October 18-19 DUBLIN - The 12th Cleraun Media Conference will focus on issues related to public service broadcasting, investigative journalism, and reporting on Islam and ethnic minorities.
MediaGuardian 100 - annual guide to the most powerful people in the industry based on their cultural, economic and political influence in the UK (The Guardian, 14/07/08).
‘Dambé – The Mali Project’ to open at Light House (IFTN, 10/07/08) Director Dearbhla Glynn: "Mali is among the five poorest countries in the world, yet it is one of the richest historically, socially and culturally.”
Dublin gets its own ’you’ tube(Irish Independent, 10/07/08) After securing a licence in 2006, Dublin Community Television (DCTV) will be formally unveiled by Communications Minister Eamon Ryan next Wednesday
A brave new worldwide web (Guardian, 07/07/08) "You could spend 12 months making a documentary and releasing it, and having your moment in the sun about something that may no longer be in the news cycle any more. Or you can spend 24 hours to put together a short viral video which can actually make a difference" - Robert Greenwald, Brave New Films’ founder
Application deadline for SIGNATURES is Friday 15th August Signatures is a new short film scheme for the making of live-action, fiction films that act as a proving-ground for Irish creative talents aspiring to write, direct and produce films for the cinema.
Viewers will call the shots in TV revolution (irish Independent, 19/06/08), Ireland is emerging as a force in the evolution of home entertainment, where viewers can be their own producers
SDGI To Showcase Irish Director The Screen Directors Guild of Ireland, in association with the Directors Guild of America, is seeking applications for the 4th Annual Directors Finders Series 2008 (IFTN, 29/05/08).
Irish Film Channel Gets Go Ahead Ireland’s new digital free-to-air film channel, proposed by the Irish Film Board, has been greenlit amid questions by the sector on the channel’s funding, programming and scheduling along with the impact this will have on new projects being funded by the Board (IFTN, 22/05/08).
African Directors at DKIT Reel Africa Fest African directors John Barker (Bunny Chow) and Jeta Amata (The Amazing Grace), along with English actor Nick Moran (The Amazing Grace, Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels) attended The Reel Africa Film Festival in Dundalk Institute of Technology in May. (IFTN, 19/05/08).
Irish Filmmaker Wins North California Emmy Irish filmmaker Niall McKay has scooped an Emmy for his documentary ‘Sikhs in America’ at the 37th Annual North California Emmy Awards (IFTN, 19/05/08).
Trust just got busted It’s no good blaming the media. We are all guilty of hypocrisy and to feign otherwise is simply crass (Guardian, 19/05/08). See also: Can You Trust the Media? Adrian Monck, Mike Hanley (Icon, May 8, 2008).
Bridging a cultural Gulf promises a new media era in Middle East (The Times, 15/05/08). The past two years have seen the beginnings of a transformation in media in the Gulf, helped by rulers willing to risk a hands-off approach towards English-language television and, now, from newspapers.
Documentaries Wanted The frontline club is looking for documentaries to screen at the club. If you are a filmmaker or would like to recommend a documentary please email: phil.brown@frontlineclub.com
John Walsh – Composer Q&A IFTN talks to composer John Walsh about his latest work on the Climate Change adverts, currently broadcasting on Irish television and his experience working on original scores for film, television and commercials (01/05/08).
Jobs gloom on market debut of Thomson Reuters Jobs could be cut within weeks at the newly formed Thomson Reuters, it emerged yesterday as the company made its stock market debut in London, New York and Toronto (The Times, 18/04/08). The Thomson Corporation and Reuters Group PLC have combined to form Thomson Reuters.
Sights and Sounds Africa, 2008 call for photographs KADE and Clubheadbangbang invite amateurs and professionals alike to submit images that offer a positive portrayal of Africa, urban or rural. This event will be part of the nationwide Africa Day campaign, funded by Irish Aid. The aim of the event is to challenge perceptions of Africa and promote a more comprehensive understanding of the diverse culture that springs from this vast continent, which encompasses 53 countries. More details. Deadline: Friday, May 2.
EsoDoc - European Social Documentary is an EU's Media Plus training initiative that encourages documentary film makers to work in the areas of human rights, social justice and environmental protection, particularly in the developing world. EsoDoc offers three 1-week sessions held over a 6-month period, during which participants, either individually or in groups, develop a documentary film project. Workshops will take place between May and October. Closing date for applications: 18 March.
Newspapers are dead or dying, we are told. Why, then, is Rupert Murdoch, the most successful media proprietor in the world, investing £650m in state-of-the-art presses to print the Sunday Times, Sun, Times and News of the World? (Independent, 10/03/08)
Irish Documentaries Wanted For Guth Gafa Fest. The Guth Gafa Documentary Film Festival is seeking Irish entries for the third annual festival, which takes place from 15th-18th May 2008 in Gort an Choirce, County Donegal.
Light House Cinema Re-Opens in May. The Light House Cinema is set to re-open its doors in the new venue of Smithfield Square, Dublin on May 9th, 2008 (IFTN, 06/03/08).
Special report on International Women's Day On Friday, March 7, the Irish Times is publishing a special report on International Women's Day (which falls on the following day, March 8). The feature will celebrate the role played by women today’s society – not least in business and politics. It will chart the history, work and future of leading women charity organisations across the world addressing key issues affecting women worldwide. The report will also look at key events held across the country to inspire women and celebrate their achievements. Contact Ruth Mckee: rmckee@irish-times.ie or + 353 (1) 873 4249.
For some of the events taking place around International Women's Day see the Diary.
Readers prefer gardening to sex 'Once I stopped being a newspaper editor, I began to notice a discrepancy between the sorts of things journalists were interested in and what their readers liked. Journalists like crime and politics and sex. Readers care about gardening and, as it turns out, singing. Journalists like crime and politics and sex. Readers care about gardening and, as it turns out, singing.' (Independent on Sunday, 24/2/08)
Beware of imitations (Reporting suicide) Bad news must be told. But freedom of speech is compatible with tact (Economist, 21/2/08). Comment: People benefit from knowing general information about suicide: Who does it? How common is it? How to prevent it? What impact does it have on family and friends? Focussing on these issues, particularly the impact on those left behind is more likely to have a positive effect than focussing on the individual who died (which inevitably invites empathy, and potentially imitation for those who strongly identity). 'Bad news must be told' is an obvious overstatement: editors don't ordinarily select the good or bad news to tell out or, equally importantly, how to tell it out of a sense of public duty.
Discovery Channel pushes the envelope From 3pm on February 16, the Discovery Channel showed five consecutive hours of (apparently different episodes of) "Deadliest Catch: Lobstermen". For hardcore fans of crustacean catches, a further 1hr50m of "Deadliest Catch" (following Alaskan crews in pursuit of the prized red king crab rather than lobsters) was to be shown well after the 9pm watershed.
No topic is so surrounded by myth as the golden age of the press, Simon Jenkins (Guardian, 11/2/08). Related: - Our media have become mass producers of distortion, Nick Davies (Guardian, 4/2/08) and How the spooks took over the news, Nick Davies (Independent, 11/2/08). Davies is the author of the just published book, Flat Earth News. - Kamal Ahmed: ’Nick is a coward’. Ahmed bites back (Independent, 11/2/08). The former political editor of ’The Observer’ has been accused of complicity with the Government over his paper’s stance on Iraq. - Is journalism getting a fair press in this book? Dan Sabbagh (The Times, 8/2/08) - Campbell’s media critique is only half the story Peter Wilby (Guardian, 4/2/08). Wilby writes: The Northern Rock debacle has led to proposals for "narrow banking", whereby some banks would just look after your money for modest rates of interest without doing anything fancy or risky with it. Perhaps somebody could start a paper that carries only "narrow news". Every statement would be rigorously checked and attributed to named sources. Its journalists would never speak to PRs and use press releases only if they could corroborate the contents from other sources. Editors would apply some kind of test to distinguish the important from the trivial. - Alastair Campbell: The Cudlipp Lecture (Independent, 29/1/08)
Snub for Sarkozy news channel plans The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, may be forced to shelve his radical plans to launch an international news channel after Francophone broadcasters refused to play ball. Sarkozy also surprised journalists by announcing his plans to drop all advertising from French public service channels. Citing the BBC as his model, Sarkozy said he wanted to improve the quality of public service television in France (Guardian, 23/1/08).
Empires rise again on the news-stands of India From Associated Press’s new daily to Rupert Murdoch’s ambitions for ’The Wall Street Journal’, international newspaper groups see rich rewards in the subcontinent (Independent, 6/1/08).
Ruadhán Mac Cormaic scoops up anti-discrimination journalism award Mr Ruadhán Mac Cormaic, migration correspondent for the Irish Times, was named the winner of the "For Diversity. Against Discrimination" Journalism Award 2007. Commenting on the selection of Ruadhán Mac Cormaic’s article, ‘The Hidden World of Sex Traffickers’, Niall Crowley, Chief Executive of the Equality Authority and Chairperson of the Irish Jury said that the jury chose Ruadhán's article as the Irish national winner because of its insightful investigation and exposure of the issue of trafficking of women. Mac Cormaic said that "At the time of writing, Ireland was the only EU state not to have a law against human trafficking. And because of this, there is no way to gauge the extent of the problem” (4/12/07).
George scolds the media after Ocean’s two awarded peace prize George Clooney scolded the media for lavishing attention on a white British teacher who faced a whipping and prison in Sudan while largely ignoring the suffering of millions of refugees in the western Sudanese region of Darfur.
Special report on World AIDS Day The Irish Times is publishing a special report on World AIDS Day, 1st December. Contact Dermot Tierney: dtierney@irish-times.ie or 01 873 4233. For events around World AIDS Day see the Diary.
Survey of Media Freedom across Europe The Association of European Journalists (AEJ) has published its first ever Survey of Media Freedom across Europe, entitled Goodbye to Freedom? [.DOC] It was debated at the Media Freedom Workshop on 10 November during the AEJ’s 2007 Congress in Dublin. Read Paul Gillespie’s report in the Irish Times. He asks "For whom is journalism meant to be? For whom is it actually?" (17/11/07).
RTE Radio 1 invite applications for programme ideas RTE Radio 1 is asking Independent Producers to email programme ideas for broadcast early on Saturday mornings in 2008. Closing date for applications is Friday 19th October after which RTE Radio 1 will take one week to look through the ideas and request further information/full treatment for the ones the station is interested in.
As a base for ideas, the working title of the series is "Private Passions", twelve independently made 30 minute programmes for transmission at 7.30am on Saturday mornings. RTE Radio 1’s hope is that these programmes would be produced by 12 different Independent Producers. Independent producers should email ideas directly to ana.leddy@rte.ie , marking the subject:"Pilot Independent Commissioning."
New Irish Newspaper launched: The African Voice The African Voice is a new national newspaper, established with the aim of promoting cultural diversity and integration in Ireland. The newspaper particularly focuses on African and African-Irish people in Ireland, along with more general news coverage.
New African Press-release service APPA-SOURCE- The African News Source launched. The Panafrican Press Association (APPA) has launched the first database of press releases relating to Africa. More...RSS
Darfur deaths advertising complaint In August, the UK Advertising Standards Authority upheld a challenge by the European Sudanese Public Affairs Council (ESPAC) to a Save Darfur Coalition advert claim that "400,000 innocent men, women and children have been killed". (Comment: ESPAC is an organisation that appears to be sympathetic to the Sudanese government.) Aid worker, Conor Foley, has been criticised (04/09/07) for publicising the ruling (17/08/07) in the Guardian.
Photographer Ivor Prickett from Fermoy, Co. Cork wins the Ian Parry Scholarship (07/2007) Ian Parry was a photojournalist who died whilst on assignment for The Sunday Times during the Romanian revolution in 1989. He was just 24 years old. The scholarship was set up by his friends and family in order to build something positive from such a tragic death.
New MA in International Journalism DIT is launching a new MA in International Journalism this September, intended for students who have not majored in journalism at undergraduate level. There are still a few remaining places available (as of 19/07/07).
RTÉ announces details of 6 new trial DAB radio stations RTÉ announced (12 June 2007) details of six new trial digital radio stations, designed to bring wider choice to listeners on digital radio.
One of the six is RTÉ Digital Radio News: 'Provided by RTÉ News and Current Affairs RTÉ Digital Radio News is a rolling news bulletin station, with all of the top national and international news stories at the touch of a button provided by RTÉ News and Current Affairs.'
Later this summer, RTÉ Choice 'will bring listeners a day-time choice of comedy, documentaries, vintage shows, music, international programming and well known presenters broadcasting at alternative times.'
’Witnessing the Pandemic’ critically examines two decades of Irish newspaper coverage of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, drawing on an exhaustive audit of coverage of the disease in the Irish Independent and The Irish Times from June 1981 (the earliest recognition of AIDS) to December 2001, and a series of interviews with journalists, editors, NGO staff and Ministers for Overseas Development.
The book argues that despite recognition in the mid-1980s of the severity of the African pandemic, Irish newspapers failed to cover HIV/AIDS in Africa to any great extent or in any real depth for the first 20 years of the disease’s existence. Like most other European and North American media, the focus in HIV/AIDS reporting was parochial with little attention given to the apocalypse unfolding in sub-Saharan Africa. The lack of coverage of HIV/AIDS in Africa is established and the reasons for this neglect are discussed with Irish journalists and editors including Conor Brady (former editor at The Irish Times), Michael Wolsey (former news editor at the Irish Independent), Peter Murtagh, Paul Cullen, Eilish O’Regan and others, with US-based Pulitzer-prize winning journalists, Laurie Garrett and Barton Gellman, and former Ministers for Development Joan Burton TD and Liz O’Donnell among others.
’Witnessing the Pandemic’ provides a valuable historical record of how Irish newspapers covered HIV/AIDS at home and abroad, and offers some suggestions for how issues like this can be addressed in the future.
New NUJ Guidelines for reporting HIV In April, the NUJ released guidelines for reporting HIV [pdf]. Aimed at journalists and PR professionals, they give a thorough introduction to the nature of HIV (less information is provided on AIDS). The NUJ recommends finding out more information on the HIV epidemic in the particular country or region which is being reported on and in which the report will be read. For example, in sub-Saharan Africa the epidemic began mainly through heterosexual sex and HIV continues to be transmitted mainly heterosexually.
The Media and Children’s Rights Commissioned by UNICEF and based on the practical experience of working journalists, The Media and Children’s Rights resource is an attempt to assist media professionals and others to consider how the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child might impact upon the way children are represented in and by the media.
