"Irish Times" reporting of Irish Nobel prize winner

gizmo555

Professor William Campbell, from Ramelton in Donegal, was today jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine, along with Satoshi Omura of Japan and Youyou Tu of China.

Professor Campbell was honoured for his work in developing a new therapy for roundworm parasites. This only the second time an Irish person has received a Nobel for work in the sciences - the last was Ernest Walton in 1951. This is major news by any standards.

The "Irish Times" so-called "Breaking News" page only started reporting this story more than an hour after RTÉ and the "Guardian". Even now, their report is barely visible on their home page. Compare this with the fanfare which greeted, for example, Séamus Heaney's award of the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Of course there's no comparison really. Heaney wrote a vast and important body of rambling poetry which doesn't rhyme and doesn't scan, which the standing army of IT intellectuals can explain to us ignoramuses. All his fellow Ulsterman Professor Campbell did was to find an effective cure for very serious illnesses which affect over 100 million people worldwide . . .

expectationlost

gizmo555 wrote: »

Professor William Campbell, from Ramelton in Donegal, was today jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine, along with Satoshi Omura of Japan and Youyou Tu of China.

Professor Campbell was honoured for his work in developing a new therapy for roundworm parasites. This only the second time an Irish person has received a Nobel for work in the sciences - the last was Ernest Walton in 1951. This is major news by any standards.

The "Irish Times" so-called "Breaking News" page only started reporting this story more than an hour after RTÉ and the "Guardian". Even now, their report is barely visible on their home page. Compare this with the fanfare which greeted, for example, Séamus Heaney's award of the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Of course there's no comparison really. Heaney wrote a vast and important body of rambling poetry which doesn't rhyme and doesn't scan, which the standing army of IT intellectuals can explain to us ignoramuses. All his fellow Ulsterman Professor Campbell did was to find an effective cure for very serious illnesses which affect over 100 million people worldwide . . .

and on the front page the next day

gizmo555

expectationlost wrote: »

and on the front page the next day

I didn't see the print edition, but on the day after the announcement of Prof. Campbell's award, there was nothing new added to the scant coverage on the "Irish Times" website. Remarkably, on that day there was a very extensive feature on new techniques for surgery on unborn children in the womb being done in the Rotunda.

It's said this saved over 100 lives - no doubt it's very important work and a great credit to the medical professionals involved. But, as I said, the conditions for which Campbell found a cure affect 100,000,000 people. And not alone did he find a cure, he helped to persuade his employer to make it available free. I just don't understand why so little attention or respect is being paid to him and his achievements here in his home country, although the IT has made some redress by publishing an interview today.

The "Irish Times" aren't alone in this regard - as far as I can see, no statement was made by either the Taoiseach or the President, although the latter found time to give a gushing interview to Ray D'Arcy on the performance of the soccer team against Germany. Mindboggling . . .

expectationlost

gizmo555 wrote: »

I didn't see the print edition, but on the day after the announcement of Prof. Campbell's award, there was nothing new added to the scant coverage on the "Irish Times" website. Remarkably, on that day there was a very extensive feature on new techniques for surgery on unborn children in the womb being done in the Rotunda.

It's said this saved over 100 lives - no doubt it's very important work and a great credit to the medical professionals involved. But, as I said, the conditions for which Campbell found a cure affect 100,000,000 people. And not alone did he find a cure, he helped to persuade his employer to make it available free. I just don't understand why so little attention or respect is being paid to him and his achievements here in his home country, although the IT has made some redress by publishing an interview today.

The "Irish Times" aren't alone in this regard - as far as I can see, no statement was made by either the Taoiseach or the President, although the latter found time to give a gushing interview to Ray D'Arcy on the performance of the soccer team against Germany. Mindboggling . . .

its a newspaper, yes, was it actually awarded to him this week or sometime later? congratulation may wait for ceremony

gizmo555

expectationlost wrote: »

its a newspaper, yes,

It's a newspaper with a website, like every other newspaper these days.

expectationlost wrote: »

was it actually awarded to him this week or sometime later? may wait for ceremony

This certainly wasn't the reaction of the IT in 1995, when the announcement of Seamus Heaney's award rated 10 separate and extensive articles in the following day's paper.

Like you said, it's a newspaper, or at any rate purports to be - not some kind of topical review. No doubt they will cover the ceremony - but I earnestly hope the coverage isn't as pitiful and disrespectful as that for the announcement.

IRE60

gizmo555 wrote: »

This certainly wasn't the reaction of the IT in 1995, when the announcement of Seamus Heaney's award rated 10 separate and extensive articles in the following day's paper.

Its obvious that the 'luvvies' and more important than the living to the IT in that case! But the coverage in general was appalling.

expectationlost

Meet Ireland’s new Nobel Laureate, William C Campbell
This week, ping-pong playing, Donegal-born, 85-year-old William C Campbell became the second Irish scientist to win a Nobel. Here, he talks God, Ireland, medicine and happiness http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/meet-ireland-s-new-nobel-laureate-william-c-campbell-1.2385532