A new era in The @IrishTimes as @KOSullivanIT stands down as Editor, to be replaced by Paul O’Neill pic.twitter.com/0IGrg5AMrI
— David Cochrane (@davidcochrane) April 5, 2017
Gulp.
Paul O’Neill appointed new ‘Irish Times’ Editor (Irish Times)
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…good riddance…don’t know about Paul O’Neill but O’Sullivan was a wimp…hope they clear out some of the other dross in there…used to be the paper of record…
I wonder has it anything to do with the new crappy mobile layout.
He’s an editor tho…..
Not an editor. The Editor. Totally different. Eht Rodide.
There are many different varieties of editor.
I know. I am one of them.
Really?
I am highly, highly jealous and also a little bit in love with you owing to the fact that you have my dream job.
My dream job is – honestly – to own a hairdressers frequented by inner city aulwans where I could just have a laugh and gossip all day.
I might be able to help you out, Bertie. What kind of hours are you available for?
(Hang on – would you just be yourself or would you take on this vaguely camp persona and start calling the aul wans “doll” and “sweetie”?)
I started doing the interesting stuff but due to longevity rather than talent am more of a project manager these days.
I love it, having said that. Pay is desperate but it’s a nice, genteel job.
You’ve got to practise saying “Sorry to cut across you love,” before you get your hairdresser certificate.
@Andyourpointiswhatexactly? …an editor you say, fair play Andyourpoint.
A lovely journalist, of great repute and strong integrity, that I had the pleasure of dating for a time a while back informed me of a v cutthroat world in the news journalism biz.
Not something for the faint hearted …or “genteel”, was the picture she painted :) Again, fair play to you.
Not a journalist. Books! Totally different.
Books are kind, gentle creatures. My favourite kind of people, so they are.
I suspect I’d start off as myself and end up “Derek Mooney after 3 Babychams” within a couple of months.
Do you know what’s a divil of a drink? Brandy-babycham.
We’re back to discussing alcohol in the morning. I’m not arguing.
Actually we’re so close to the weekend now, you could almost taste the alcohol in the air.
That’s perfect, Bertie. You’re hired.
Will be expecting lots of blowdry/blowjob jokes, all ending in “oh sure amn’t I the divil himself incarnate”
Hmm. A recurring theme. I think it’s like a whatsit. You know, Proust’s Madeleine.
Morning drinking, eh? The Remembrance of Things Past.
SIGH. I’m going to go and get meself a coffee. Maybe the FRUSH UR will wake me up.
Hmmm… are you a northener, Andy? Hadn’t guessed that (suppose the big beefy calves were a giveaway)
Ah, Broadsheet, again?!? So tedious. It’s like trying to participate in a conversation with a sock in your mouth.
Apologies Andyourpoint… yes, that sounds a lot more genteel :)
Nope. But I’m superb* at accents.
*Everything becomes Welsh/Indian.
I love people who do that.
My father has a routine of favourite character impersonations that he performs for my kids – everything from Paw Patrol to Ninjago something or other. He hasn’t copped it yet, but they’ve no idea what he’s at. Sounds like an irate Pakistani every time.
I make myself LOL regularly. Moy Sith Ifricn is uncinnily gut.
I like the cut of your father’s jib. Carrying on despite looks of blind incomprehension all round. That’s how I roll too (not just for impressions, I’m talking all the time).
I admire them, but I would hate to be an editor- other people’s work in your hands? Nada. And I also dislike hairdressers who engage in conversation with me – sorry Bert. ‘Are ya off ouh tonihe?’ ‘Whrereaya going’ on yer holidays?’ FO.
I cut my own hair.
What kind of books do you edit?
Non-fiction, sadly. I’d prefer to work in fiction, but it’s not easy to get into if you’re not in London.
Why not go to London and pursue your passion?
Her true passion is cake. And biscuits.
I think you’ll find that’s my thing Barney.
I have zero interest in being poor in London. You need money in big cities like that.
Also, I like my job and I like Ireland.
We have shared passions. Cake, biscuits and booze. Not in that order. I’d happily have all three in a bowl, though.
It was a joke. Dah.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV2BuiiefmI
Jayzus, that show got so bad.
is it still going, Bart must be a dad himself by now.
Yeah. It obviously still sells loads of crap with its name on it. In fairness, it’s been a bit better since the latest drawing style change but for about 10 years it was offensively bad. So many pointless dialogue free musical sequences.
According to the statement released, Dan Flinter of the Irish Times board says O’Neill has “been central to all editorial developments” since he was appointed deputy ed in September 2015. So no changes or bright new ideas afoot then…
Only 60,000 subscribers online and in print? Didn’t realise things were that bad for them.
O”Sullivan was a terrible editor. The IT became very weak under him, seemingly terrified of doing anything wrong so did nothing.
It’s largely irrelevant who the editor is now. It’s effectively a free sheet on life support. Daily wailing articles about Brexit and Trump are tiresome. Out of touch gilded columnists who have zero connection with the working person in this country.
Yeah that Breda O’Brien is an awful gobdaw.
Bannon has been dumped from the National Security Council.
It says it all for me that my first instinct on reading that Bannon comment was to go straight to the Guardian for more. Poor IT, it’s struggle goes on
You turn to The Guardian for unbiased and impartial reporting ?
Like the dreadful Polly Toynbee whining about the downtrodden masses from her villa in Provence ?
The Guardian is losing even more money than the The Irish Times with their turgid and increasingly hysterical anti-Brexit,anti-Trump propaganda being pumped out to a dwindling band of sandalistas and smuggerati.
Kathy Sheridan’s splenetic nonsense this morning was the journalistic equivalent of a red-bottomed monkey throwing her turds around hoping something will hit a target.
Dung coming out of you
+100
You do know they regard themselves as a left-leaning paper right?
+ One Billion pluses
* presses pinky to lip knowingly, before chuckling evil like *
P. O’Neill? IT soon to be renamed An Phoblacht
…I’ve just seen someone on twitter post that P O’Neill is now editor of the Irish Times
Good luck to him I say, he was very good when he was with the Yankees.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_O%27Neill_(baseball)
not bad in the booth, either
Why wasn’t a member of the LGBT community or a woman chosen?
Cue article by Una Mullally, Kathy Sheridan, and a podcast by woman with her nose stuck in a bucket of chips.
Of the other hand, we are still waiting for the appalling Rosita “Female version of Ed Sheeran” to apologise.
What Did Rosita Do? WDRD?
I’ve met her socially. Very, very nice.
google up Tuam Babies podcast or go here http://blog.hereshow.ie/
She didn’t do anything wrong and has nothing to apologise for.
I’ve looked at it (cursorily, admittedly) and would agree.
Half the people accuse it of a liberal bias, half accuse it of being a right-wing rag, but no one will pay for it.
In the meantime we’re left with churnalist echo-chambers.
In fairness it is fine to defend it Kieran but it’s gone to poo
If no one will buy it, it’s hardly surprising they’re not doing their best work.
Journalists and journalism cost.
Yup. Whining about declining standards in journalism but generally avoiding paying for anything remotely like good journalism.
I paid up for the Guardian recently. Mainly to get the hemp branded bag so I can parade it around like the Libtard that I am. Oh, let me get my purse out of my Guardian bag. I’ll just slip my umbrella into my Guardian bag.
You know the way. Like Grannys with their Harrod’s bag.
Any of them Libtard hemp bags left? My TED bag can’t take any more bag duties and I can’t afford to attend another TED.
I think so. They ran out before Christmas because so many people had subscribed, though.
Hope they shook hands this time, they didn’t the last time the role of editor was announced.
Won’t somebody think of Kate Fitzgerald?
He should have resigned following that apology, tbh. Hopefully the new editor will read up on this story as an example of what not to do.
Paul O’Neill was joint runner-up last time around with Denis Staunton. Kevin O’Sullivan got the top job and made Staunton his number 2. The latter left that position a couple of years ago and the paper had to put Paul O’Neill into the job to try and steady the rudderless ship. On the last occasion (2011) the advertisement and interview process went on for months on end. This was literally overnight. A huge indictment on management of the paper in the past few years. O’Sullivan may be the first ever editor to stay on in a new junior position. Whatever PR company or manager in the paper who let out the figure of 60,000 for subscribers (print AND online) ought to go into hiding for a while. That is the most worrying development in this story.
I bought the times, daily, for well over forty years. I ceased to buy it around two years ago when I realised that it had fallen so far that only the crossword was of any value. Sad, but true.
I would never consider buying it now (once in the last 5 years when I was getting on a plane and had nothing else to read). Very occasionally there’s something I want to read – incognito mode on browser lets you bypass the paywall thing, which pleases me)
I started subscribing recently.
Not because it is awesome but because it is reasonably good and I want to support journalism, specifically Irish journalism.
Started subscribing to the New Yorker too.
I did that (New Yorker). You’ll have a pile of them, unread, glaring at you from the corner of the room soon.
Just on that last bit… 60,000 paying subscribers isn’t all too bad…. the numbers are public on the ABC website. Subscribers are included but not broken out in the ABC figs.
ABC / Audit Bureau of Circulations puts the hard copy paper at 66,000 – https://www.abc.org.uk/Certificates/48212281.pdf
In 1990, the year-ish the internet rolled out to public, The Irish Times had a circulation of 93,000… climbing to 119,000 in 2002 and hanging around that mark until 2008, and the decline began then to where it is now.
It’s just over half it’s peak circulation…. you’d think it was a 1/10th the way some go on. And that’s just the hard copy newspaper sales (including subscriptions)
Then add in the digital edition subscriptions of 13,000… the total looks closer to 79,000*.
* I believe that some may have both a print and digital edition subscription, so maybe that’s why the IT quote 60,000… or some other reason, I dunno.
And none of this takes into account the website traffic.
Please note a ‘digital edition’ does not refer to the website, and the ABC measures that not the site.
Further circulation info here (requires a log in to view, it’s a free site): http://medialive.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=23:circulation-review&catid=10&Itemid=277#anchor759748
Yes, papers are suffering, news is, but people are reading, just not how they used to, and just not in a way that advertising money can be made in the way they used to be able to because online advertising is not near as highly valued as print was (and still is, for the right audience).
It’s not super, but it’s not the death of The Irish Times’ news provision….
Me tuppence
(this is not a comment on the papers content, just its circulations and subscriptions)
‘End of an era’.
Get over yereselves.