M50 shooting - NewsTalk coverage

ClubMan

Registered User
Messages
49,252
On the 2PM news today NewsTalk's focus on today's M50 shooting was how much traffic chaos would be caused as a result of the partial closure of the route by Gardai! Strange...
 
I find the quality of programming on NewsTalk to be very inconsistent.
Dunphy in the morning in particular makes no attempt at balance and is blatantly biased in some issues. For a news radio station it is very lowbrow and getting lower.
Ger Gilroy and Damien Kiberd being the two exceptions IMHO.
 
I agree. A lot of it is populist/shallow rubbish. Karen Coleman (The Wide Angle) purports to cover things in more depth but her programme is often like something put together by secondary school students. I usually just tune in for Off The Ball these days which is quite good and usually very funny to boot (no pun intended).
 
Karen Coleman, along with most other daytime interviewers, is more interested in the background of the person that she is interviewing that the subject about which she is purporting to conduct the interview.
This is a common technique used by supposedly serious media people in order to engage a wider audience whilst making that same audience feel highbrow for listening to what should be serious debate. In my experience it is most commonly used when an artist or writer is being interviewed. What should be (and is sold as) a critical examination of a work descends into a human interest piece.

Just another one of my many pet hated. If I had as many real pets I could open a Zoo...
 
ClubMan said:
On the 2PM news today NewsTalk's focus on today's M50 shooting was how much traffic chaos would be caused as a result of the partial closure of the route by Gardai! Strange...

Was on the M50 on Sunday morning, both directions, betwen 8 and 11. There was no traffic chaos, and not even a sight of a Garda car or any incident at all.
 
Purple said:
Karen Coleman, along with most other daytime interviewers, is more interested in the background of the person that she is interviewing that the subject about which she is purporting to conduct the interview.
Yeah - a bit like her interview with former BA Major Tim Collins yesterday... :rolleyes:
ronan_d_john said:
Was on the M50 on Sunday morning, both directions, betwen 8 and 11. There was no traffic chaos, and not even a sight of a Garda car or any incident at all.
The odd thing was that NewsTalk only reported the Garda closure of part of the M50 in the afternoon in spite of the incident actually occurring around 4AM (as far as I know).
 
I thought I heard (on Today FM) that yesterday's partial M50 closure was to do with some incident where a cement lorry leaked concrete onto the road?

On the wider issue as to whether Newstalk is any good, I think George Hook's show is fantastic. Dunphy's show is the opposite and he clearly shows signs of laziness and/or lack of innovation. I find Damien Kilberd's shows unlistenable due to his utter inability to transcend his own extreme nationalist opinions in his radio work.
 
ubiquitous said:
I thought I heard (on Today FM) that yesterday's partial M50 closure was to do with some incident where a cement lorry leaked concrete onto the road?
NewsTalk definitely reported one closure by Gardaí as being related to the earlier shooting incident. Maybe there was more than one closure on the M50 yesterday?
 
While I agree with Hook on most topics I find him bombastic and willing to ignore pertinent points made by those who disagree with his view point. Because of this I find him hard to listen to.
 
ubiquitous said:
I thought I heard (on Today FM) that yesterday's partial M50 closure was to do with some incident where a cement lorry leaked concrete onto the road?

That was Saturday morning.
 
I have been a regular listener of Newstalk since they started - every time I see Dara O'Brien on Setanta, I think 'Pony or Phoney'.

It's not RTE so it doesn't, IMHO, need to be balanced and impartial. One of my buddies is a US gun-loving Bush-voting pinko hater. I don't agree with his opinions on all things but at least he's able to argue his position from a position of knowledge and reflection.

Similarly with broadcasting, I'm happy to listen to other voices as long as they can argue their point of view and engage in informed debate. Michael Graham on Hook's programme is a good case in point. I always listen to him and rarely agree with him. I believe RTE could never be allowed give a soapbox to such views.

Which leads nicely to Karen Coleman. Don't rate her. Completely unsuited to her role. One time she was discussing the accession of the ANC to government in South Africa. One of the panel, a white South African, remarked that she was anti-ANC. Karen Coleman's response was along the lines of "so you're pro-apartheid ?".

:eek:
 
I've given Dunphy up as a bad habit - his anti garda/govt rants are pathetic - his sports coverage is great but I'm making do with Des Cahill. Consequently the radio tends to stay on RTE1 until Hooky comes on at 4.30. He's quite enjoyable. As tarfhead states above - you couldn't agree with all the time - but he does tend to make cogent arguments which are worthy and interesting. He sealed the deal for me with the e voting joke by M Cullen. In fairness to him, they had somebody talking about the subject each day for a couple of months - he said himself that he was in danger of boring people to death about it.

Off the Ball from 7pm is brilliant.
 
Id listen to off the ball 24 hrs. The match commentary is great, anyone hear the dub/mayo match the other night? Brilliant.
 
I've stopped listening to Newstalk 106 and gone to RTE1. Principally because of Damien Kiberd's agenda.
 
TarfHead said:
Which leads nicely to Karen Coleman. Don't rate her. Completely unsuited to her role. One time she was discussing the accession of the ANC to government in South Africa. One of the panel, a white South African, remarked that she was anti-ANC. Karen Coleman's response was along the lines of "so you're pro-apartheid ?".

:eek:
Sounds as bad as the time as she was talking about feminism and dismissed somebody's mention of Thatcher as a role model because "she was basically a man". :eek: Her trite comments like these, especially towards guests with whom she does see eye to eye, and gasping/gee-whizz reactions to really petty/superficial comments are really irritating.
 
GeneralZod said:
I've stopped listening to Newstalk 106 and gone to RTE1. Principally because of Damien Kiberd's agenda.
Can you expand on that GeneralZ?
 
From politics.ie [broken link removed]

Known for his nationalist views and republican sympathies, Kiberd founded the Sunday Business Post with other journalists in 1989. He was editor there until 2001, when then-deupty editor, Ted Harding took over.

The Post under Kiberd's editorship was one of the first Sunday papers to come out strongly in favour of the Hume/Adams meetings, which the Sunday Independent strongly criticised. Under Kiberd's editorship the paper opposed the Belfast Agreement, due to the proposed abolition of Articles 2 and 3 from the Constitution of Ireland, the only mainstream newspaper to do so, in what was viewed as a bizarre editorial decision at the time.

Kiberd now hosts a daily afternoon current affairs show on NewsTalk 106 and is a member of the Centre for Public Inquiry as well as a columnist for the Daily Ireland newspaper.
 
It's just Eoghan Harris, isn't it ?

http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=36&si=1579391&issue_id=13799

If Eoghan Harris is against it, it can't be all bad ;) ?

"The station is seeking a national licence and in spite of Newstalk's attempt to market Kiberd as 'Damo', a strong smell of political sulphur hangs around him. Some of this comes from his column in the rabidly republican Daily Ireland, some of it from his board membership of the Centre for Public Inquiry (where he defended Frank Connolly), some of it from his editorship of the extremely nationalist Sunday Business Post.
Under Damo's direction the SBP, in its greenest days, was famously described by Pat Rabbitte as the Continuity Business Post. "
 
I like newstalk 106, I think Dunphy is hit or miss, Damian Kiberd's show is quite general and doesn't strike me as one within which any political agenda could be advanced. I love Sean Moncrieff's show with its tendancy to educate the listener to interesting rather than important facts and curios. I also like George Hook's show but its more for the content than for George, off the ball is brilliant and everyone connected to the show seems to be quick to ad lib, have a great general (as well as sporting) knowledge, best show on the radio.
Not that I agree with him but even if Damian Kiberds show does reflect his political stance then so what. I'd rather listen to someone with convictions rather than the middle of the road offend noone dross that we're usually subjected to.
 
Back
Top