Newstalk Henry McKean?

Arpa · 11-07-2013 03:02PM #1

Henry McKean. You know the chap. Did the childbirth experience for Newstalk recently.

Although initially likeable something irks me about him and I want to get other peoples views.

34 years old, born in Cambridge but has lived in Ireland for the past 20 years. So when he was 14 he moved here. Don't know the full bio, not much info.
Yet he has this "Rather" English accent. Fine.

What I'm really trying to discover is...

He regularly does vox pops for Newstalk. Usually interviewing the odd "howiyah" flower-seller sort. He even did a TV3 show "The truth about travellers".
Given that and coupled with his British accent, I immediately thought he was being very clever in taking the pis*...never straying too far into actually making fun of people and always keeping on the side of journalistic interest. Somewhat like Louis Theroux.

However after seeing an interview with him on BBC, I have started to disbelieve that he is actually bluffing about being a bit dim and is in fact...a bit dim. What comes across as a feigned naivety in his reports I know think is actually because he is a bit naive... I am confused because usually journalists who interview 'certain strands of society' and who also have that middle class English accent seem to be surrepticious and nefarious in their objective.

Now, after delving a bit more, I think he's just a bit of a dim reporter who happens to have a British "posh" accent who paid for a Journalism degree from griffith College and blagged a job even though he's not very savvy in his field. But maybe I'm wrong and I'm missing something. Maybe Henry is in fact a suave reporter and has fooled me.

I ask you AH, because I'm teetering on my opinion of him and don't want to nail it shut in case I'm missing something.

Tell me please or else just go sunbathe.

Celly Smunt · 11-07-2013 03:07PM

Ah he's alright.

mikom · 11-07-2013 03:08PM

Arpa wrote: »

Somewhat like Louis Theroux.

Never mention Henry McKean and Louis Theroux in the same post again please.

Menas · 11-07-2013 03:10PM

He seems all right to me. A dim reporter on newstalk would be an Einstein on 98fm.

iDave · 11-07-2013 03:12PM

Arpa wrote: »

paid for a Journalism degree from griffith College .

hahaha, dont say that directly to a GCD grad/under grad it really irks them. they might even tell their Daddys on you!

ScumLord · 11-07-2013 03:13PM

I've never really put that much thought into him, his on the radio for a few minutes a day. Bottom line is I don't care either way.

Celly Smunt · 11-07-2013 03:14PM

iDave wrote: »

hahaha, dont say that directly to a GCD grad/under grad it really irks them. they might even tell their Daddys on you!

Ah there's just something wrong with paying for arts degrees.

becost · 11-07-2013 03:18PM

Arpa wrote: »

Henry McKean. You know the chap. Did the childbirth experience for Newstalk recently.

Although initially likeable something irks me about him and I want to get other peoples views.

34 years old, born in Cambridge but has lived in Ireland for the past 20 years. So when he was 14 he moved here. Don't know the full bio, not much info.
Yet he has this "Rather" English accent. Fine.

What I'm really trying to discover is...

He regularly does vox pops for Newstalk. Usually interviewing the odd "howiyah" flower-seller sort. He even did a TV3 show "The truth about travellers".
Given that and coupled with his British accent, I immediately thought he was being very clever in taking the pis*...never straying too far into actually making fun of people and always keeping on the side of journalistic interest. Somewhat like Louis Theroux.

However after seeing an interview with him on BBC, I have started to disbelieve that he is actually bluffing about being a bit dim and is in fact...a bit dim. What comes across as a feigned naivety in his reports I know think is actually because he is a bit naive... I am confused because usually journalists who interview 'certain strands of society' and who also have that middle class English accent seem to be surrepticious and nefarious in their objective.

Now, after delving a bit more, I think he's just a bit of a dim reporter who happens to have a British "posh" accent who paid for a Journalism degree from griffith College and blagged a job even though he's not very savvy in his field. But maybe I'm wrong and I'm missing something. Maybe Henry is in fact a suave reporter and has fooled me.

I ask you AH, because I'm teetering on my opinion of him and don't want to nail it shut in case I'm missing something.

Tell me please or else just go sunbathe.

So do tons of south-side Dubliners who were born and grew up here.

**Vai** · 11-07-2013 03:22PM

Cant stand listening to his vox pops. Always turn the radio off when they start.

Im sure hes a nice fella but hes no Louis Theroux.

Arpa · 11-07-2013 03:25PM

**Vai** wrote: »

Cant stand listening to his vox pops. Always turn the radio off when they start.

Im sure hes a nice fella but hes no Louis Theroux.

Nah didn't mean they are even in the same league but what I believe he's tyring to do is use his naive English Cambridge persona to infiltrate the marginal parts of society.

What has me confused is...is he doing that...or is he just actually naive?

AnonoBoy · 11-07-2013 03:27PM

How dare someone who grew up in Cambridge have an English accent!

Owenw · 11-07-2013 03:27PM

Maybe it's because he comes across as affable and non-judgemental that gets those personal insights with absolute strangers where a seemingly cynical journo would be told to sling their hook?

I think his investigations suit the lighthearted tone of the Moncrief show.

His accent doesn't annoy me half a much as, for instance, Miriam O' Callahan's 'dortspeak' drawl.

Karl Stein · 11-07-2013 03:28PM

Seems like an affable enough sorta guy. Don't think about it too much.

Celly Smunt · 11-07-2013 03:29PM

Moncreiff goes through my brain sometimes yet I always listen,I like getting the odd dinner tip off Paolo when he's on though.

aphex™ · 11-07-2013 03:30PM

Cathal Cloch wrote: »

Seems like an affable enough sorta guy. Don't think about it too much.

Exactly. Why start a thread about it? None of the issues mentioned in the OP add up to anything, at all.

mike65 · 11-07-2013 03:36PM

I find his 'happy clappy' annoying but that's part of his media shtick I think. All media types end up adopting a persona to some degree or other (just as boards users do).

Lady Chatterton · 11-07-2013 03:38PM

Henry reminds me of a younger version of RTE's Paddy O'Gorman.

I Heart Internet · 11-07-2013 03:40PM

mike65 wrote: »

I find his 'happy clappy' annoying but that's part of his media shtick I think. All media types end up adopting a persona to some degree or other (just as boards users do).

Classic mike65 post right there.

Stone Deaf 4evr · 11-07-2013 03:41PM

MrsD007 wrote: »

Henry reminds me of a younger version of RTE's Paddy O'Gorman.

now there's a weirdo, he'd go up to a gang of travellers or some such and be saying things like "and why are ye doing such and such - ye're very beautiful girls"

mike65 · 11-07-2013 03:42PM

mike65 wrote: »

I find his 'happy clappy' annoying but that's part of his media shtick I think. All media types end up adopting a persona to some degree or other (just as boards users do).

MrsD007 wrote: »

Henry reminds me of a younger version of RTE's Paddy O'Gorman.

MrsD007 is a good example - I now associate her with the exquisite Audrey Hepburn and golden age Hollywood when she could look like and have the table manners of Mrs Brown.

conorhal · 11-07-2013 03:44PM

He's the broadcasting equivelent of navel lint, harmless lightweight fluff.

Arpa · 11-07-2013 03:48PM

aphex™ wrote: »

Exactly. Why start a thread about it? None of the issues mentioned in the OP add up to anything, at all.

Alright...don't get your knickers in a twist.

Why start a thread about it? - Because I had a thought, I have a keyboard and a brain. Put those together and you have a means of communication. Starting a thread is my prerogative...commenting on it is yours.

My post didn't add up to anything? - Read it again. It's probably a bit verbose but essentially I'm asking is Henry McKean using his faux naive Cambridge accent to play dumb and win the confidence of his subjects or is he actually a little naive himself and is conducting things in honesty...

padd b1975 · 11-07-2013 03:48PM

AnonoBoy wrote: »

How dare someone who grew up in Cambridge have an English accent!

Coming over here with their accents and........eh.........sounding English!

SEPT 23 1989 · 11-07-2013 03:54PM

the black and khaki outfits he sports are a bit much

expectationlost · 11-07-2013 04:23PM

his accent and tone make him sound incredibly condescending, and don't think its just the accent

harry Bailey esq · 11-07-2013 04:26PM

ah he's not the worst of them to be fair,i actually like the voxpops sometimes.today he had some clown on that was drinking out on the beach.the junkies make me laugh,occasionally he finds a smackhead philosopher with amazing intellect and wit.his Saturday morning show is a pile of arse though.

sadie06 · 11-07-2013 04:37PM

I think it's an interesting question. I like Henry, and while I agree that his accent is probably disarming, and encourages people to chat to him, I think it is his non-judgemental attitude that is his real calling card as a journalist.

What was the content of the piece that made you feel he was a bit 'dim'?

Teyla Emmagan · 11-07-2013 04:42PM

I quite like his pieces, there's no subterfuge about them. He seems to be a genuinely nice fella, though I have had the dim suspicions once or twice about him as well. But at the same time, he's still smarter than 90% of people in radio.

**Vai** · 11-07-2013 04:44PM

expectationlost wrote: »

his accent and tone make him sound incredibly condescending, and don't think its just the accent

That is very true. He also seems to find the dregs of society to interview. Maybe that's for entertainment purposes but I don't find scum bragging about how much they are drinking in the sunny weather to be very entertaining.

Sunhill · 11-07-2013 04:55PM

Have to tune out when he comes on, TBH. Actually Moncrief never seems to have managed to lose the accent he picked up in the Tech and when he is introducing his roving reporter he makes the name sound like 'Henry Mickeen' so I always thought he was from West Cork.

dd972 · 11-07-2013 05:45PM

becost wrote: »

So do tons of south-side Dubliners who were born and grew up here.

It's a curious accent as well, as English as humanly possible yet still an Irish accent.

Henry McKean's accent isn't as bad as Pat Dolan's dreadful Estuary English dirge though.

Newstalk Henry McKean?

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