i'm just chuffed

as they say here. over the moon. i never thought my imaginary career in waste management could reach such heights. Jersey boy makes good.

homophobia vs national security

is a debate we should never have to have. but we do.

Not libel, but newspapers in trouble again

Because of his well established criminal history, the comments in the Sunday World against Martin Foley weren't considered defamatory. Still, this "Dublin criminal" took a major newspaper (and the country's top crime reporter) to court for what they published. I have to say, he might actually be onto something here. It does sound like his life may be in more danger now that it was before.

Revisionist history

still happening today. Or at least Sinn Fein is trying. Check out this daft bit of intended propaganda.

Presumption of innocence

Should this extend to (criminal) organizations as well as individuals? I have to think yes. All speculation aside, I believe the burden of proof is on the police force to prove IRA involment in this bank robbery, rather than for the IRA to demonstrate its innocence.

So far we have only claims and denials....

It's all about the cash

Check out this line from the media "commentator" who was on the Bush payroll to tout their policy undercover.

a chat with readers on WashingtonPost.com this week, Williams was asked
more than once about returning the money. He said he wouldn't because he'd been
paid to do a job and he'd done it; that the only mistake he'd made was not
disclosing the arrangement. "We delivered on our goals and they delivered on
their compensation."

Tit for tat... Doing his job...

That sentence alone deserves some kind of prize for candor about how the
public's business is now done in Washington. Indeed, watching the Williams case
unfold makes it feel like someone finally shined a light on a murky old swamp.
Media figures have been "selling" themselves to people in government for years.
But the pay the toadies traditionally get in return for their supportive
opinions isn't actual money. It's access, invitations to fancy parties, phone
calls from movers and shakers -- the feeling of power.

Selling America abroad

Quite an interesting poll discussed at Slate. The thrust is that some "American" companies are perceived as being more American than others, and thus less desirable to European consumers.

I've no doubt that some things will always be perceived as more or less Americans -- whether this is in fact a bad thing in the long run, as the marketers imply, is less certain. Is Guinness not desirable in part because of its perceived Irishness? (It's now owned by UK-based Diageo). Is a Ferrari not sexy partly because it's Italian? And BMWs not revered because of their German engineering?

National connections don't have to be a bad thing at all. They just won't be universally attached to products. Smart companies will just have to figure out when to play it up and when not to.

Why you don't want to be like Mike

The dressing down of a (former?) icon. We never really did know the man behind the brand, did we?

So long, thanks for all the fish

A brilliant humorist and very keen observationist is lending us his skills no longer. Dave Barry has entered semi-retirement. But there is hope -- perhaps he could take over for Safire someday...

A fresh take on Irish libel

Kevin Myers, stirring shit as usual. Quite an interesting take on libelling Sinn Fein, though...

Yet why this pervading fear of libel? For a libel to have weight, it must
defame: and what senior members of Provisional Sinn Féin would feel defamed by
allegations that they were in the IRA? The IRA is what shapes and defines Sinn
Féin. Without its stockpile of guns, Sinn Féin is merely Fianna Fáil with
attitude.

When factual compromise becomes part of the journalistic stock in
trade, is it surprising that a culture of inexactitude proves contagious? Thus
the general misinterpretation of a Provisional press briefing after the Northern
Bank robbery, when an unnamed IRA source was then quoted by many newspapers,
including this one, as saying: "We are dismissing any suggestion or allegation
that we were involved." A dismissal of an allegation is absolutely not a denial,
yet it was nonetheless transformed uncompromisingly into one in lead stories
everywhere.

More campus conservativism?

Or progressively evolving attitudes among self-described "liberals"? One Yalie speaks up.

Jobs and taxes

funny how a one-off cash payment to the American taxpayer courtesty of Bush & Co. was designed to create jobs and stimulate the economy, but the exact same thing from corporations in now being prevented.

Under a Bush plan that allows companies to bring foreign profits into the US without additional tax penalties, these companies are restricted from spending the cash, though. So much for laisser faire GOP government.

In a setback for many of the biggest potential beneficiaries, the Treasury
Department said companies could not use their windfalls for repurchases of stock
or increases in shareholder dividends. [my emphasis]

what's more...

The rules would help companies finance some activities that do little to
directly increase employment, and a few - like corporate acquisitions - that
might lead to job cuts.

Coherent policy, huh?.

And then the potential Irish implications: A massive exodus of capital.

Despite the unenthusiastic response from investors to the new rules, the
tax break could provide a huge windfall to many technology and pharmaceutical
companies that have earned billions of dollars in low-tax countries like
Ireland. [my emphasis] Oracle, the business-software company, has estimated that its tax break on foreign profits could be as much as $650 million.

Will be interesting to see how Bertie spins this one...

Creative research methodology

I love these little tidbits. Check out how well Amazon's "search inside the book" feature, designed to sell more books by letting people virtually thumb through a book the way they might in an actual bookstore, serves sociological research. Fascinating. And damn smart.

Drawing the line

Or, re-drawing the lines, as it were. Here's a good analysis of the Schwartzenegger proposal to change the way congressional districts are determined. While it might be a losing proposal in the short term for California democrats, it's surely in their interest to be on the right side of responsive, democratic government. But the same principle holds for Dems around the whole country -- and there are many states that they would quickly recoup any CA losses in. It seems like a smart (perhaps naive and idealistic) national political principle. The idea of permanently entrenched incumbents ought to be as distasteful to the party of equal opportunity as it is to me.

Go SF! I knew I liked the place for a reason

SF is considering introducing a plastic bag tax similar to one already in place in Ireland. I 100% whole-heartedly approve of the idea. I was shocked, absolutely blown away, at the effectiveness of a €0.15 / bag charge in grocery stores in Ireland -- nearly no one uses the give-away bags! Some estimates say the consumption fell more than 90%! The Irish pour so much of their new-found wealth into wasteful things (booze, big cars, bribes) and some into worthy causes (witness the recent generocity for tsunami victims), but a 15 cent charge has completely changed their behavior. AND MINE! I kick myself when I forget to bring my own bag along to the store. It's truly an amazing consumer behavior change. Over 15 cents! I've never appreciated tax policy more.

More sellouts?

Who else will fall? It's a disgusting breach of ethics -- anyone on such a payroll should be sacked from any respectable news org at once.

Campus Conservatives gain power

plenty of P'town action in this lenghty (6,000 word) but quite interesting piece. The thrust is that right-of-center students are making serious in-roads against an overwhelmingly left-of-center institutional academia.

I don't remember any obtusely politicized lectures while at Princeton, but first, I was far less conscious of it, and secondly, the national political tone was less charged. Sure, there was plenty of talk about Clinton and Monica, but the stakes just weren't there. Impeachment was an academic exercise; war in the Middle East is all too real. And sure, most of the campus supported Gore over Bush, but that had far more to do with our preference for someone we deemed to be about as smart as we were vs. someone we deemed an idiot. Switch their parties and I think the campus would have switched with them.

I don't doubt the phenomenon, though. I think Ireland will be on the lagging edge of this one though, as my experience here has been that of the lone American, expected to stand for all charges against the US. I've seen angry anti-US political diatribes that have absolutely nothing to do with class content, and I've heard plenty of snide comments that assume everyone listening shares the same leftish politics. I've buckled against the system at times, mostly out of principle. It just doesn't feel intellectually honest to get such a one-sided view of contentious, unresolved issues. I don't doubt a more organized movement will come.

Waiting on hold ... can you hear me now?

Fresh insight into consumer marketing practices, including that familiar "this call may be recorded for quality assurance" line.

One shocking anecdote:

Recently, Mr. Pike [a call monitor]stumbled onto a call where a young male
customer was flirting with a female service agent at a cellphone company. After
some giggles and banter, the woman relented and gave her personal phone
number to the customer. Mr. Pike quickly alerted the cellphone company to
the phone date.

What's the matter with that? Are doing your job and engaging in personal contact mutually exclusive? Can't Big Brother let us have a little fun? The double-standard that "professionals" get away with is sometimes shocking.

Media fallout

The 'Rather-gate' scandal doesn't seem to grab the national attention the way the Hutton report did in the UK, but it's still a pretty big deal for the media biz. At least we have some resolution, and a resonably thorough post-mortem investigation. There's hope for accountability yet.

Reporting on Gonzales in context

If I see "quaint" and "obsolete" printed alone again, out of context, anywhere near the name Gonzales, I'm going to write angry letters to editors. Shame on you, Irish Times. How's that for righteous indignation and action?

I think the role of Gonzales in shaping US prisioner of war policy should be thoroughly aired in public, but I find it grossly negligent (or politically malignant) of journalists the world over to keep reporting that Gonzales declared the Geneva convention "quaint" and "obsolete", just like that. He did write those things, so it's technically fair game, but the full context gives a very different meaning.

What he actually wrote was that the current war on terrorism "renders obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions requiring that captured enemy be afforded such things as commissary privileges, scrip (i.e., advances of monthly pay), athletic uniforms and scientific instruments." (some commentary here)

I think people would react quite differently if that sentence were in the evening news.

New Year's resolutions in Italy?

To quit smoking? Can't do it (legally) in bars anymore, so we might see a fall...

Mama mia, what is the world coming to? Is "American or northern European puritanism" taking over the Mediterranean? Or are 3/4 of Italians sick of smelling like smoke? Ireland may have started something bigger than we think...

Buried in the Irish Times

this hopeful story on peace in Sudan. It's not Darfur, but it's a start.

Provocative as always

Mark Steyn on the "Muslim world's" lack of charity for tsunami victims, in contrast to that of the West. Are making war and doing good mutually exclusive, as he asks? Are we giving money for all the right reasons, as he assumes?

State of the State by Arnie

Many doubted before his run that Arnold Schwartzenegger was a gifted politician. He is. Here's why.

ps. Even Michael Moore is calling on Democrats to "find their own Arnold". Maybe there is a constitutional amendement in the works...

GOP getting too cozy with journalists

Preferential treatment for favored journalists is one thing...outright bribery is another.

If any other journalist (or more likely pundit and commentator) who had a personally held belief that happened to overlap with the Clinton White House's own beliefs were paid by the Clinton White House, with or without any sort of disclosure, there would have been such high indignant moral outrage from the GOP. Time to start owning up to a lot of internal inconsistencies and outright hypocracies: Williams should be professionally disgraced, and anyone who touched this at the White House or Department of Education should be sacked.

We need to trust the independent voices that tell us the government is doing the right thing. As smart media consumers we should be able to see through the sycophants and apologists, and take the governments own word skeptically, but in our kind of democracy, we shouldn't have to pick out the paid plants from supposed experts.

These Irish birth numbers seem fishy to me...

The Indo reports non-EU birth rates falling in the wake of the citizenship referendum.

Dr Keane said before the referendum that 16pc of the deliveries at the
hospital were to non-EU women and 5pc to mothers from other EU countries.
Since the referendum, mothers from the EU now account for 16pc of births,
while those outside the EU make up just 5pc, he told irishhealth.com.

If the referendum scared all those supposed 'citizenship tourists' away, how come the number of EU births jumped so much? Let's do some quick math. Take 100 births. 16 to non-EU (we're meant to think the likes of Nigeria, but also include the US and Australia), 5 to other EU (think English and French). That leaves 81 / 100 births to Irish-national parents (or at least Irish mothers).

Now, post-referendum, take away a bunch of non-EU births, because the parents can't or don't want to come into the country to give birth. We would assume the 5pc EU births stay unchanged, since presumably EU citizenship wasn't a goal of parents already in the EU, and these happen naturally with tourism and legal migrant workers. But that's impossible with these numbers -- even if non-EU birth fell to zero, 5/(81+5) is only about 6%, not 16%, of births. Something else changed.

Several possiblities:

1) Indo got its facts wrong. wouldn't be surprised.

2) Something changed in EU-birth accounting. Something, I suspect, like adding Poland, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, and a bunch of other higher birthrate countries.

3) Something changed in Irish birth accounting. The something, I suspect, is a bit harder to come by, but I find it tough to believe that the Irish share remained perfectly unchanged.

4) Something changed to scare non-EU parents away from Ireland. The something, I suspect, was in the fact the referendum. I suppose someone is quite proud of this one.

My opinion, mostly (2), a bit of (1), and sadly a successful (4). I'll see what else I can to confirm.

Indecent Proposals

A movement gaining momentum in the US, especially the South and other "Red State" areas, is the idea of covenant marriage, in which couples add extra legal strength to normal marriages by limiting divorce to cases of abuse, felony, or adultery, or at least 2 years of separation.

Relative to Irish laws, this is still pretty lax, and certainly seems a more honest "defence of marriage" than demonizing gays. I was surprised to see the normally reasoned TNR raise such a sophomoric objection against it.

Effectively, they argue that people will still find ways out of marriage. Well, true. Where's the insight? Undoubtedly, some of these marriages will end in divorce, and they allow for that explicitly. Any of the 3 big no-no's, or a 2 year separation, are enough to start the process. (Marriage councelling is also required, but that hardly seems an enduring barrier)

How many rocky marriages might be saved, though, if divorce couldn't happen on a whim? Not all, but some positive number. That's the point of the movement, as far as I can tell. There's no denying the "social realities" that some people don't want to stay married to each other, simply the admirable goal of attempting to repair some repairable marriages. And there's always the 2-year bail-out clause if councelling and reconciliation don't work.

The most interesting point is about how many divorces might be prevented if we don't allow certain people to get married in the first place:

"The reality is that too many people are getting married who shouldn't. In
Arkansas, for example, the divorce rate is more than 50 percent above the
national average. But the marriage rate is almost twice the national average. So
the real question isn't how to force people to stay married, but how to prevent
divorce candidates from getting married in the first place."

Younger and poorer people get divorced more often than older and wealther people, so maybe we should prevent that, they suggest. That's certainly a mathematical truth, but a very revealing argument. Sometimes you have to destroy a village to save it.

TNR even acknowledges that the covenant movement makes positive progress in this direction by requiring pre-marital counceling, and then decries them for not doing enough.

Is this perfect? Not by a long shot. But does it contain helpful ideas without introducing additional negative ones? I think so, and in that respect is worth studying rather than dismissing.

Public / Private donation contrast

The Irish government is trying in vain to keep pace with private donations. Not unexpected from either the Irish public (generous to a fault), nor the government (incompetent to a T).

It's this kind of behavior by the smaller countries of the world (as well as some domestic hand-wringing) that led a visibly testy White House to increase disaster aid commitments by nearly 10x over the initial amounts (which were 4 days late as it was).

Not to pollute noble actions with petty politics, but activists take note: there are successful (albeit very indirect and uncredited) ways to affect US policy. The rest of the world pulled "moral values" out from underneath the Bush administration on this one. It's one of the very basic tenets of both politics and warfare: make your enemy's strenght his weakness. Bush & Co. have been masterful at this in the past, and their opposition has been both timid and impotent in response. Perhaps they will (re?)learn small lessons here.

Ethnocentricity in tragedy

I was watching Fox News out of curiosity while at home in New Jersey for Christmas. After hearing so much complaining about it in Europe (where it's not easy to catch, so I must suspect that most complaining is done without primary source material), I thought it worth my while as a student of journalism to spend some time getting "fair and balanced" commentary straight from the source.

I picked it up around 2 or 3 pm on Dec 26th, when I first learned of the tsunami that smashed across Asia. Not 5 minutes passed before Fox commentators began speculating about American dead. Later in the day State Dept spokesmen began feeding some info, but the demand for American-specific info didn't subside even as the scale of the tragedy became more apparent, hour by hour, day by day.

I was initially surprised at the focus, and then ashamed at my naivete. One of the first things we learned about 'making' news is to make it local. I was tuned into Fox, so I don't know to what extent others were doing the same, but I suspect they weren't alone.

So surely, it is unfortunate that there were any Irish deaths from the Asian tsunami, and surely, it is equally inevitable that they would be covered in the Irish media. I one hope that they continue to be covered respectfully, given scale of the disaster.

Setting the context properly

The NYT's in-house Third-World development advocate, Nicholas Kristof, writes a good piece about the mere pennies that the US actually sends abroad in aid each year.

Without talking one way or the other about the amount or efficacy of US foreign aid, I think Kristoff deserves some kudos for his argumentation. With only a very few words (<800) and no heavy math, he puts the casualty numbers from the recent tsunami in context with other world health issues. While relating some very accessible -- and very meaningful -- statistics on foreign aid donations, he actually manages a back-handed complement for Bush (who grew per capita donations vs Clinton) while making his broader point that the US is, relative to the rest of the developed world, very stingy about giving out aid money.

To humanize the story, he moves well from a very powerful macro-health discussion to a very, very micro discussion about people he's met in Cambodia and the Congo. I think it's a bit cliched to pull in the grandmother-and-small-children sob stories, but the macro/micro treatment is very effective.

I'd like to see a steadier stream of such politically-neutral, issue-oriented opinion writing, but it's rare enough to come across it at all. Kristoff (and the rest of the NYT oped panel) are as guilty as anyone else of putting on political blinders before they type away, but when they're in form it's clear why they have the best column space in the world.

k.

New Year's Resolution

I'm going to contribute more (and more often) to this blog to satisfy the undocumented, unproven, and possibly non-existent demand for Irish/American media analysis.

Let's face it: I need the practice. Despite the last 3-4 months of J-school, my portfolio still isn't much to speak of. Most of the ramblings and musings of my life don't make it as far as the printed page. I was already employed at this stage in my undergraduate education, and the prospect of a newspaper job is still as distant as it was when I started down this path.

So this will be a continuing personal exercise to train my hand and mind at the craft of journalism. Previous attempts have been abandoned after a few early posts; motivation fades; other deadlines loom.

However, I do have ulterior motives. This exercise may well evolve into a class project on personal explorations in journalism. More will certainly follow on this decision.

So if you're reading, Mr. Quin, please note that I'm doing this in full color Red-White-and-Blue style, complete with Oxford commas (after 'unproven', for example) and periods (not full stops, despite my new-found fondness for the word) after all the Mr.'s and Mrs.'s out there. And this will all be in 'color', not the slightly more cumbersome but equally descriptive 'colour' of the Irish press. Internet law is fuzzy at best; style guides are non-existent. I'm going with what I know best.

With that out of the way, let's get to the nitty gritty. My goals for this blog are three-fold:

1) Point out the most important 'news' stories of the day, from across the world's media

2) Highlight the best and the worst of opinion and analysis writing, in both Irish and American media

3) Provide context and personal commentary to aid understanding, mold opinion, and enliven the media-consuming experience

and of course, should this evolve into the exploration project it certainly could, there is a fourth:

4) Pass the class


Happy New Year --

k.