Today’s Sunday Business Post features an article I wrote on the upcoming DTT trial and the possible inclusion of British and European broadcasters in it:

Ireland’s DTT (digital terrestrial television) trial may include a number of British television channels alongside Irish broadcasters when it starts later this year, The Sunday Business Post can reveal.

The Department for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, which is in charge of the project, is looking for applications for the provision of visual, audio and interactive content for the two-year trial, which is due to start in autumn.

Documentation published by the department (.doc file) states that all providers must have the relevant licences to broadcast their content when the trial begins.

This was originally considered to apply only to Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) radio and television licences. However a spokesman for the department confirmed that broadcasters licensed in any jurisdiction covered by the Television Without Frontiers directive would also have to meet the requirements for the purpose of the trial.

This means that television broadcasters from any EU state are free to apply and, if successful, provide content to DTT viewers in Ireland.

As an application process is still taking place, it is unclear what channels will feature on the trial. However, Ireland’s four terrestrial stations – RTE1, RTE2, TV3 and TG4 – are guaranteed to be carried. It is expected that the country’s other national channels – Setanta Sports and Channel 6 – will also apply. Both of these stations are available on cable or digital networks only.

After the trial is completed in 2008 it is expected that a national DTT network will be constructed to carry the service to all Irish homes. While the upcoming trial will only be available to viewers in Dublin and Louth, it is expected to form the basis of any future service, so early involvement could give broadcasters an advantage in the coming years.

When asked if UTV intended to make an application to the trial, a spokesman said that the station was currently ‘‘investigating the requirements’’.

The channel is regulated in the North by British broadcasting watchdog Ofcom, but is available to about 60 per cent of homes in the Republic via cable. It has also put significant resources into expanding its viewership across the island in recent years.

The inclusion of UTV in the trial could create issues for TV3, however, as both stations provide largely similar content.

TV3 has in the past fought attempts by UTV to become available on the Sky Digital electronic programming guide in Ireland, as it felt it could damage its rating figures and advertising revenue.

British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) was also unable to confirm its plans for DTT in Ireland. ‘‘We note the recent publication by the Department of Communications in respect to the possible DTT trial and we are currently reviewing our options,” said a spokesman for the company.

BSkyB is already involved with British DTT service Freeview and broadcasts Sky News, Sky Sports News and Sky Three across that network.

Should the company take part in an Irish version of Freeview it is possible that a similar service would be provided.

BSkyB has also taken a bigger interest in Irish viewers in recent years, most notably with the broadcaster’s Ireland-focused daily news programme on its rolling news network.

Theoretically, other EU broadcasters could also apply.

Poland’s TVP network is already watched by many foreign nationals in the country and is now being carried by Magnet Entertainment in its Polish package.

When the trial commences, the department will provide 1,000 digital television set-top boxes to selected viewers as part of its testing. Feedback from these viewers will be used to judge if the trial is successful or not and will provide information to help decide what changes need to be made before a national launch.

Anyone in the broadcast area with their own equipment will also be able to receive the broadcasts, however they will not be included in the official test.

The move is common sense, the viability of a 6 station (RTÉ One & Two, TV3, TG4, Setanta and Channel 6) DTT service along with radio stations is somewhat unappealing, the inclusion of at least some of the UK services would likely increase interest, especially if the cost base of the service is the same as in Britain.
It also opens corridors for channels of interest to foreign nationals in the country too which is sure to be mutually beneficial for the Irish Government, the public and the stations in question.

In the midst of the recent statutory rape debacle it was noted that Michael McDowell was quite keen on protecting himself, stating that he would be proven to have acted correctly once the dust had settled.

In today’s Irish Times McDowell again asserts his righteousness and claims that the recent Supreme Court ruling on the Mr. A case was justification of his stance, the stance of his Department and that of our Government. Like all things in politics, however you should pay attention to what the politicians are not saying more than you pay to what they are.

McDowell claims that after the Supreme Court ruling he undertook a process of drafting a new law; he then says that this was difficult considering the “rising media-driven and opposition-led for emergency legislation”, he then goes on to say that “no media coverage of any kind was given to the points I made in the Seanad in relation to the State’s appeal which was then still awaiting its hearing in the Supreme Court on the following Friday.”

It’s quite easy to get paranoid when everyone is against you, but a quick search finds that The Irish Times for one did cover McDowell’s speech in the Seanad, odly enough in it’s Seanad Report section on the 1st of June 2006; the day after McDowell spoke there;

Minister for Justice Michael McDowell said it was planned to introduce emergency measures before this weekend to restore the protection of persons under 17 in terms of statutory prohibition of the offence of unlawful carnal knowledge.

It was proposed to meet the Supreme Court’s concerns about the 1935 Act on admitting arguments of mistaken belief about the age of victims. He had been contacted last week by the Ombudsman for Children who had argued against a change in the law.

The rest can be read here (subs req.).

There is no doubt that there was a media-frenzy to some degree however McDowell is purposely paying attention to the tabloids and ignoring the more sensible approach of other media outlets, including the one that has given him another platform.

It is also interesting to note that McDowell hangs himself to some degree, criticising the opposition and media-led calls for emergency legislation, which were cries that he very quickly conceeded to. Has he not got the integrity to withstand such opposition if he knows it is for the good of the country? Of course not; again he saw the potential for a de-motion and did the popular thing (that is if your definition of popular is what is being shouted the loudest), not the right thing.

McDowell proceeds with a list of myths that he wants to dispell;

That the Law Reform Commission warned of the unconstitutionality of the law in 1991. Not true.

I don’t know who said it was unconstitutional but as McDowell well knows only one body can make that claim, the supreme court; all others can only allude to this fact. An LRC report actually stated “The absence of any defence to any of the relevant offences of reasonable mistake as to the age of the girl is capable of producing serious injustice, particularly where the age of the girl is close to the age of consent.” and “The law can be said to be unfairly discriminatory between the sexes, since only males can, for example, be convicted of gross indecency or of unlawful carnal knowledge under s2 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1935 where the girl is over 15 but under 17″ and “The age limits by reference to which certain offences are defined or penalties fixed appear to be arbitrary and merit careful re-examination”. It should be pointed out that this was infact in a consultation paper from 1989 (which came before the full report) by the Law Reform Commission and its warnings of potential “serious injustice” is about as far as it can go on matters such as this.
That its report was ignored. Not true.

Perhaps someone could enlighten us as to what was done in that case?

That emergency legislation could have prevented the “CC” case or the “A” case. Not true.

Only fools assumed that, however had the Department of Justice and AG’s office acted when it was warned again in 2002 then it would have prevented both Mr. A’s brief release and the need for the CC case to have gone to the Supreme Court; both cases occoured after 2002.

That emergency legislation could have kept perpetrators in jail. Not true.

I refer to my last point.

The fact is that McDowell, like other Justice Ministers before knew about the problem and failed to act, most likely because volunteering such an ammendment to the law would have been highly unpopular. This is no excuse however and while others could have acted before (namely in 1991) McDowell was also given sufficient warnings which he failed to heed.

As I said earlier it is worth looking for what is not mentioned rather than what is; in this attempt to shield himself from further criticism McDowell omits the failure of his department and himself to deal with the issue in good time, he also fails to take responsibility for pushing through a law which is legally unsound. He blames the media and the opposition and he claims that he has done no wrong but McDowell knows that he has failed, he just doesn’t want his ego to get any more of a beating than it has already in recent weeks.

The Munster final replay will be simulcast live on RTÉ.ie according to the broadcasters website; the match, which will be the second live sporting event shown on the site is part of a growing push towards internet webcasting in Ireland.

TG4 recently launched its online broadcasting website which shows all of the Gaelic station’s homemade programming live; it also has archives of previous programming which can also be viewed online.

In the coming months RTÉ.ie is set to show live Champions League matches on its website as well as its traditional television network however it is unclear of the broadcaster will make the leap into other forms of programming outside of sport at present.

The introduction of live, online TV threatens to muddy the waters on the issue of TV licences. At present any device capable of recieving a colour TV signal requires a licence however due to modern advancements this could include any PC with an internet connection. A spokesperson for An Post, the authority that enforces TV licencing in Ireland however said that currently over 99% of households in the country already have licences and so those watching online are likely to be covered automatically. It is also unlikely that traditional detection technology used to catch licence-dodgers could work for online broadcasts also.

As an aside; the claim that this will be RTÉ’s first online GAA match is slightly untrue; a match was broadcast online on the 18th of June when they accidently forgot to disconnect the feed showing Charles Haughey’s funeral.

Following on from previous threads and in light of the story doing the rounds on Associated’s losses in its Irish operations, once has to ask what the company needs to do to bag readers and most importantly, turn a profit?

The era of the DVD/CD giveaway has been an interesting one and while the original buzz over it has died down it is still a fixture of the (Ireland) on Sunday among other publications; The Sunday Independent, for example, has been giving away a series of childrens books over recent weeks in a slightly different take on the same idea. However free giveaways are really just shallow marketing ploys that have failed to transform the readers interest from freebie to content.

The original thought process was that a customer would pick up a paper they had never read before because it had a CD or DVD that appealed to them; once they bought the paper they would realise it spoke to them and so they would buy it from that point on regardless of the prizes inside. Of course it’s a high-risk strategy as giving items away is far from cheap; as it transpired most consumers simply purchased their regular paper to read and the other paper (avec CD) just for the gift, meaning they never even tried to read the one they never bothered with before anyway.
An extension of this marketing technique is the drip-feed approach by which parts of a CD compilation (and more recently a movie) are given over successive weeks to encourage recurring loyalty. This tactic is where The Sunday Independent’s book giveaway had more weight though. It’s one thing to encourage the buyer to pick your product for two or maybe three weeks in a row but its a completely different thing to get them to buy it consistently for months on end. By the time the series of gifts has come to its conclulsion there’s a much higher chance of the consumer developing a habit and picking up the paper anyway, but again it comes with it’s costs and is by no means a proven gamble.
This kind of technique is nothing new, of course. The Sunday newspaper became synonymous with the “periodical” long ago, extracts from a book or autobiography have been given bit by bit, week after week in papers for decades now, maybe longer. Even childrens magazines have always done it with hobby publications offering parts of a DIY figurine or science fun pack included every week or month to ensure loyalty; the difference is that the magazines don’t actually give these items away, the production cost is included in the RRP; however a newspaper cannot fluctuate its price based on its content or bonus features.

The freebie as a tool to instill loyalty has failed because if a consumer is encouraged to buy something for a specific feature they will only buy it as long as that feature is included; so newspapers can either continue to give high-cost gifts away or stop and revert back to their lower readership.

Should Associated wish to pump up its readership it needs to go back to basics; I would not be bold enough to suggest that the company makes the (Ireland) on Sunday or (Irish) Daily Mail a publication of high-repute but a newspaper can be hard-hitting while remaining tabloid.

It’s a point I’ve stressed before and it’s easily lost in translation but the word ‘tabloid’ is a reference to format and not content. In Ireland and the UK it is perhaps a dirty word, made so by red-top rags; it is so dirty infact that to this day The Irish Independent refuses to refer to its smaller print size as tabloid but it is instead “metro”.

Being a tabloid newspaper and even writing in a way that appeals to the LCD can still be achieved when focusing on heavier stories; Paul Williams is one of the countries most respected crime correspondant and his work has often been powerful yet while the topics he covers are serious and hard-hitting the Sunday World is by no means aimed at the up-market reader.
The best way for Associated Newspapers to attract readers is to build a reputation for itself past its complimentary bribes; break some serious exclusives that get people talking and get a staff of journalists that can get information the public need to know. Most importantly the paper needs to understand the market better and cut down on its UK-imports and pointless historical features (the ones that tell us every great man in history was somehow Irish). In other words cut the crap. The fact that both newspapers would be considered right of centre is not really an issue; The Sunday Independent can hardly be considered very liberal at the best of times.
To use a random metaphor, consider Associated’s publications are a fatigued man and a free CD or DVD is like a cup of coffee; it’s a quick and easy way to get a boost but is also extremely short lived; the only way to maintain this boost is to continue your caffine intake and up the ante to bigger and bigger amounts. Improving content on the other hand is like a good nights sleep and a healthy diet; it takes a hell of a lot longer and may even be a bit more expensive at first but in the long run you come out far healthier and more able than before.

The only positive I can give Assoicated Newspapers on the way they currently run things is this; a close family friend was speaking to me about my plans in journalism and remarked to me about the (Ireland) on Sunday; he went on to state; “I get that newspaper every weekend for the simple reason that…”; This, I should add, is where I expected a reference to their CD or DVD giveaways or even their coverage of some issue in perticular that he was interested in, but I was wrong; “I get that newspaper every weekend for the simple reason that it has the best TV guide in the country bar none” he said.

There seems to have been a conscious effort by The Irish Times trust and board of management in recent years to diverge its business interests past the infamous broadsheet that is known up and down the country.

The newspaper probably has one of the best online incarnations in Ireland which not only includes each days newspaper but also has searchable archives which are quite user friendly, breaking news sections and a collection of their special features (such as their special on Haughey at his death). All of this is sadly hindered by the fact that the website is subscription based however once the issue of money is overcome the site is extremely well built.

The newspaper also owns and runs nicemove.ie since 2004, one of many property/job etc. websites in Ireland. They’re not the only newspaper to have such a site; Independent News & Media PLC also has Loadza, a possibly lesser known all-in-one site and recruitireland.com is part of the TCH group.
In recent months, however, the group has made its mark in more traditional media; newspaper and radio. When Associated Newspapers brought the Metro newspaper to Dublin, The Irish Times agreed to print the publication and in doing so took 45% of the companies shares. This was a shrewd move by the group as a publication like the Metro would have little to no effect on its core business, namely The Irish Times. If anything the Metro would prove to be a thorn in the side of that other big Irish daily, The Irish Independent.

In today’s Irish Times Emmet Oliver notes the applications made to the BCI for a new youth service in the North West of the country (subs req). One consortium, listed on the BCI website as Red FM North West, includes The Irish Times as a minority (5%) shareholder; interestingly Thomas Crosbie Holdings is also there with 8%. While the percentage is quite small, radio is an interesting venture for a company known for its daily broadsheet and little else.

As it stands there is little room for movement in the newspaper market in Ireland; The Irish Times is still considered the higher quality daily newspaper and interestingly few seem to want to challenge that. The Irish Independent, (Irish) Daily Mail and to some extend Evening Herald are all pitched in a battle amongst themselves as are the (Irish) Sun, (Irish) Mirror and The Star. The only competition The IT has is from the likes of The Guardian who do give coverage to Irish news but is by no means an Irish edition.

As far as newspapers go, with their shares in Metro, The Irish Times would not move into the tabloid market with a second publication; although it’s unlikely that it ever would have anyway. Notably it is the only publication left on the Irish market that still prints exclusively in the broadsheet format (if you exclude Sunday’s offerings) and has shown resistance to changing its own format even if it didn’t impact on its content.

The only other place The Irish Times trust could go is, of course, Sunday and interestingly when The Tribune went bust after Vincent Browne’s ill-fated attempt to launch a sister paper (The Dublin Tribune) it was rumoured that they were going to pick up the pieces however Independent News & Media swooped in, probably as a precautionary measure.
Today however things are quite different than they were in the late 80’s and early 90’s; The Sunday market is as saturated as the daily one with The Sunday Tribune, Sunday Business Post, (Ireland) on Sunday, Sunday Independent and then The News of The World, The Star on Sunday, Sunday World etc. etc.

Couple that with the fact that the Sunday market is a very different one the dailies and the very public financial trouble The IT has had in recent times and it is unlikely that the trust would attempt such a high risk strategy.

If anything their business ventures recently have been conservative; in both instances they’ve gotten in at the ground up and in one case take a tiny piece of the pie. If they do pay off however, should Metro Ireland becomes profitable and Red FM North West wins the licence and makes some money we are sure to see some increased moves and purchases from the publication. Who knows? Maybe there will be an Irish Sunday Times in a few years although it’s unlikely at this point; there is no single Sunday newspaper that holds the prestige of The Irish Times but that doesn’t mean that the audience is crying out for an alternative just yet. Besides this any new venture in the Irish newspaper market is quickly pressed on by the competition, usually before it even arrives; note the launch of Herald AM in responce to the Metro last year and the shift in direct at The Irish Independent when it was clear that The (Irish) Daily Mail was on its way too.

I have no doubt that The Irish Times could provide a good Sunday newspaper but it would take a lot of study and research and it couldn’t simply be an extension of the daily publication; even with all the right content and marketing there’s still no certainty that it would be a hit either.

Update: A somewhat unexpected move in today’s Irish Times (subs etc.), although not exactly a completely shocking one;

The Irish Times has made an investment in a new women’s magazine publishing group, Gloss Publications, which has been set up by the former managing director of Image Publications, Jane McDonnell.

The company is planning to publish a new title, Gloss, within a few months, aimed at the top end of the women’s magazine market.

The monthly magazine is expected to sell for €4 and to have an initial print run of 30,000 – 35,000 copies.

I’ve always considered the womens magazine market to be very over-crowded; although perhaps more on the lower end than higher… things seems to be moving fast for The IT, perhaps it is all that capital from the D’Olier Street sale.

Ireland.com has information on Fine Gael’s plans to target young people over the course of the summer;

A campaign to encourage more young people to vote was launched today by Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny.

The Young Fine Gael (YFG) initiative will use advertising at summer music festivals to encourage voter registration.

Large billboards on the back of a van will be displayed at events like Electric Picnic and Hi:Fi.

“Decisions are made by those who turn up and Fine Gael wants to ensure that every young person who is eligible to vote can automatically do so”, Mr Kenny said.

Mr Kenny said that his party wants to see automatic voter registration at the age of 18 by using the RSI system.

“The more young people that get involved in politics, even just through the simple act of voting, the better it will be for everyone,” Mr Kenny said.

I’ve spoken before about the need for real engagement by political parties with young people and this campaign at least shows some effort is being made but frankly some bubbly-looking posters will do little in the real world.

One problem here is that this is a Young Fine Gael campaign and not a general Fine Gael one; surely the purpose of a young political spin-off party is to encourage political discourse amongst the underage populous; but once that young person turns 18 they are into the realm of “real” politics with regular political parties? As far as I’m aware Young Fine Gael does not run candidates in any elections so why on Earth is it running an election campaign?

The main issue however is not on minor details like the campaign backers or the “cool” image that they try to portray it is instead the lack of clout a campaign like this has. It’s one thing to tell young people to register to vote but why should they if you cannot give them a real and tangable reason to? Someone aged 18 doesn’t care about pension policy and they certainly don’t care about Household Protection Bills; if anything they’re more concerned with getting a house in the first place, never mind protecting themselves in it.

If Fine Gael really do want to bring in the youth vote (and it is an untapped market that could have huge sway next year) it should state it’s policies that concern young people today, not just the ones that will effect them in 10 or 20 years time. Education, housing, the cost of running a car, career prospects and job security, the cost of living and so on. As I’ve said before, it’s no point in providing young people with radical and popular policies when they visit Young Fine Gael; they’re not the party that will be in Government. Attracting young people with young-friendly policies from Young Fine Gael is a sly marketing tactic that leads people to believe you actually care about youth issues, when the actual politicians have bigger fish to fry.

It’s a nice idea from Fine Gael but it will only prove worthwhile and honest if the party are prepared to speak to the youth of this country, not at them.

Following on from my earlier post and my related article in The Sunday Business Post, I feel I should give my opinion on where blogging will be in the next general election.

Generally I agree with Cian’s belief that politicians in this country are set in their ways and that they will not change too quickly unless they really have to. On that note I don’t believe that Irish bloggers are going to be an issue in the next election nor are they going to be a deciding factor (or even one of many). Blogging is not something that changes minds or policies or redirects the public debate; it works on a much smaller scale than that.

Mulley seems to think that the only chance bloggers have of influence is if they stop slagging each other and present a united front; as I point out in his comments this would make us as disingenuous as the political parties he has little time for. Bloggers are not a political force, they’re not an activist group and they’re not journalists however as Damien knows blogs can provide people with a platform from which they can launch these kinds of projects.

Blogging is a medium and when put in that context it is clear the potential the medium has. The television does not provoke debate and nor does the individual presenter; it is the content, the questions and sometimes the answers that can set an agenda. The Prime Time Investigates on Leas Cross didn’t set the national agenda because it was on RTÉ One or because it was presented by Adrian Lydon; it set the agenda because it revealed a horrific situation that shocked the politicians to action.

Bloggers have as much potential as anyone to reveal a major story but I agree with Damien when he asks who among us is capable of doing this. I certainly don’t have the answer and frankly most bloggers in Ireland probably don’t have the time or resources to investigate something, let alone the contacts or clout to follow them through. The hardest pill of all to swallow would be the fact that even if a blogger does unearth something it will be taken out of their hands quite quickly and they will probably receive little kudos for it; in that respect any investigation they undertake would have to have been done out of political passion and not for personal profit.

Saying that I don’t think the Irish blogosphere is short on political passion and I can see a level of political activism bubbling under the surface; even if this activism existed before it now has the platform to reach more people than ever before; a poster on a lamppost is fine but a detailed and powerful blog post may be better.

In all I see the potential amongst Irish bloggers to provoke a debate; it offers people a chance to thrash out policies, ideals and ideas like never before and in a far more mature setting than a local pub, where you’re surrounded by half-drunk know-it-alls who know nothing but their own ignorance.

As has happened on Irishelection.com, one debate leads to another, one post leads to another and slowly the real issues are put out like never before; while the site does have its fair share of posters with political loyalties it has no room for the spin that most parties undertake to make themselves look better than the others. Frankly, no open discussion that is free from traditional constraints allows the party political line to be walked for too long; you can see this on any political forum; if you blindly stick to the party bible you are quickly made a fool of.

Unfortunately the internet’s anonymity has other problems than trust, it allows people to say things that they would be incapable of saying in a real world debate; namely personal insults; this is a fact of the freedom that we have to live with and that we can all agree there is no place for.

If political bloggers in this country can provoke debate on the real issues and open some people’s eyes to the importance of politics then we will have made our influence. No-one should expect a mention in the Dáil nor should they expect a blogger to unearth a deep, dark secret that changes the landscape forever but if we can re-direct just some of the national debate over the coming months away from the faux issues that some political parties would prefer to focus on and bring it instead to the real issues and the ones that we as individuals care about then that is influence enough for me.

I should probably be ignoring Richard Waghorne’s latest rant on blogging and normally I would simply respond with a comment in his blog; sadly that luxury is not provided by Mr. Waghorne and so this site shall be my outlet.

When Richard states that blogging is completely inconsequential because it does not demand the audience of a national newspaper he is instantly proving his lack of thought on the issue. Those who blog know that audience is not the reason they do it. Sure, it’s nice to know that ‘X’ amount of people have read what you have to say and it’s even nicer when they come back to you, reference you or respond in some way but having 10,000 readers a day is pointless if no one is engaging the issues with you.

The influence blogging can have on the election is probably limited, I agree but under the right circumstances it has the potential to be far bigger. Blogs adhere to the rules of viral marketing, that is the word of mouth principle. While only 20 people may read a post, they may tell a handful of their friends who then tell a handful of theirs and so on; should any blogger be lucky enough to unearth a serious issue they may quickly find themselves setting the national agenda too, as Iain Dale in the UK has done in recent weeks.

Quality is indeed an issue but the reason that most blog-copy would likely make a newspaper editor feel sick is part of the reason for it’s brilliance, and another sign that Waghorne isn’t paying attention. Blogging does not adhere to formats, house styles or any kind of rules. As a journalist I’m sure you, Richard, know that the use of the word “I” is generally unacceptable but blogging is all about the person and reaction; don’t compare it to a newspaper, compare it to the opinion pages. I’ve made the point before (and am due to again) that blogging is not journalism and it’s as simple as that.
Finally the quote of mine that you feature; naturally you’ve misunderstood me. Firstly I said ‘few’ not ‘all’ parties and secondly I am not asking for political parties to make unpopular decisions, I am instead asking them to do their jobs. As far as I’m concerned the Government is there to do what’s best for its people, not what its people think is right. In the next budget it is expected that Fianna Fail and the PD’s will hand us a windfall; they will throw money at us as they have before and buy our affection and all of this despite warnings from those who know not to do so.
Most economic analysts accept that the Tiger has peaked but the Government knows that acting now to make the slump less dramatic would prove awfully unpopular in an election year.
On the other side Fine Gael and Labour try to gain political points with its Home Defence Bill; it’s a popular notion and a fair one too that a home owner should not have to answer for protecting their homes. Sadly Fine Gael and Labour pushed a legally flawed piece of legislation in order to do this; they should be providing an alternative and not throwing ideas around to delight the public.
They are both working policy to get votes, not for the good of the people and that is what I mean when I say few political parties don’t have the balls to make the important decisions without public consent first.

As you say; people can either deal with the current state of politics or do something about it. While there is plenty that can be done blogging (and debate) is one such thing, it’s by no means the greatest or the most influencial but it’s all in the name of the public discourse.

Maman Poulet points to the Guardian’s story on a name change at the Ireland on Sunday to The Mail on Sunday.

The move makes sense; the paper is owned by Associated Newspapers and since purchased it has always been an Oirish version of The Mail on Sunday, unifying the brand makes perfectly good sense, especially considering the fact that The Ireland on Sunday has failed to prove itself as a strong brand anyway.

What can we expect from the (Irish) Mail on Sunday? My bet is the same we’ve come to expect from the daily edition; they’ll probably lose more readers than they gain however.

Something I meant to reference on Sunday but completely forgot about;

BCI blasts Newstalk claims (Catherine O’Mahony, Sunday Business Post)
The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) has described as bizarre and untrue a newspaper article that suggested that it regretted having awarded Newstalk a quasi-national radio licence.

‘‘We pride ourselves on the rigours of our processes, and this would undermine every process we have.”

After Dunphy announced his departure from Newstalk most people saw it as a blow to the station’s national ambitions; The Irish Daily Mail seems to have taken that and fabricated an entire story around it, stating that the BCI was now regretting their original decision. So, had the article have been true not only would Newstalk be faced with the task of replacing a popular presenter they also have to deal with a licencing board that doesn’t want them to have the licence; a juicy piece of gossip that certainly is, but obviously baseless.
Of course this was another use of the “anonymous source” technique; something that is a vital tool in reporting certain events but is abused by rags like this one. The more newspapers like the (Irish) Daily Mail fabricate sources and place them as anonymous voices the less likely the reader will trust them when they come along with a real story and a real anonymous source.

Of course creating a real news story may be too much to expect from this publication, especially when it comes to it’s so called “Irish” edition. Mark Tighe over at RoboHack has been a victim of their team’s laziness with his Bebo article; it turned up in their Monday edition after he had it published in The Sunday Times, the quotes were the same but the supposed writer was not, they even admitted their actions to him later on.
With talk of a Press Council on the way maybe this sort of crap can be stamped out or at least punished. If I were able to add a rule to the way newspapers in Ireland work, and this could be something the Press Council would enforce, it would be that newspapers claiming to be Irish (Irish Sun, Irish Daily Mail, Irish Mirror etc.) must have a majority of Irish content and a reflective number of staff and not just a handful of badly researched pages slapped on top of the UK-centric content from the main edition.