Leo Varadkar story in The Village??? - Mod Notes and banned Users in OP updated 16/05

jmcc

rusty cole wrote: »

I like your posts but I'm fascinated, why do you sign them?

It is an old habit.

Regards...jmcc

skimpydoo

blanch152 wrote: »

Say what? Fake news reaches new heights.



Are you really a journalist?

Yes I am.

skimpydoo

Pintman Paddy Losty wrote: »

LOL

What's so funny? Alternative news sources that won't be tainted by FFG cronyism?

jmcc

When it comes to specialist news, the mainstream media is the "alternative" news. One would not read the Irish Times or Independent "technology" sections for detailed and well-informed commentary on Technology issues or the business of Technology. Other specialised areas such as Engineering, Business, Medicine, the Sciences and the Law have their own journals and news sites. Most of what people seen in the mainstream media is based on press releases. It is free content. The politicians know this and tend to target publications with this content. Since many mainstream publications are losing readers and sales, cheap and free content is helpful to them. They also get advertising revenue from Covid warnings and other government propaganda. But it is not enough to replace the numbers of readers who do not purchase a daily newspaper. At one stage, the Irish Times sold over 100K copies a day. Before Covid, it was down to around 50K copies a day. The daily newspapers, the former Dinny O'Brien radio stations and RTE will turn on Varadkar if things go wrong for him and it will be very difficult to find a Varadkar supporter among these journalists.

Regards...jmcc

jmcc

Just on the government press releases that make it into the mainstream news as "news":

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/press-centre/
https://merrionstreet.ie/en/news-room/government-press-releases/


https://enterprise.gov.ie/en/News-And-Events/
https://enterprise.gov.ie/en/News-And-Events/Department-News/2021/April/20210412a.html
https://enterprise.gov.ie/en/News-And-Events/Department-News/2021/April/20210412.html

Compare these press releases to what is recycled on RTE or in the daily viewspapers.
https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2021/0412/1209479-work-from-home-whenever-possible-tanaiste-reminds/

Regards...jmcc

jmcc

jmcc wrote: »

Just on the government press releases that make it into the mainstream news as "news":

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/press-centre/
https://merrionstreet.ie/en/news-room/government-press-releases/


https://enterprise.gov.ie/en/News-And-Events/
https://enterprise.gov.ie/en/News-And-Events/Department-News/2021/April/20210412a.html
https://enterprise.gov.ie/en/News-And-Events/Department-News/2021/April/20210412.html

Compare these press releases to what is recycled on RTE or in the daily viewspapers.
https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2021/0412/1209479-work-from-home-whenever-possible-tanaiste-reminds/

Regards...jmcc

What would you have news departments do? Ignore the press releases? Write scathing demolition jobs on press releases emerging from the Government departments? Grant us your insight.

skimpydoo

jmcc wrote: »

Just on the government press releases that make it into the mainstream news as "news":

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/press-centre/
https://merrionstreet.ie/en/news-room/government-press-releases/


https://enterprise.gov.ie/en/News-And-Events/
https://enterprise.gov.ie/en/News-And-Events/Department-News/2021/April/20210412a.html
https://enterprise.gov.ie/en/News-And-Events/Department-News/2021/April/20210412.html

Compare these press releases to what is recycled on RTE or in the daily viewspapers.
https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2021/0412/1209479-work-from-home-whenever-possible-tanaiste-reminds/

Regards...jmcc

I get lots of press releases like the ones above emailed to me on a regular basis and I would publish around 1% of them because I only publish what is important and relevant news.

jmcc

Deleted User wrote: »

What would you have news departments do?

Report the news. Otherwise they can be replaced with a few lines of computer code to recycle the press releases automatically.

Regards...jmcc

jmcc

skimpydoo wrote: »

I get lots of press releases like the ones above emailed to me on a regular basis and I would publish around 1% of them because I only publish what is important and relevant news.

It is free content. The problem is that some press releases in the technology field are not written by people who understand the technology and it can be quite risky to use them.

I looked at summarisation code (Python) a few years ago for a project. It is possible to see the automated press release recycling (summarisation of press releases) in use on the feeds from the various wire services like AFP/Reuters etc on RTE.

Regards...jmcc

FrancieBrady

jmcc wrote: »

It is free content. The problem is that some press releases in the technology field are not written by people who understand the technology and it can be quite risky to use them.

I looked at summarisation code (Python) a few years ago for a project. It is possible to see the automated press release recycling (summarisation of press releases) in use on the feeds from the various wire services like AFP/Reuters etc on RTE.

Regards...jmcc

You become another arm of government instead of an independent media organisation.

skimpydoo

FrancieBrady wrote: »

You become another arm of government instead of an independent media organisation.

Frankie Boyle says you are becoming a courier for the government, if you do this.

jmcc

FrancieBrady wrote: »

You become another arm of government instead of an independent media organisation.

RTE's position has always been that of a state broadcaster. The falling sales have made newspapers more dependent on government advertising than they were before. One of the biggest shifts in online advertising happened in 2003 with the launch of Google's Adsense pay per click advertising. It killed off a lot of the print media's advertising revenue because online advertisers using Google Adwords/Adsense could see which ads were successful and being clicked. Print ads had no such feedback loop.

In the 1990s, the newsapers decided to shift towards commentary rather than news. This, was while the World Wide Web was only just going mainstream. It was a fatal decision for many newspapers because the Web gave everyone the ability to publish their own opinions. It got really bad during the DotCom bubble where generally cluless people with no expertise were being used to fill the space between ads in print newspapers because there was a flood of ads for technology companies and businesses. The same thing happened with the property bubble.

The software to recycle press releases as "news" is actually quite simple. Using press releases and wire services (cheaper than employing a full-time journalist in other countries) cuts down on costs for a publication. It allows provincial newspapers like the Irish Times and the Independent pretend that they have international coverage. The press releases with the quotes from politicians allows them to pretend that their journalists really spoke to the politicians to get these quotes. Journalism is not quite what people would like to believe. This is why the same quotes from Varadkar appear verbatim all over the Dublin media.

Regards...jmcc

jmcc

jmcc wrote: »

Varadkar is under criminal investigation so why doesn't he step down while the investigation is active? There was a time when FG had some sense of honour as a party. Is it now filled with spivs who see nothing wrong with Varadkar remaining in place while under criminal investigation for leaking a confidential document to his friend?

Regards...jmcc

It seems simple enough actually

They dont want to set a precedent whereby any Tom Dick or Paddy Cosgrave can engineer a process like the one thats ongoing and unseat a Minister in cases where they don't believe the accusation that a crime happened,and certainly have no regard for the bonifidé's of the accusers
If they did,their government would be gone
They must be very confident of the outcome

Marine Layer

Marine Layer wrote: »

It seems simple enough actually

They dont want to set a precedent whereby any Tom Dick or Paddy Cosgrave can engineer a process like the one thats ongoing and unseat a Minister in cases where they don't believe the accusation that a crime happened,and certainly have no regard for the bonifidé's of the accusers
If they did,their government would be gone
They must be very confident of the outcome

Imagine if a politician had to stand down every time some bone idle crank on the internet made a complaint about them? Graham Dwyer would end up being Taoiseach.

blanch152

skimpydoo wrote: »

Frankie Boyle says you are becoming a courier for the government, if you do this.

Who?

jmcc

Marine Layer wrote: »

It seems simple enough actually

Varadkar is under criminal investigation for leaking a confidential document to his friend. That's a rather serious issue. Previously, FG would have had the sense of decency to have such a politician step down while the criminal investigation was active but apparently the modern FG has replaced that sense of decency with a low spivishness. Perhaps you and the FG supporters are happy with what FG has become. It does mean that FG no longer has any moral high ground from which to criticise any other political party (normally SF).

Regards...jmcc

jmcc

blanch152 wrote: »

Who?

A popular comedian, M'lud.

Regards...jmcc

jmcc

jmcc wrote: »

Varadkar is under criminal investigation for leaking a confidential document to his friend. That's a rather serious issue. Previously, FG would have had the sense of decency to have such a politician step down while the criminal investigation was active but apparently the modern FG has replaced that sense of decency with a low spivishness. Perhaps you and the FG supporters are happy with what FG has become. It does mean that FG no longer has any moral high ground from which to criticise any other political party (normally SF).

Regards...jmcc

They don't believe it,it really is that simple and obviously they're confident
No other gloss

jmcc

jmcc wrote: »

Varadkar is under criminal investigation for leaking a confidential document to his friend. That's a rather serious issue. Previously, FG would have had the sense of decency to have such a politician step down while the criminal investigation was active but apparently the modern FG has replaced that sense of decency with a low spivishness. Perhaps you and the FG supporters are happy with what FG has become. It does mean that FG no longer has any moral high ground from which to criticise any other political party (normally SF).

Regards...jmcc

Should Mary Lou, Pearse, Michelle have stood aside while the PSNI were carrying out a criminal investigation into their attendance at the funeral of a terrorist? Goose, gander, etc.

jmcc

Deleted User wrote: »

Should Mary Lou, Pearse, Michelle have stood aside while the PSNI were carrying out a criminal investigation into their attendance at the funeral of a terrorist? Goose, gander, etc.

The first two are not government ministers. Michelle O'Neill is deputy first minister in the North. Varadkar is under criminal investigation for leaking a confidential document to his friend. That is a far more serious issue. Do you agree with the low class spivishness that has taken over FG and which prevents it doing the decent thing of having Varadkar step down while he is the subject of a criminal investigation?

Regards...jmcc

jmcc

jmcc wrote: »

The first two are not government ministers. Michelle O'Neill is deputy first minister in the North. Varadkar is under criminal investigation for leaking a confidential document to his friend. That is a far more serious issue. Do you agree with the low class spivishness that has taken over FG and which prevents it doing the decent thing of having Varadkar step down while he is the subject of a criminal investigation?

Regards...jmcc

You nicely side stepped my question. As I said earlier not every complaint made by some bone idle malcontent on the internet should result in a politician having to stand aside. So no, I don’t think he should have to step down while the cops are investigating. Because it’s almost certainly a nothingburger.

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Should Mary Lou, Pearse, Michelle have stood aside while the PSNI were carrying out a criminal investigation into their attendance at the funeral of a terrorist? Goose, gander, etc.

They had no office to resign from
They didn't believe a crime had been committed either which is why Michelle o'Neill didn't step aside from her office
It really is that simple
No gloss

skimpydoo

blanch152 wrote: »

Who?

This guy.

jmcc

Deleted User wrote: »

You nicely side stepped my question. As I said earlier not every complaint made by some bone idle malcontent on the internet should result in a politician having to stand aside. So no, I don’t think he should have to step down while the cops are investigating. Because it’s almost certainly a nothingburger.

The Gardai are investigating Varadkar for leaking a confidential document to his friend. For a "nothingburger", that does seem to be a rather high price. Simon Harris has already been interviewed as have some civil servants. It was, apparently, after these interviews that the Gardai decided to conduct a full criminal investigation into Varadkar's actions. Varadkar has already confessed to leaking the confidential document to his friend. This is much more than your depiction of it as being a complaint by some bone idle malcontent on the Internet. Do you condone Varadkar's leaking of a confidential document to his friend?

Regards...jmcc

jmcc

Marine Layer wrote: »

They had no office to resign from
They didn't believe a crime had been committed either which is why Michelle o'Neill didn't step aside from her office
It really is that simple
No gloss

Varadkar was taoiseach and is now tainiste. He admitted leaking a confidential document to his friend. Do you condone his action or do you believe that there should be one set of standards for Varadkar (and by extension FFG) and another for SF?

Regards...jmcc

FrancieBrady

skimpydoo wrote: »

This guy.

I notice the actual quote is 'courtier'.
Funny how they both work...'courier' or 'courtier'.

jmcc

jmcc wrote: »

Varadkar was taoiseach and is now tainiste. He admitted leaking a confidential document to his friend. Do you condone his action or do you believe that there should be one set of standards for Varadkar (and by extension FFG) and another for SF?

Regards...jmcc

They don't believe a crime was committed and have moved on,letting the process play out
Nothing to do with me or Sinn Féin
It couldn't be simpler

blanch152

jmcc wrote: »

Varadkar is under criminal investigation for leaking a confidential document to his friend. That's a rather serious issue. Previously, FG would have had the sense of decency to have such a politician step down while the criminal investigation was active but apparently the modern FG has replaced that sense of decency with a low spivishness. Perhaps you and the FG supporters are happy with what FG has become. It does mean that FG no longer has any moral high ground from which to criticise any other political party (normally SF).

Regards...jmcc

Now that you have introduced whataboutery SF into the discussion, there is a precedent. Michelle O'Neill, Mary-Lou and Conor Murphy did not step aside while there was a criminal investigation into their actions at the Storey funeral.

costacorta

blanch152 wrote: »

Now that you have introduced whataboutery SF into the discussion, there is a precedent. Michelle O'Neill, Mary-Lou and Conor Murphy did not step aside while there was a criminal investigation into their actions at the Storey funeral.

Ah sure now don’t you know that rules don’t apply to them . He has been on here with weeks on about Leo not stepping down but when asked about his messiah up the road he can’t answer ..

jmcc

blanch152 wrote: »

Now that you have introduced whataboutery SF into the discussion, there is a precedent. Michelle O'Neill, Mary-Lou and Conor Murphy did not step aside while there was a criminal investigation into their actions at the Storey funeral.

So you are claiming that because SF does something, it is OK for FG to do it?

Regards...jmcc