Worrying lack of journalism in Irish newspapers... Especially the Independent

Bluefoam

I am shocked by the lack of integrity of the Irish newspapers. They just seem to regurgitate crap off Reuters.

Yesterday Jalopnik wrote an article about how the Mail Online had written a blatantly fictitious and untrue article about Google turning self driving cars into taxi's... Yet today, the Irish Independent report it as fact...

Surely if they had just made contact with Google's press office or done a quick internet search, they could have verified the information... But to republish a bull**** article a day after it was proven incorrect is just lazy.

I'm not really pushed about this particular case, but think it is indicative of a lazy corporation who has no interest in actual news, but an unhealthy interest in property advertising & related articles.

http://www.independent.ie/business/technology/google-considering-turning-selfdriving-cars-into-a-robotaxi-service-29528489.html
http://jalopnik.com/daily-mail-duped-by-fake-article-about-google-selling-d-1202200861

The article doesn't even exist on the Mail site anymore...

Caonima

Standards at the Indo have been slipping for years. I rarely read it these days. I mean, if you actually go to Independent.ie and look at the stories, there's stories about westlife gombeen Nicky Byrne, Beyonce, Miley Cyprus, One Erection, and Katherine Thomas, all near the top of the page.

bogmanfan

I suspect that they are simply giving people what they want. Lots of people complain about the Sunday Indo being a rag (and I agree) but it's a huge seller. Newspapers are commercial concerns, and have to make money.

Take a look at the Anglo Tapes series in the Indo. Probably the biggest news story of the past year, and circulation for the paper actually dropped during that period. Does that suggest that people want to read stories about financial corruption? Contrast that with magazines, who experience a spike in sales whenever they put Kate Middleton on the cover.

As for the top stories on independent.ie, these are ranked by numbers of hits, not by an editor. So, the stories you mention are the ones most people are actually interested in.

I suspect there just aren't enough people interested in 'hard news' anymore to keep a newspaper of that sort alive. It's a sorry state of affairs, but I guess we get the newspapers we deserve.

Caonima wrote: »

Standards at the Indo have been slipping for years. I rarely read it these days. I mean, if you actually go to Independent.ie and look at the stories, there's stories about westlife gombeen Nicky Byrne, Beyonce, Miley Cyprus, One Erection, and Katherine Thomas, all near the top of the page.

IRE60

bogmanfan wrote: »

Take a look at the Anglo Tapes series in the Indo. Probably the biggest news story of the past year, and circulation for the paper actually dropped during that period.

It dropped because it was an 'audio story' in essence and the 'net lends itself to that, secondly they left all the copy and background analysis up on the net as well - why would you by the print edition!?

Loafing Oaf

Caonima wrote: »

Standards at the Indo have been slipping for years.

I reckon the paper has picked up a bit since Denis O'Brien took over, he's clearly putting money into it at any rate. Recent recruits Adrian Weckler, Richard Curran, Collette Browne and Shane Coleman are all good signings IMO...

IRE60

Loafing Oaf wrote: »

I reckon the paper has picked up a bit since Denis O'Brien took over, he's clearly putting money into it at any rate. Recent recruits Adrian Weckler, Richard Curran, Collette Browne and Shane Coleman are all good signings IMO...

On the downside of that is that he seemed to have installed a layer of 'protective management'. It will be interesting to watch the coverage - or lack thereof of things 'O'Brien' -

as an aside - any techies out there can give me the heads up on parsing the Indo site by date and by keyword - just to see if that keyword has dropped off at all!!!

Caonima

bogmanfan wrote: »

As for the top stories on independent.ie, these are ranked by numbers of hits, not by an editor. So, the stories you mention are the ones most people are actually interested in.

I suspect there just aren't enough people interested in 'hard news' anymore to keep a newspaper of that sort alive. It's a sorry state of affairs, but I guess we get the newspapers we deserve.

I'm not talking about the 'trending' stories; I'm talking about the front page layout of the paper on the website.

Shite.jpg

And that fact that this shite is classified as news is just insulting. I mean, today you can even see a story about Michael Douglas is higher up the page than a CSO story about average wages in the country. If it were really the case that the order of the stories were dictated by popularity, people really need a reality check.

Zipping over to Irishtimes.com, it's a far cry from the Independent website. It has that 'who cares' Michael Douglas story, but that's the only 'soft news' until you almost reach the bottom of the page.

As far as I can see, breakingnews.ie has gone to the dogs, but I'm pretty sure that's just an aggregation website, so can't blame them for that.

But special mention should go to the Sunday Independent, which for almost time immemorial has been a tawdry sham of a paper. I remember when they had something like "The 06 team" or "The 07 team", which was some gaggle of D4 gombeens writing about what was kool in tine (town) or other sub-Barry Egan-esque drivel. When I came across that, that was it, I never bought that rag again.

thomas.frink

Caonima wrote: »

I'm not talking about the 'trending' stories; I'm talking about the front page layout of the paper on the website.

Shite.jpg

And that fact that this shite is classified as news is just insulting. I mean, today you can even see a story about Michael Douglas is higher up the page than a CSO story about average wages in the country. If it were really the case that the order of the stories were dictated by popularity, people really need a reality check.

While I am in no way a fan of celebrity culture, it is not clear why you choose to feel insulted by the content of a newspaper you say you don't buy. No one forces you to read it on the net, and that you do and then choose to be "insulted" by "****e" seems curious, especially when you indicate that is also what you expect to find there.

goose2005

from Joe MacAnthony

There are two kinds of journalism in vogue in Ireland. To a greater extent than I have seen elsewhere. One is lap-dog journalism; the other merits the title of trash-can journalism. The greatest practitioner of these deplorable practices can be seen on any given day on the website of the Irish Independent. It abases every standard of decent honest journalism with poorly written mawkish exploitation of every tragedy that crosses the editor's path. It has no equal on the internet for plumbing the depths. The Irish Independent under Vinnie Doyle had its faults but it was a solid, well written and informative newspaper, well up to the standards of its peers. The present version is less a page-turner, than a stomach churner.

mike65

I find it hard to give damn so long is it since I paid for a newspaper, I don't even visit the web edition since they decided to go "tablet", ditto the IT (which is dry as dust).

edit I've just opened up indo.ie and its dragging my browser to hell. :mad:

goose2005

Today they had a fawning piece about Tony Ryan - and headlined it "The Irish Gatsby." Wasn't Gatsby a fraud and a bootlegger whose wealth did nothing to get rid of the emptiness inside?