Press regulation, far from being a dangerous imposition, is crucial for a properly functioning democracy, writes Steven Lydon.
Bertie Ahern recently described the Irish media as “incompetent” for not preventing Ireland’s economic crisis.
Ahern might be confused regarding the role of the press, but he is right to recognise its importance.
Pat Rabbitte has indicated that Denis O'Brien will be stopped in his tracks if he attempts to expand his media empire here, but INM already controls far too much of the Irish media. By Vincent Browne.
Pat Rabbitte has offered interesting insights into the present Government’s plans for new legislation on media ownership, expressing concern for the concentration of ownership across media sectors.
The debased media culture that Rupert Murdoch did so much to create - one obsessed with trivia and matters of negligible public interest - has been imported here in spades. By Vincent Browne.
Fifteen years ago, executives of companies controlled by Tony O’Reilly, the then controlling shareholder in Independent News and Media (INM), had a meeting with officials working for the then taoiseach, John Bruton.
Angela Long used to see Rupert Murdoch shuffling around Wapping in his home-knitted jumpers. That was before ethics went to hell in his newspapers (and his latest wife smartened up his attire). But this is serious...it's about society and democracy
Bliss was it to be alive in that ....afternoon in July, sitting in front of the telly, pot of tea, watching something I never, ever, thought we'd see: Rupert Murdoch in the dock.
One of the most intriguing aspects of the News of the World’s final issue on 10 July was its prominent use of a quotation by George Orwell. By Richard Lance Keeble.
In full, the quote - which appeared on the back page and again as the opening paragraph in the page three editorial - reads:
'Freedom of the press' means more than just freedom from censorship or government interference; it means freedom from the constraints and limitations of a thoroughly corporate culture, writes Natalie Fenton.
You can arrest Andy Coulson, you can sack two hundred journalists and take the News of the World off the face of the earth, but the problem won’t go away. News is in crisis, but believing that it is a crisis stemming from the lies, deceitfulness and illegality of hacking is misplaced.
Profit maximisation is the primary aim of the media; serving the public interest and holding institutions of power to account is of only incidental concern. By Vincent Browne.
The hacking of the mobile phones of murdered British schoolgirls and their close relatives is not a bizarre occurrence of the modern media world.
A day or two after the count in the February election, the Irish Times produced a supplement giving all the constituency results, along with analysis and profiles of every one of the 166 TDs elected, in a creatively designed package, writes Vincent Browne.
It prompted me to e-mail Geraldine Kennedy, the then editor of the Times complimenting her on the publication.
Kennedy replied that it was the only compliment I had ever paid her in all the years we had known each other (about 35).
Geraldine Kennedy's retirement as editor of the Irish Times last Thursday, 23 June - to be replaced in that role by Kevin O'Sullivan - along with the loss of another female editor, NoirIn Hegarty, with closure of the Sunday Tribune earlier this year, has brought into focus the dearth of women in senior editorial positions in the Irish print media.
The Press Ombudsman has upheld a complaint by a coalition of national and international drug services against the Irish Independent for a column by Ian O’Doherty which described drug users as “vermin”, “feral, worthless scumbags” and which proclaimed that “if every junkie in this country were to die tomorrow I would cheer”.