Bitter-Sweet Irish Times Coverage of Russia.

by Irish Times Thu Feb 24, 2005 13:37

If you've got internet access don't waist a penny on the Irish Times to read about international news. That's the first thing I wonna say. There are countless resources out there, from NGOs and discussion sites (the best sources, I find), to independent news and international newspaper websites.

Though I guess whether you read the IT or not, others in Ireland (about 100,000 or so daily?) still will. The same goes for RTE News.

One day in late 2001 RTE News were reporting on the US attacks on Afghanistan they included a US flag draped over the RTE graphics and the slogan "War on terrorism" where the foreign correspondent's name and title normally goes. I complained the following morning, and phoned in my complaint to Marian Finucan's RTE radio program. I said that I couldn't recall seeing the Russian flag draped over RTE's graphics and the slogan "War on terrorism" (or anything like it!) when RTE News last reported on Chechnya. The producers found it not important enough to discuss, and Marian shrugged it off as "some observant viewer" noticed something about flags on air.

When was the last time the Irish Times referred to Bush Snr as the former head of the CIA (during the time of the Iran-Contra affair!)?

by toneore Wed Feb 23, 2005 18:41 toneore at eircom dot net

Priveyt!

That may be true, but it's hard to see what benefit the Irish Times could benefit from misrepresenting Russia or being underhand about her President. I think it's more a case that they don't know what's going on and can't penetrate the Russian political culture to inject any real insights into life in Russia. I'm not sure about subsequent IT correspondents in Russia, but initally the reports they published in the 80's were little better than official handouts from the State - the first correspondent didn't speak Russian, for example.

On the other hand, the Putin government is less open than it could be and diliberately suppressed the truth about the Beslan murders and their own incomptence, same for the Kursk tragedy, and their take on the Yukos crackdown is politically charged. I'm not saying that is wrong given the challenges in governing Russia, plus Russians expect tough government becase they believe its good government - which is fair enough given what they'd tried to do and the way they've been treated by "the west". However, such cultural pardigms would make it difficult for the Irish Times to be little more than a cypher for reports of others.
There isn't an Indymedia in Moscow (or Russia?) - very surprising given the technical excellence of the people and the tradition of Samizdat/Tamizdat, so that could be telling in itself.

Btw, I don't buy this Peter the Great crap about Russia being European. Ever looked up Vladivostock on a map...

by Maria Wed Feb 23, 2005 15:46

But apparently, the world is not happy with it. And if the world is not happy with Russian system - criticism, trade barriers seem to go into action.
My main point is enough of this political bla-bla, boring :(
After the collapse of the "cordon sanitaire", it's not Russia that is alienating itself, the EU and the US do not want to have anything to do with Russia unless this and that. Russia is not a puppet, it is a country neither better nor worse, a partner that has smth to share.

by Guided Democrat Wed Feb 23, 2005 15:35

Think of the implications of this:
"Russia needs a completely different ruling system essentially because it is NOT a European country..." (see above).

Surely Russia can have any system Russia wants regardless of whether Russians are or see themselves as European or not.

by redjade Wed Feb 23, 2005 15:22

Perhaps the IT is not a 'national paper' - but it is the 'newspaper of record' - the one you quote if you need a footnote of some bit of rep, as opposed to citing The Herald, for example.

-- -- --

The Irish Times is cited as a 'Newspaper of Record' at Wikipedia:
http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=?tname=the-irish-times

'newspaper of record' means...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newspaper_of_record

A newspaper of record is a broadsheet (although now some of these publications have switched or are planning to switch to a tabloid or compact format) newspaper with high standards of journalism.

Newspapers of record are usually found internationaly at newsstands as representative of the publishing country's news.

Newspapers of record generally have strong editors and proprietors and are allowed to hold independent views from those of their proprietor.

by Maria Wed Feb 23, 2005 15:07

But the Irish Times is definitely more professional and has more correspondents outside Ireland. Plus, there are great journalists writing for the IT.
I also agree with you on its extreme marketing campaign (I hope we are talking about the same thing here).

by N Wed Feb 23, 2005 15:03

"The problem is people tend to believe or at least partially believe in what they read, especially in the national newspaper"

Have to take issue with you there, Maria. The Irish Times is NOT "the" national paper. There are three other morning papers in the country, the Examiner, the Irish Independent, and Daily Ireland.
And if you have been following recent events regarding the Irish Times you would be aware of the depths to which it prepared to go to sell copies.