The panel of judges of last night’s Tonight With Vincent Browne Media Awards, top, and Sunday Independent columnist Gene Kerrigan, who won Columnist of the Year
Last night, Tonight With Vincent Browne Media Awards saw the judges – Senator Marie-Louise O’Donnell, MEP Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, and UCD School of Social Justice lecturer Marie Moran – discuss the stories of the year.
The judges decided the story of the year was the series of Garda controversies as reported by Mick Clifford, of the Irish Examiner.
Mr Flanagan said:
“[The Garda stories over the last year are] definitely would be the story of the year if it wasn’t a case that we’re now, as a nation or our Government is trying to put a lid on it and make it kind of seem all right and I would worry will we ever get to the root of it. Whereas the other story of the year would be water charges and the fact that it isn’t really about water charges, it’s about something else. It’s about layers of taxes that have come and I think that is now more the story of the year because I think something is actually going to happen out of it. Whereas with the Garda story, I’d still know people within the Garda Síochána who are absolutely terrified because of what they’ve told me and information that I’ve passed on. And bit by bit by bit by bit, [they’re] losing hope, that anything good will come out of it.”
Mr Clifford also won the Journalist of the Year Award while the Irish Times won Newspaper of the Year Award. TheJournal.ie won Website of the Year. As mentioned above, Gene Kerrigan won Columnist of the Year.
After accepting his award, Mr Kerrigan gave his opinion about the changing landscape of the media in Ireland.
Gene Kerrigan: “It’s a matter of economics, the internet has come along and has destroyed a lot of what newspapers used to do without producing a way for that kind of journalism to be replaced. An awful of the internet is just opinion. The kind of thing that newspapers are very good at doing…It has its place but quite often, I would read something, every day, I try and wean myself off it…the stuff on the internet by people who are very, very passionate, and they get the basics wrong and they go off for 3,000 words of passion. You don’t get that so much, you do of course get it in newspapers, but you don’t get it so much because there’s an editorial structure which says, ‘this will bore the readers’. What we’ve got is one platform being undermined by another which isn’t in a position to take it over and do its job or isn’t in a position to do earn enough money, to monetise as they say.”
Hmmm.
Previously: The Wrong Side Of The Thin Blue Line
Watch back in full here
good praise for Broadsheet from all
delighted you guys got a mention! :-) well deserved
The Journal got website of the year…was it idiots voting for it?
I got banned for questioning whether or not an article writer, was a journalist or not.
They have journalists… well I never….
I really really don’t get the hate for the journal.
It’s a news website with some fluff. It’s grand like.
It’s beyond boring.
Lilly, I agree, while the articles themselves are fairly mediocre and badly written in many cases, at least the headlines give an indication as to the content, so you don’t have to read them if you don’t want to. What I find most disturbing [and I don’t use that word lightly], is the lack of moderation in the comments section; the trolling, bullying, personal abuse, stalking, and offensive language used daily by many commenters would make your eyes water, and cringe with embarrassment for the individuals who go to the bother of writing those comments. Oh, and God help you if you are not a Sinn Féin supporter, and voice your opinion on anything about SFIRA.
You were doing so well until the trolling in the last sentence.
Jungleman, I’m speaking from experience, and my opinion is based on that experience, ergo it’s not trolling. Try harder.
So you got abused by a few shinners on the journal, big deal. If you insist on referring to their party as SFIRA what do you expect? The use of “SFIRA” is clearly for trolling purposes.
You mean like the personal abuse below?
Jungleman, why is the use of SFIRA ‘clearly for trolling purposes’? Do you accept that he was never in the IRA? If you do, then why does he speak on their behalf? Today it is being reported that he is urging Sineád O’ Connor to go to the Gardaí about her claims of molestation by an IRA member when she was a child. If there is no connection between Sinn Féin and the IRA, then why would he do this?
Too much fluff and native advertising dressed as stories, IMO.
I used to like it when they gave topline info on stories. But now, you could be reading a piece for a couple of minutes before you realise its just rambling padded nonsense…., opinion, as yer man above said.
Its news for idiots
How many bollo*ks nostalgia articles do we have to read?
You could say the same thing about here, how many bollocks lefty agenda articles do you have to read?
If there’s one thing i’ll give them it’s that they actually do ‘news’ to a certain extent.
Do you p*ss n’ moan over at their place too?
(@Rotide)
No, i never really read it.
I prefer giving you the full golden shower treatment.
It’s moronic. I knew you’d like it.
How nice of you to think of me Bacchus.
Remind me again because i forget, are you the failed music journalist or is that another music elitist arse?
It’s moronic
Agreed Bacchus. Doesn’t say much for VinB and his awards.
There’s acres of stuff in newspapers that bores readers too Gene.
Yeah I was thinking that. Still he’s a good lad n’ all.
that`s rich.
kerrigan`s been writing the same article in that sunday rag for twenty years.
tosspot
Where did broadsheet get a mention?
In the discussion, in the programme, found in the link above marked ‘here’.
I need a timestamp!
Me too, bookmarked for later watching, I shall return with an answer…. post 22.30 when I can watch it :)
Got a look in earlier than I thought… 31 mins, start there :)
…Marie Moran (Phd) put in a strong vote for Broadsheet.ie for Website of the Year…worth staying up to see Marie Louise O’Donnell getting all indignant about the commenters.
I’ll restrain myself from saying what I think of Marie Louise so :)
She was talking about the journal commenters.
Also, howiya Marie Moran!
There seems to be a love in for O brien starting on the journal. Must be a takeover coming
…Marie Louise did her love-in bit for Fionnan Sheehan and the camera switched to VinB…sadly, no reaction.
More like Susan Daly wants a job in the Dindo.
Ming told the media that he couldn’t be doing his job of attending the European Parliament because of having young children (something he didn’t say when looking for votes BTW) but he has time to go to Dublin to appear on the VinB Media Awards show!!
Quick, LYNCH HIM!
His wife’s been ill, I wouldn’t vote for someone who f*cked off to work on the continent while their partner or child was sick.
That said, I wouldn’t vote for Ming anyway, but get a grip.
Only available in the republic of Ireland…. But I’m in Cork :'(
thejournal.ie is a poor man’s Irish Daily Star and it wins best news website. An explainer and timeline is as good as it gets and don’t forget the: here’s what Twitter thinks articles.
And it’s still light years ahead of the Indo/Herald/Sindo/Sunday World (yes, yes, the Indo says that it is the most popular news website but if the Journal introduced a “read more” button after a couple of lines on a story, and counted that clicked “read more” as a new site visit, it would probably be bigger than Indo)
Annoys the shite out of me. The IT are doing a similar trick with their article ‘pages’.