There Has Been A Misunderstanding

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At some point between 10pm and Midnight last Friday, two loose groupings, hithereto implacably opposed to one another, found common ground.

We don’t need to go into too many details, but the issue was Roosky and that common ground was us and not in a good way.

People who wouldn’t agree with each other on anything much were joined – on Twitter mainly but in personal correspondence also – in their contempt for the site. We were variously described as  “fascist”, “weak”, “well-funded” and “click-obsessed”.

Back when all this was green fields and lost bicycles we didn’t envisage this kind of misunderstanding.

Our main reasons for doing the site would seem too corny to be immediately credible, but If it is at all possible we would like to clear up a few misconceptions:

Agenda:
Apart from a soft spot for the Soc Dems (currently under review *cough*), we have no affiliation to any political party, movement (hard left or alt right or in between), trade union, charity or think tank. We welcome all views.

Right of reply:
Freely available to anyone who feels slighted by anything on the site.

Clickbait:
Our posts are constructed so that that the reader often needs to see the photo and read the text to understand the headline thus deterring sensation seekers. Oblique-bait perhaps, but we abandoned the enticing header clickbait model and other stuff after the events covered here. Apart from anything it doesn’t make a blind bit of difference to our bottom line no matter how many clicks we get, bringing us to…

Funding:
We are entirely broke independent. We don’t get the state ad money. We don’t get the Denis money. We don’t get the Big Pharma money. We don’t get the Small Pharma money. We don’t get the Ganley money. We don’t get the Soros money. We do get the Google ads money which just about covers the site’s hosting fee and our lawyer’s rehab costs.

Thanks all.

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Related posts:

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120 thoughts on “There Has Been A Misunderstanding”

  1. Tom

    This was always going to happen. You jumped on board the anti eviction, water charges and Gemma O’Doherty train ignoring the nasty side to those groups.

    2. McVitty

      @Tom

      No, I would suggest BS broadened their tolerance for views from the other side. One of the biggest complaints about BS is that it leans heavily in support of an unquestioning “Yes” vote in the civic referenda and does not encourage a balanced discourse. It makes sense that they would back Gemma O’Doherty when they did. I saw it as an acknowledgement and reparation for previous bias.

      Note, on the Broadsheet on the Telly conversations Gemma O’Doherty had with John, she came across pretty well and did not reveal a penchant for the hard national identity politics that she has embraced since then. The contention in these conversations and personal disdain for her (by some involved) may well brought the whole thing down.

      From watching some of her livestreams, my understanding is that she “red pilled” after she lost the presidential bid last summer and there are two possibilities here:
      1. her treatment and the reception of her positions by the establishment media prompted her to delve further and realise that a culture war is underway…which led her to a place where she and John Waters have much in common.
      2. losing the presidential bid meant she could let the veil to slip, now that she was no longer having to operate within the mainstream confines and blind embrace of these ideas.

      You can make up your own mind there but while she may be misled or embracing politics that aren’t for you but there is little evidence that she is a bad person. She has integrity in her past and in her demeanor and I don’t think BS would have engaged her otherwise.

      Broadsheet is not as biased as some of the commenters who are fundamentally posed to Gemma O’Doherty being given any amount of coverage on the site…and it shows – for example, the post on Roosky that was deleted last Friday. So the message is cover her and things get out of hand…

      1. Verbatim

        “It makes sense that they would back Gemma O’Doherty when they did. I saw it as an acknowledgement and reparation for previous bias. ”
        I doubt this.
        I would say they picked the most interesting person with potential…

        1. McVitty

          Maybe you are right – she was the president speaking out on issues that deeply affect the country. Some of what she spoke of hinted that the civic referenda had divided the country and that was not disputed. She now has the ears of the 37% who vote no to everything.

  3. DrGonzo

    You guys are my homepage, so must be doing something right.

    Keep up the good work sure beats the dole.

  4. scottser

    you guys rock. i don’t even think you need to explain yourselves, but kudos to ye an all in anyways.

  7. Slightly Bemused

    Hi Bodger, Chompsky, et al at Broadsheet. Thanks for sharing this, and I am sorry, but not surprised, that you got caught in a spiral of negativity. I have noted in recent years a decided lowering of the standards of online ‘debate’ to a level of slurs and name-calling reminiscent of a bad stereotype of a schoolyard spat. This seems particularly heated when aimed at anyone trying to provide more objective information backed by, of all things, facts.

    As said above, keep doing what you’re doing.

    And by the way, thanks for the link to the article on Kate Fitzgerald.

  8. eoin

    “At some point between 10pm and Midnight last Friday, two loose groupings, hithereto implacably opposed to one another, found common ground.”

    It was like the KKK settling their differences with the NOI and agreeing that it’s all the fault of the fupping Jews.

  10. Ber. Moloney

    Love your page, excellent on the Maurice McCabe saga and recently on the DOB defamation case (). Also love reading the comments esp the sarcastic ones from seasoned contributors

  11. Bernadette Moloney

    Love your page, excellent on the Maurice McCabe saga and recently on the DOB defamation case (). Also love reading the comments esp the sarcastic ones from seasoned contributors

  12. rotide

    You wrote ‘mostly on twitter’ and then a lot of other words that weren’t neccesary after that

  13. Iwerzon

    Great stuff lads and fupp the begrudgers. Is there a way you can nudge the nasties over to the journal.ie?

    2. Tony

      The cartoons (and art/design/shiny cars stuff) are my favourite things on this site. I guess that’s why they don’t have comments under them (the old opinions and a/holes truism)

  15. dhaughton99

    I wish you would take some of that sweet, sweet shill money so I wouldn’t have to see ads for shirts, hair transplant ops in Istanbul and walk the Camino.

    2. McVitty

      I read an article a while ago on how the Irish Times’ revenue structure was changing. Basically, people would read the article, comment and come back to the same page again and again to see how people we responding to it. Each hit contributed to ad revenue. So you might see sites giving into temptation and having controversial or contentious content or semi-authoritative, subjective opinions reported…and letting the comment section run wild. The pay-wall and limited page views probably changed things at the Irish Times but I’m pretty sure TheJournal.ie has that going on…and they have paid staff.

  16. rotide

    It’s a bit much to imply you have no agenda, there’s very clearly an editorial bias on most stories simply due to frequency and tone of reporting.

  17. millie st murderlark

    You do you lads.

    I’m here mostly for the things that look vaguely like Ireland.

      1. SOQ

        And I picked up some SERIOUS jumpsuit tips yesterday. Who knew a shiny jumpsuit and plastic wellys would work so well?

  19. Marbe

    Please don’t change. Broadsheet is great, and I wouldn’t have you any other way. If some creatures are misguided enough to find fault it’s just their opinion, which we can ignore, disregard and rise above.

  20. Conall

    This is the voice of sane Irish people loved reading this post thank you. You do your best. Sometimes you think people are better than they are and your tolerance of criticism is far higher than most. But that’s what makes you special. Keep going.
    Keep going.

  21. Rich Uncle Skeleton

    If you have no agenda then how come stories tend to appear every 15 minutes or so?

  22. postmanpat

    Can we please use curse words and bad language? The F word shows up in some articles. It not fair we cant use it down here too. Or the Q, K, Z and E words without you auto “correcting” them to Ladypart, Self Pleasurer, Poo; Wee.

  28. GiggidyGoo

    Name any other media news supplier that gave anything like the BS reports on the Maurice McCabe issue. Or the current DOB court case.
    If ever BS does go down the funding road, then I for one will donate.

  30. Johnny

    -we live in quite a dangerous time for freedom of expression and the free press,Gawker being a example.
    -have followed the DOB case and w/o getting too much into it now,was taken aback by the judge shall we say his lukewarm commitment to freedom of the press.

  31. simon

    You guys cover in detail things that are otherwise ignored. You’re not always going to get everything spot on.

    Same as GO’D it seems. Spent hours on twitter trying to get a handle on what she was about: great on corruption, not so hot on trans/abortion/vaccines. my opinion.

    Anyway, the work you do is important and appreciated.

    1. rotide

      ” great on corruption”

      This is such a common misconception. She wasn’t great on corruption. She claimed Ireland was one of the most corrupt countries in the world (spoiler, it isn’t even close), that corrupt government murdered Veronica Guerin and that there is an evil cabal behind everything.

      All of this guff was well out in the open before her more distasteful (to the broadsheet cognesenti) material appeared on twitter

      1. Johnny

        You have the misconception-you either support freedom of speech or you don’t.
        You clearly don’t,given your whining non stop and OAP comments about how use a fecking mouse.
        But if you do support it you then don’t get pick what people say,but you can disagree with them or hey not read them !

        1. rotide

          You answered your own statement there Johnny. I do support freedom of speech, which gives me the right to say that certain people are full of it.

          1. johnny

            You have constantly harassed and harangued me on here, any time I post on Digicel-which most times included new material like say ratings agency credit reviews-that are quite simply not available anywhere else.
            But instead of ever engaging in any intelligent discussion about covenants or cash on hand-its always ‘Johnny is a stalker who’s obsessed with Dennis O’Brien, lives in a fantasy word’.
            Which is childish,belittling and often bullying,yeah some champion of free speech….

          2. martco

            ah don’t mind @editoR johnny he’s just a bitter lemon

            do keep throwing those inside tips in when you get them, it’s good to see what the enemy is up to

            and thanks BS for yer efforts, I learn new things here all the time and at a depth that ordinarily I wouldn’t get elsewhere, overall a great service

  32. Cú Chulainn

    You do us all a great service.. the jokes are funny.. the serious stuff is proper serious.. and the tossers will always be with us.. mores the pity.. keep her going..!! Thanks Cu

  33. Annonnymouse 1

    To be honest, you do have an agenda, and it’s generally anti-Government and anti-civil servant, especially in health areas. I don’t mind, as I read you regardless aware of your bias, but I do think you should acknowledge it to yourselves. Not everyone who protests is in the right, and not everyone in Government or the civil service is out for themselves.

  34. Daisy Chainsaw

    I may not always agree with your stance on issues, but you at least allow for a contrary opinion to stand. (and I’m contrary and opinionated at the best of times too!)

  35. Clampers Outside !

    Keep doin’ the do that you do do best Broadsheet !

    Ya know I loves ya, always and forever x

    Now get that lad to do more movies! :) And more classic Hot Wheels! And things that look like other things, cartoons, Irish rap and select animations, and the newspapers, and covering big stories as you do ! Thanks Olga, thanks Preposterous & Co.

  37. Bertie Blenkinsop

    Favourite website of all time, I love the headlines, the contributors and the mad tangents the most mundane post can take.

    Keep up the good work.

      1. missred

        I was about to say, the virtual matchmaking is a marvellous side effect. If only real couples could talk such wonderfully seedy platitudes to one another, there’d be no need for so many divorces

          3. scottser

            Will cian be around to offer Bertie a shoulder to cry on when Liverpool blow the title this year?

  38. milliem

    I’ve never been to the Republic of Ireland but Broadsheet is one of the few websites that I make a point of visiting every day because it’s an excellent website with loads of interesting and often amusing articles on it. Even the comments are usually worth reading because the regular repliers, in the main, come across to me as witty, intelligent and occasionally informative.

    Keep up the good work, don’t ever change and don’t give in to the moaning minnies who find fault with everything.

    1. realPolithicks

      If you don’t mind my asking milliem, where are you from? (feel free to ignore)

    2. rotide

      Fascinating. Is there really enough non irish specific content to keep someone with no ties interested?

  40. McVitty

    If you feel Gemma O’Doherty has something to offer to the discourse or that something can be learned from looking into the way the Roosky demonstration played out, then that is part of journalism and the journalistic spirit of factual account…and sometimes putting things together in an effort to understand the zeitgeist.

    There are insecure and deeply narcissistic people who want to control the narrative and they are easily upset and quickly resort to intimidation tactics.

    As seen in the deleted Roosky thread, they make it such that not exploring these things is in your best interest and is easiest for everyone. Screw these bullies. This world belongs to nobody (yet).

  42. Broadbag

    There’s a good 20 to 30 (maybe more!) posts for every misstep and it’s clear you’re not making any money out of this so f the begrudgers and keep up the amazing work!

  44. Jupiter

    If i had money I’d take out an ad or something to help ye keep things afloat. Keep up the good work

  46. Nigel

    The guy who wrote the article that got deleted commented here, and his comments also got deleted. The anti-immigrant AP = Rothschild Qanon guy he originally wrote about gets an interview presented in a cringingly faux-neutral way. What does that all indicate?

    4. Bodger

      Nothing, Nigel, the comments doubled down on statements made in the original article which was the subject of three separate legal threats (centering on the meaning of terms like ‘alt right’). We feature William Campbell’s podcasts whenever he has one out. His interview with Mr Croft is very adversarial.

      1. Nigel

        Actually that’s the sort of thing I thought it might indictate. Legal threats and platforms where we must decide for ourselves if gibberish is gibberish and argue whether up is up and alt right is alt right. What a vista.

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