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.