Irish Times showing bias (again)

P

Purple

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The Irish Times has, [broken link removed], shown it's bias. An article defending the Croke Park agreement appears in todays edition. The author is a Dave Thomas. Buried in the article is a reference by the author to his role within the trade union leadership and at the bottom it says who he is but nowhere in the header does it say that he's the general secretary of the Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants (AHCPS). The article should be prefaced with that information in bold text; the author is biased (how could he not be). If I wrote an article about my area of employment I'd be biased as well.
If the Irish Times was interested in just reporting the news and offering balanced comment they would be clear and open about the agenda that their writers have. This is particularly pertinent when they already have a reputation for an urbanite upper-class socialist bias.
 

But that's normal for the Irish Times. The role of the writer is written at the bottom of the article. Regular readers know that. I always look down there to ascertain the writer's interest or expertise in the subject. It happens in relation to all topics, not just trade union issues.
 
I always shared the Irish Times bias when it was a good Proddy Unionist newspaper but things started to change in the late forties so I had to resort to the Belfast Telegraph for truthful honest unbiased reporting.
 

Same here & Mr. Thomas makes it quite clear that he is involved in Union leadership in the body of the article itself .

I must say I found the article quite interesting in that as well as pointing out the progress made ( as acknowledged by both the Troika & the Implementation body ) it acknowledged that there were areas that presented difficulties & challenges.
 
The_Banker said:
Lucky we have you to point this stuff out.
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Thanks!


What if you are not a regular reader?
 
oldnick said:
I always shared the Irish Times bias when it was a good Proddy Unionist newspaper but things started to change in the late forties so I had to resort to the Belfast Telegraph for truthful honest unbiased reporting.
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Lol Excellent!

I like the fact that UK newspapers don't pretend to be unbiased.
Both the Irish Times and the Irish Independent are strongly biased (in different directions) but aren't honest enough to declare it to their readers.
 
The article in question is on the Opinion page and the word OPINION
is printed at the beginning.

This is much clearer in the print edition, as the work OPINION is in large red capitals.

I dont think the Irish Times have pretended its anything other than what it is
- an opinion piece. They regularly have opinion pieces by people who are openly biased on a particular topic. They might just as easily have an opinion piece tomorrow in the same place by the head of IBEC.

I didn't feel duped at all.
 
Hi Purple

Saying that the Irish Times is biased for publishing this opinion piece is like saying that Askaboutmoney is biased because many people post pieces against the Croke Park agreement.

If the editorial line is consistently in favour of the Croke Park agreement, then you could fairly accuse it of bias. Or if they refuse to publish opinion pieces against the Croke Park agreement, then you could accuse them of bias. But based on this opinion piece alone, there is no evidence of bias.

Why not submit your own opinion piece to them in response to the article? Or write them a letter. I would guess that they would publish it. It would have the added advantage that Complainer would have to read it. He couldn't block you out of the national media.
 
The problem with that idea Brendan is that Complainer would demand right of reply ,then Purple would and so on ....
Mind you, they could lobby together for a weekly debating column and agree on a fee between them. Complainer would, on principle, pay tax at 90%. Purple would keep the lot and only give to those who really needed it.
 

And if further evidence of the Irish Times editorial view is required their Editorial today refers to the Croke Park Agreement as being " the Government's most questionable commitment ".

A view I hasten to say I do not share
 
Purple said:
If the Irish Times was interested in just reporting the news and offering balanced comment . .
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'If' indeed. My, perhaps glib, view of the IT is that it is primarily a PR outlet for the Labour Party and the EU Project.
 
Deiseblue said:
And if further evidence of the Irish Times editorial view is required their Editorial today refers to the Croke Park Agreement as being " the Government's most questionable commitment ".

A view I hasten to say I do not share
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michaelm said:
'If' indeed. My, perhaps glib, view of the IT is that it is primarily a PR outlet for the Labour Party and the EU Project.
Click to expand...

So the same paper is being condemned for questioning the Croke Park Agreement and for being a PR outlet for the Labour Party! I must write in and congratulate the new Editor on managing to offend everyone! ( I know neither of you are condemning it!)
 
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