Analysis of use of photographs in printed media.

The use of photograps in papers has been around ever since the camera has been around. Photographs are not placed there to fill up space (but sometimes are during a slow day), but rather to give the reader a sense of what it was like to be somewhere, or to give the reader first hand imagery of a war zone or a joyous occassion.

However pictures can also raise an ethical eyebrow. What is acceptable? Should you use a picture for sole gain irrespective of who you may hurt. Examples of situations like these include pictures of people who have been murdered, most recently in gangland crime. Pictures of gunshot victims have been available to a lot of editors, but most have refused to print them because of the people they may hurt.


Pictures also hold somewhat political power over the government. For example, the student marches attracted record numbers nearing 15000. These pictures show the public the extent to which the students are willing to fight. It was the same situation for the over 70s "grey army" walking down Kildare Street. Without appropriate pictures, much of the occassion might have been lost on your typical newspaper reader.

U.S. Presidential Elections-Power of Television

So what can I say about the US Presedential Elections? It was a seemingly neverending saga. It all began with with the votes in the caucauses and the primaries the year before. The press seemed to make the elections a tournament based procedure. First there was the semi-finals: Barack Obama versus Hilary Clinton. On the other side there was John McCain and Mike Huckabee. Of course that's when the squabbling started, especaily within the press. Rumours of unrest and internal spats within both Republican and Democratic campaigns were the ideal way of fattening the inside of papers on this two year journey to the White House.

I found the television to be the best form of communicating the election to the public. Of the channels available, I found that Sky News was by far the best channel to watch. It had very good displays in studio detailing where the election would be won and lost. It showed very clearly how the electoral college vote system works, it forecasted how both sides were competing in the swing states and live reporters at the scene added to the huge spectacle. Radio also competed very well during the election campaign and to a lesser extent so did the papers. Yet neither o these 2 mediums could hold a candle to television. Nevertheless channels like Sky News could , nearly in real time, bring you live feeds of where all the drama was unfolding. It was great to watch it all going on in front of your eyes, even if that meant staying awake through the night.

It seems clear to me that the power of the television media was put on full show and the professionalism of a channel like Sky One shone through with fantastic indications of competent and interesting news reports.

Biggest Drug Bust in the State's History! Online Vs Printed Media!

This week I decided to look at the multi-million Euro cocaine haul caught off the south coast of Ireland. Instead of looking just how the papers dealt with it i decided to look at the Internet media as well.

In "Operation Seabight", which involved Gardaí, Customs and the Naval Service, the LE Niamh detained the 18m (60ft) yacht, Dances with Wolves , 257km (160 miles) west of Mizen Head.
A boarding party from the LE Niamh carried out a search of the yacht in an operation late at night and found a large number of packets of cocaine.
Initial estimates suggest that the haul exceeds the 1.5 million tonnes of drugs, worth €440 million, recovered last year from Dunlough Bay near Mizen Head in west Cork.

I believe the papers did a very good job showing the extent of the drugs haul. There were diagrams and tables of facts relating to the haul to be found. These included a map showing where the drugs were sourced and where they were intended to go. It is fair to say that the printed media is limited. Whatever is on the paper is there. There are no other sources of information. This is the complete antithesis to the internet. The internet, especially sites like sky news and the irish times online, offer a myriad of alternate links to further your knowledge in what you are reading. This is the inherent problem with the paper industry and a key factor in the argument that the medium is dying. There always will be more information available online than in the papers. Bring this together with the rise of online "citizen journalists" and it really looks like it's the beginning of the end for the printed media.

Log onto theirishtimes.com and it is clear to see. Breaking news more often than not supplied by AP or Reuters fizzles through onto your computer screens faster than it can be printed. There really is no chance of catching the online industry. Papers have now been forced to promote promote and promote some more to stimulate flagging circulation, becoming more like an advertising Mecca rather than a from of much needed communication.

Week 4: Interview!

This week we were told to do our journals on an interview we liked! This time it was simple to choose a certain interview I liked!



The interview I have chosen was taken after the resignation of the Fianna Fail TD Joe Behan over the medical card fiasco! I think my family ties with Mr.Behan made this substantial resignation important to me, not just on a political level, but on a personal one also.

Joe Behan appeared on both the 6:01 and the 9 0'clock news on Friday the 17th of October. He gave a heartfelt and apologetic interview to the experienced Brian Dobson. But I liked the way Mr.Dobson went about his interviewing technique. He asked direct questions, kept it clear and concise and never ever was vague in the way he approached Mr.Behan's responses. He mad Joe give a straight answer. I thought this was unusual as you usually get the back and forth roundabouty answers from top ranking TDs and Seanad representatives. For example: " Did u buy bread today Taoiseach?" Answer: Well that all comes down to the dough maker's manifesto of forecasted retail opportunities. What we must do now, in the cause of a fiscal society is to revoke all bread cards for the terminally hungry." He could have just said yes, batch bread it was and it was gorgeous.

Anyway back to the interview. I believe that this was a very well conducted interview. Most importantly everybody was calm. In the light of the medical card fiasco after Mr.Lenihan's contentious budget was released, the media were everywhere and the situation had reached fever pitch. It was imperative that everybody stayed cool and, more importantly, stayed true to themselves and do what they thought best for themselves and indeed the country in the long run. Mr. Behan said he felt insulted by comments yesterday by Tánaiste Mary Coughlan that TDs should not criticise Budget decisions. Mr Behan said he baulked at anyone telling him he could not speak his mind.

It was a one-on one interview. It wasn't a Questions and Answers based barrage of question after question. Mr. Behan had an opportunity to tell his side of the story without being hounded by different panelists over the fact that his vacation of post had led to the undermining of the Fianna Fáil Party.

Although it was simple for me to choose this interview, I believe it gives a great insight into the workings of an interview, no matter what subject matter it concerned. You can read Joe Behan's full resignation letter to An Taoiseach by clicking this link:http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/1017/behanj.html

Week 3 Journal: Paper Intro!

This week i decided to use the Irish Independent from Friday, October 10th to talk about the introductions various journalists use when they are beginning their news stories.

Page 5 deals with the fatal stabbing of Paul Howe outside Supervalu, moments after he had committed an armed robbery there. Shane Phelan uses a bullet introduction here and covers the main point quickly in his one sentence, 25 word first paragraph. The 'who' and the 'what' are covered in this brief introduction. I liked this intro as it doesn't mess about! It gives you the main thrust of the story, keeps us informed and ignites our interest in what is to follow.

The who what and how are covered directly after in another one sentence paragraph.I once again enjoyed this style of writing . It gives us more and more and teases us to read on, which I did.

From then on Mr.Phelan gives us a lot of reported speech, particularly from Gardai which adds colour to the story. He uses a couple of quotes from aghast residents of the usually subdued Killester area who wish to defend their town from bad press. Leading members of the community, including senators, also gave their two cents.

All in all I liked the introduction. As i said before it kept the reader wanting more from every paragraph. It was an amalgamation of various types of introduction, ranging from the bullet intro to the single element intro.

Week 2 -Sep 29th- 0ct 5th

This week I worked on the Irish Independent from two differnent dates (Oct2nd +3rd). I had decided to investigate the same paper twice to see whether i could guesstimate if the same sources are used in the ongoing soap opera that is Ireland's financial crisis. Also the usual mastheads and content shall be dissected.



First I have to talk about the financial crisis as it as on the tip of every single Irish person's tongue at the moment. 400bn euro has been swept aside for our floundering financial institutions for those rainy days of the Irish economy, days that were never in the minds of those whipping the Celtic Tiger forward with relentless over-investment in the construction and housing sectors. It seems to me that the stories from the Irish Independent came form a variety of sources. For example in the 2nd of September's edition the source for Shane Phelan's piece unveiling the bank backing deal to rescue foolish developers came from the head of the UCD Economic Department Colm McCarthy. Of course the main story concerning the bank backing itself was sourced directly from the horse's mouth. Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan came to speak to journalists giving them there much needed quotes and the full 'scah' (if u will) on the emptying of our public coffers to the banking sectors. As the soap opera turned another corner we found Brian Cowen addressing a CBI-IBEC dinner in Trinity College. Once again our source was straight from those apple cruching mouths of our politicians, stabling themselves in the Dail bar till the early hours of the morning.



I have to get away from the financial crisis because, to be honest, it's just depressing me. Now trying to get to talk about page layout I find myself once again bombarded by our dwindling economy. The 2nd of October's masthead is given directly to Brendan Keenan and his opinion on the crisis. But alas, some respite on the top of the paper for Friday morning. Finally we are gifted by the presence of an exclusive interview with Noel Gallagher and a slightly ironic(in my opinion) advertisment for the Indo's Property Plus magazine. But hey, I'm not complaining! It's a change....of sorts.



I found that in both papers that sources can come from everywhere. Educational conferences ,for example, like the one from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) shed light on racism in the form of bullying within the classroom. After sifting through both the papers, I came to the conclusion that the reporters' sources primarily came from press officers of groups, committees etc, press conferences (and releases), eye witness reports and from in-depth interviews.

Week 1 September (22nd-28th)

This week I decided to compare and contrast two papers from two different jurisdictions: the Irish Daily Mail(Republic of Ireland) and The Irish News(Northern Ireland). Having reviewed these papers over a period of time I came to some conclusions: the style and/or the political mindset of any paper, be it to the left of a hammer and sickle or to the right of a swastika, are inconsequential. Each and every single front page on every newstand throughout the entire island has but one initial goal: to attract the readers attention and consequently boost sometimes flagging circulation and of course revenue.

Both of my papers (each of which produced for Tuesday 23rd of September) follow suit in layout. The headline "death beyond human reason"(Mail) roughly tugs at one's heartstrings, subconsciously drawing our attention . The Irish News follows suit in that their main headline details the sectarian murder of a 15 year old boy from Ballymena. Nevertheless their main picture celebrates a more joyous occassion: Tyrone bringing the Sam Maguire cup back to Co.Tyrone. The mastheads of both respective papers also follow a similar pattern in there layout, and tone. Although their main articles feature turmoil, social agony and misfortune, their mastheads deal with lighter features. From baggy underwear which can make you ill(thank you Anthea Turner(Daily Mail)), to the red handed celebrations in a surprisingly sun-drenched Omagh, both papers have that yin and yang complex getting the balance almost always right. Both papers leave most readers satisfied, of whom get their daily doses of factual knowledge, ranging from the depressing to the despicable content of certain articles. There's a lil' bit of glitz and glamour in eachpaper to keep those celebrity vultures happy also.

Overall I recognised that each paper has its own style, be it fonts or takes on particular current affairs(most notably the Lisbon Treaty saga). They deal with political and social upheaval while bringing the frivoulous and the notoriously humorous to the fore of our reading experience. Indeed even their writing habits differ. For example, I found the tone of the Irish News to be somewhat more high-brow if you will, whereas the Mail, although its reputable status taken into account, take a more laid back approach to their writing, more informal yet still accurate and precise. All in all both papers did what were asked off them in their own self-styled and competent manner!!