Indo v Times?

newmug · 24-03-2013 10:30AM #1

Can someone explain to me what the seemingly endless feud between these two papers and their readership is all about? To me, the two seem so close in opinion, in political ideology, in journalistic style etc., that its hard to see any differences at all! Its like debating whether FF or FG are bigger liars! What is the background to all this, how did it all start, what are the principles of either side, or is it all just snob thing?

DEFTLEFTHAND · 24-03-2013 10:41AM

The upper class read the Times, the middle read the Indo. Reading a broad sheet meant that you were intelligent, although now that the Indo have stopped producing a broad its become a grey area. The middle class can't understand the big words in the Times.

Zebra3 · 24-03-2013 10:43AM

Indo is read by wanna middle class types who are too thick to realise they haven't made it yet.

It's just another tabloid.

PogMoThoin · 24-03-2013 10:44AM

It's all political spin no matter which one you read

newmug · 24-03-2013 10:44AM

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

The upper class read the Times, the middle read the Indo. Reading a broad sheet meant that you were intelligent, although now that the Indo have stopped producing a broad its become a grey area. The middle class can't understand the big words in the Times.

PAH!!, I've spilled my tea! By whose standards did reading a broadsheet equate with intelligence?

Legs.Eleven · 24-03-2013 10:49AM

I've got both papers in front of me. Indo is a tabloid rag and TIT (haha!) is a quality broadsheet. Not sure where the confusion lies?

DEFTLEFTHAND · 24-03-2013 10:51AM

newmug wrote: »

PAH!!, I've spilled my tea! By whose standards did reading a broadsheet equate with intelligence?

My Dear Chap they thought they were our equal, plebiscites I say.

24-03-2013 10:54AM

Indo is a rag in fairness

newmug · 24-03-2013 10:55AM

Legs.Eleven wrote: »

I've got both papers in front of me. Indo is a tabloid rag and TIT (haha!) is a quality broadsheet. Not sure where the confusion lies?

I don't read either regularly. Whenever I do, I see hardly any difference between them, but there seems to be a disproportionate rivalry between them. If, as you say, the Indo is a rag and the TIT is quality, then surely its like comparing a Kia to a Merc? So where is this rivalry coming from?

Skill Magill · 24-03-2013 10:58AM

In a fight? I'd go for the Times, well known for being hard

Cee-Jay-Cee · 24-03-2013 11:00AM

newmug wrote: »

PAH!!, I've spilled my tea! By whose standards did reading a broadsheet equate with intelligence?

You need to be intelligent to be able to open it up, fold it straight down the middle and then bend it in half. Then you need über intelligence to be able to figure out where the front page is and which way to turn it so that you open up the next page and not the previous one. It's all very complicated and not for the thick and stupid folk, that's why they get The Sun or The Star which have nice colorful pictures and simple words like 'tits' and 'cat'

osarusan · 24-03-2013 11:01AM

The Indo is just a joke of a rag that will print anything at all that's controversial. Apart from some of the sports coverage , it's a tabloid.

The Irish Times at least makes an attempt to report objectively and comment rationally on what's happening in the world. Ironically, some of the sports coverage is the worst thing about it, apart from John Waters.

DEFTLEFTHAND · 24-03-2013 11:03AM

Skill Magill wrote: »

In a fight? I'd go for the Times, well known for being hard

You sound like a made guy, A friend of ours yes?

Made men read broadsheets, the crime reporting is matter of fact and not sensationalized.

opinion guy · 24-03-2013 11:09AM

Indo is a right wing rag.

IT can occasionally be a rag and occasionally right wing but usually makes a fair effort to include some actual journalism. Don't know why they give John Waters a column however - I think its sort of a troll element - allow him to wind people up so they write in letters

Amirani · 24-03-2013 11:09AM

My impression was always that the Indo was favoured by more conservative readers, the Times by the more liberal. There's definitely a distinction in their journalism in that sense too.

Legs.Eleven · 24-03-2013 11:11AM

newmug wrote: »

I don't read either regularly. Whenever I do, I see hardly any difference between them, but there seems to be a disproportionate rivalry between them. If, as you say, the Indo is a rag and the TIT is quality, then surely its like comparing a Kia to a Merc? So where is this rivalry coming from?

The rivalry for readership, I'm presuming.

wendell borton · 24-03-2013 11:12AM

The times is owned by a trust so it isn't in the thrall of shareholders like the indo. Historically the times was seen as unionist and the indo blueshirt.

Benny_Cake · 24-03-2013 11:15AM

opinion guy wrote: »

Indo is a right wing rag.

IT can occasionally be a rag and occasionally right wing but usually makes a fair effort to include some actual journalism. Don't know why they give John Waters a column however - I think its sort of a troll element - allow him to wind people up so they write in letters

I've a feeling that visitor numbers to their website spike every time John Waters writes an article. Kevin Myers used to play a similar role.

efb · 24-03-2013 11:22AM

The Indo is in a fight with The Daily Fail for 'middle-ireland's' right.

newmug · 24-03-2013 11:23AM

wendell borton wrote: »

The times is owned by a trust so it isn't in the thrall of shareholders like the indo. Historically the times was seen as unionist and the indo blueshirt.

NOW we're getting places! WHY was the TIT considered to be unionist, and WHY was the indo considered blueshirt?

IsaacWunder · 24-03-2013 11:24AM

The Indo is owned by Denis O'Brien, a man who is perceived by some to be a bit too close to Fine Gael.

It used to be owned by Tony O'Reilly, a man who was perceived by some to be a bit too close to Fianna Fáil, especially Bertie Ahern.

The Irish Times isn't owned by any media barron. It's funded by a trust.

anncoates · 24-03-2013 11:25AM

newmug wrote: »

PAH!!, I've spilled my tea!

You may need a new mug.

checkyabadself · 24-03-2013 01:01PM

The IT is Ireland`s paper of record like the New York Times in America or The Times in the UK.

The Independent is an ironically named paper that has cover to cover opinion pages. The IT can be seen as boring as they reprint a lot of articles from the Guardian and Reuters, but I prefer to read plain and somewhat cold boring fact than the Ind practically telling me how I should be feeling about what I`m reading.

I hate the fact that so much of the Independent`s readership don`t realize that it is a right wing newspaper with a huge FF/now FG agenda and that the Ind can dedicate huge front page pictures to pictures of "lovely girls" at a horse racing event as being considered national interest.

I love the IT but as has been previously been said John Waters is an excruciating individual who should write for the Ind a la Kevin Myers and Sarah Carey.........Who does he eat lunch with in the canteen?

efb · 24-03-2013 01:07PM

checkyabadself wrote: »

The IT is Ireland`s paper of record like the New York Times in America or The Independent in the UK.

The Independent is an ironically named paper that has cover to cover opinion pages. The IT can be seen as boring as they reprint a lot of articles from the Guardian and Reuters, but I prefer to read plain and somewhat cold boring fact than the Ind practically telling me how I should be feeling about what I`m reading.

I hate the fact that so much of the Independent`s readership don`t realize that it is a right wing newspaper with a huge FF/now FG agenda and that the Ind can dedicate huge front page pictures to pictures of "lovely girls" at a horse racing event as being considered national interest.

I love the IT but as has been previously been said John Waters is an excruciating individual who should write for the Ind a la Kevin Myers and Sarah Carey.........Who does he eat lunch with in the canteen?

I presumed he just faxed his piece in from Iona Towers...

Duck Soup · 24-03-2013 01:20PM

It's also largely a rural vs. city split. I have a female friend from Kilkenny, well educated, who grew up reading the Indo and still does to this day. (You're not going to read the death notice of your Auntie Assumpta in the feckin' IT, after all).

Her Dublin boyfriend used to have conniptions every time she took it out to read in some south Dublin café. He thought it was embarrassing. She thought he should gwayandshoite.

cson · 24-03-2013 01:55PM

Whatever about the differences in their daily editions, the difference between the Sunday versions of both papers is absolutely mammoth.

If I was to properly outline what I think of the Sindo on this board, I'd be banned. The benchmark in tasteless gutter journalism.

Grayson · 24-03-2013 01:55PM

I've found there are two factors that you can use to distinguish whether a paper is good or not.

1) Does it have horoscopes? If it does, they should remove the "news" from the "newspaper".

2) How good is the crossword.

The IT has a good crossword and the Indo doesn't. The indo also has horoscopes.

Therefore, the Indo is a rag.

osarusan · 24-03-2013 02:07PM

cson wrote: »

Whatever about the differences in their daily editions, the difference between the Sunday versions of both papers is absolutely mammoth.

What Sunday version of the Irish Times?

Ando's Saggy Bottom · 24-03-2013 02:14PM

cson wrote: »

Whatever about the differences in their daily editions, the difference between the Sunday versions of both papers is absolutely mammoth.

If I was to properly outline what I think of the Sindo on this board, I'd be banned. The benchmark in tasteless gutter journalism.

+1 on the Sindo being a joke. Newsprint version of Hello magazine which keeps us up to date on where the cast of Dublin Housewives decided to show their botox laden grimaces this week.

nlgbbbblth · 24-03-2013 02:17PM

cson wrote: »

Whatever about the differences in their daily editions, the difference between the Sunday versions of both papers is absolutely mammoth.

If I was to properly outline what I think of the Sindo on this board, I'd be banned. The benchmark in tasteless gutter journalism.

There's no Sunday version of The Irish Times.

The Sunday Times is overrated anyway - The Observer is much better.

aquaman · 24-03-2013 02:23PM

If one regularly reads both and can't tell the difference between the indo and times, they should probably just stick to the indo. Or just buy the star and stop pretending to be interested in factual unbiased news.

Indo v Times?

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