the anglo irish aristocracy preferably with a lord or lady before their name(sure to be followed by a big spread about any of the above spending a weeekend at their pile and what good value it was)of the present editor,ex editor,Eoghan Harris,Brendan o Conner etc etc.

mike65

Cake and eating it special tomorrow (or today if its Sunday!)