Village halts Eddie Hobbs article

flogen

http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1465176&issue_id=12978 (subscriber)

VILLAGE magazine last night stopped the printing of the issue due in newsagents today because of legal threats by Eddie Hobbs, presenter of the hit TV series 'Rip Off Republic'.

The weekly current affairs magazine, edited by Vincent Browne, was to publish a major investigation into Hobbs's record as a financial adviser while with the Taylor Investment group in 1993 and 1994.

This man seems to be getting a lot of flack from political parties and even here on boards.ie, it's good to see a reputable publication look into Hobbs' abilities, at least we know they aren't doing it because he slagged Fianna Fail. I imagine this issue could sell pretty well (controversy never hurt anyone).

edanto

It would be interesting to know the content of this recent article, although last weeks Village was quite clear on the role Hobbs played during the scandal.

Village, Sept 2nd wrote:

Hobbs was in no way culpable for what went wrong with the Taylor Investment Group and was, in part, responsible for "outing" Talyor and assisting in his arrest in England and his conviction for fraudulent conversion.

It sounds like he's one of the good guys.

whiskeyman

interesting to see how this plays out.
With this story breaking, it's clear people will look again as to his no-show on the Late Late tonight?
Perhaps he doesnt want to be questioned about this?
I thought about this myself... perhaps he want to assess the full reaction of the story before hitting studio 1 in Montrose.
Personally, I see the smear campaign well underway for Hobbs to be discredited.

Brendan552004

Apparently Browne sent a draft of the article to Hobbs on Wednesday evening, Hobbs asked for certain changes to be made, the changes were made, Browne then went to print, he was then contacted by Hobbs who said he had taken legal advice and wanted the article pulled, interim injunction was mentioned. Village was being printed at the time, Browne contacted the printers and asked them to stop. Village will now come out Saturday morning with a watered down version of the article.

I do not think this will be the end of the story, Browne has a double print bill this week.

flogen

whiskeyman wrote:

interesting to see how this plays out.
With this story breaking, it's clear people will look again as to his no-show on the Late Late tonight?
Perhaps he doesnt want to be questioned about this?
I thought about this myself... perhaps he want to assess the full reaction of the story before hitting studio 1 in Montrose.
Personally, I see the smear campaign well underway for Hobbs to be discredited.

Well if he expected Kenny to ask any challenging questions then Hobbs is the bigger fool.

As for the smear campaign, it's obvious FF are after him, but I'd trust The Village to be fair, and not go for him just because he's embaressing the politicians.

Brendan552004

Eddie would want to watch drink driving, it will also be very interesting when RTE apply for their next licence hike. An extra fiver if you get rid of Eddie.

seamus

I've not caught any of Eddie Hobbs' stuff, but what difference does his history make if he's saying things backed up by Government reports?

Eoin

flogen wrote:

Well if he expected Kenny to ask any challenging questions then Hobbs is the bigger fool.

As for the smear campaign, it's obvious FF are after him, but I'd trust The Village to be fair, and not go for him just because he's embaressing the politicians.

I am very anti-FF, but would still love to see him getting a grilling. He has been caught out several times with statements, figures, statistics etc that have either turned out to be a stretch of the truth, or just plain wrong.

They should not "go for him" because he is embarrasing the politicians, but after hosting that show, he has a lot of questions to answer as well as the government. He has not been shy in making personal attacks on TDs etc, but that hasn't been described as a "smear" campaign.

OfflerCrocGod

seamus wrote:

what difference does his history make if he's saying things backed up by Government reports?

None. The sheep herd that is the Irish population though will probably see him in a new light though, an unpleasant new light. Modern Politics 101. Don't tackle the issue head on just discredit the messenger.

DublinWriter

Brown, despite all his journalistic huffing and puffing, is about as establishment as they come here in Ireland.

Here we are in 2005, in the grip of major political scandal and intrigue and being economically raped by government approved cartel systems, yet what was the major ground-breaking cover article of the last issue of ‘Villiage’? Ryan Tubirdy and the falling ratings for his Radio show. Yawn.

Hobbs’ show basically crept in under the radar while RTE’s senior management were having their annual summer hibernation.

RTE proved themselves inept in toto. Not just inept as being a public service broadcaster, but also inept at serving their ultimate paymasters in Leinster House. Remember where you heard it first folks, Cathal Goan will be gone within 12 months.

But for now, just watch as the favours are being called in and the old boys’ network goes off the scale in terms of contention rates. Every conceivable bit of brown stuff is being gathered and thrown maliciously at Hobbs in an effort to discredit the messenger.

jrey1981

It is somewhat ironic however that Hobbs who investigated politicians and business lobbying is now taking legal action over an investigation into his own past in business....

whiskeyman

jrey1981 wrote:

It is somewhat ironic however that Hobbs who investigated politicians and business lobbying is now taking legal action over an investigation into his own past in business....

what legal action?
None has been taken....
Apparently it was threatened, but we dont know exactly what it was in that article that seems to have caused Hobbs concern.
There's no irony there anyway. He can take legal action if he wishes to defend himself.

finfacts

My guess is that the story on Hobbs in this week's issue of Village was prompted by an article in last Saturday's Irish Times by Deputy Business Editor John McManus. One of the issues McManus raised was why financial services were ommitted from the TV series given the raft of consumer rip-offs in this sector?

The Sunday Tribune had a report that Hobbs charges €700 per hour for a financial consultation and €150 for a subsequent report. It's a fair point to raise if true. It's not necessarily a rip-off but an example surely of two different worlds in what a UN report this week termed, the most unequal society in the Developed World.

In a mature democracy, people have a right to raise questions about issues such as the potential for conflict of interest without it being seen as a smear etc. As President Harry Truman reputedly said: If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen

MH
Finfacts

conjon

finfacts wrote:

The Sunday Tribune had a report that Hobbs charges €700 per hour for a financial consultation and €150 for a subsequent report.


Hobbs was on the Last Word during the week rubbishing the ST story. Mentioned fees of about €200 (if I remember correctly), and justifed these fees by saying his clients were doctors, dentists etc

Overall, I think Hobbs has raised interest in how our money is being spent. Which surely can't be a bad thing.

dahamsta

Are there some kind of regulatory controls on financial advice or something? Isn't it a trade where you can charge where you think what you're worth, and if people don't like it they can take their business elsewhere?

mike65

Exactly so. Forget Get Carter its Get Hobbs right now.

On a side note, todays Irish Times describes him as a television personality and financial advisor!

Mike.

edanto

DublinWriter wrote:

Brown, despite all his journalistic huffing and puffing, is about as establishment as they come here in Ireland.

What do you mean by that?

and then, just to correct what you said, the cover of the last (Sept 2nd) issue of Village actually said:

Village Cover Sept 2nd wrote:

Eddie Hobbs
and cabaret politics

Rip-off Ireland: tapping into public outrage over massive wastage and incompetence. The overspending on roads alone would fund the best health service in the world.

I agree with you that the smear campaign is well underway but hopefully he's ready for it. I heard from a friend that Hobbes was asked about his potential conflict of interest on the radio and he said something like, "It's not having the conflict of interest that's the problem, more what you do with it"

Has he done anything underhand? I've not heard any substantial allegations. On everything I've seen so far, I think he's an upstanding guy that through Rip-off Ireland has scratched an itch that's been bugging the hell out of me for a long time.
A classic example was the exposé on who signed the west link contract and the money that allegedly changed hands.
(I have to put in allegedly, right? )

DublinWriter

edanto wrote:

I heard from a friend that Hobbes was asked about his potential conflict of interest on the radio and he said something like, "It's not having the conflict of interest that's the problem, more what you do with it"

No. He said the following on the Ryan Tubridy Radio show last Monday: "Yes, I have a conflict of interest. I'll say it three times, I have a conflict of interest, I have a conflict of interest, I have a conflict of interest"

The original point was just the type of BS that contributes to his smear campaign.