vincent browne's the village voice

chewy

A challenge to the cosy media/society consensus?

here a decent article on it, i give it six months till it folds though...

Vincent Browne has taken on a significant challenge. 'Quality investigative reporting' doesn't come cheap, which must be the reason why Irish newspapers allocate insignificant resources to it. His planned new magazine will likely depend largely on freelance journalists, paid by article while material such as US book reviews is easily available online for those who are interested. Good content depends on good research. Can it provide compelling material that is not available in so many other publications?
It remains to be seen as to whether about 5% of purchasers of the main dailies on a Saturday- all multi-sectioned- will have sufficient appetite and reading time for Village. Vincent Browne currently has weekly columns in two newspapers as well as a four-nightly radio political programme. His views are well known and the bar is higher today than when he founded Magill magazine, which is also about to have a rebirth. The mask has already been lifted from the ugly face of Irish society and the Internet provides access to a huge range of interesting information. The challenge is to produce a publication each week that is much more than another clone of Vincent Browne, while providing a fresh insight into public affairs that cannot be just browsed through, free at a newsstand.


http://www.finfacts.ie/comment/vincentbrownevillage.htm

Hairy Homer

chewy wrote:

A challenge to the cosy media/society consensus?

here a decent article on it, i give it six months till it folds though...

Vincent Browne has taken on a significant challenge. 'Quality investigative reporting' doesn't come cheap, which must be the reason why Irish newspapers allocate insignificant resources to it. His planned new magazine will likely depend largely on freelance journalists, paid by article while material such as US book reviews is easily available online for those who are interested. Good content depends on good research. Can it provide compelling material that is not available in so many other publications?
It remains to be seen as to whether about 5% of purchasers of the main dailies on a Saturday- all multi-sectioned- will have sufficient appetite and reading time for Village. Vincent Browne currently has weekly columns in two newspapers as well as a four-nightly radio political programme. His views are well known and the bar is higher today than when he founded Magill magazine, which is also about to have a rebirth. The mask has already been lifted from the ugly face of Irish society and the Internet provides access to a huge range of interesting information. The challenge is to produce a publication each week that is much more than another clone of Vincent Browne, while providing a fresh insight into public affairs that cannot be just browsed through, free at a newsstand.


http://www.finfacts.ie/comment/vincentbrownevillage.htm

Well let's wait and see what it turns out like first.

Browne has a number of points in his favour, assuming he can bring the same levels of energy, indignation and tenacity to his new project as he used to bring to Magill back when it was good, about 20 years ago.

1) Nobody knows how to force a story on to the national news agenda better than he. For example, the bogus non-resident accounts which Magill broke a few years back. That dominated the national news schedules for a year and has still not faded away.

2) He's (usually) a fine judge of up and coming journalistic talent and believes in giving it a break. The corollary of course is that he is reputedly an absolute bastard to work for and anybody with any track record and self respect will end up chinning him before too long. Nevertheless, he knows how to make the young and eager act energetically and eagerly and that's no bad thing.

3) He knows how to sweeten a diet of heavy political analysis with popular content , written in a style that appeals to middle brow tastes. The old Magill had some of the best sports coverage in the country, ranging across all popular sports GAA soccer and rugby. It could occasionally churn out the odd readable arts review as well.

4) Contrary to the bleatings of the right-wing ratbags that infest the opinion columns of most Irish national papers, there isn't a credible, radical left-of-centre publication keeping the actions of the elite under scrutiny. The more hysterically the right rages about the 'left wing media establishment'--and this is a global phenomenon, not just a local one--the more they sound like the crowd in the fairy tale admiring the naked emperor's new clothes.

There is therefore a niche for a well written, well argued radical magazine that takes a swipe at the legitmate targets guarded so fiercely by the likes of the Indo and (increasingly) the Irish Times.



Points against Browne

Nobody can work with the bastard


PS I've never met the man in my life. All evidence for this last point is anecdotal. But rarely challenged.

chewy

i hope it does well but its all about the money i don't see it lasting cos of that...

btw i bought the phoenix for the first time ever cos people are always talking about it didn't think much of it..

mike65

I'll certainly buy the first edition, hopefully it'll live up to the ideals of Browne in terms of quaility and diverse opinion. I'd say the pricing will be vital - if its more than 5 euro it'll stuggle.

Mike.

tadgher

It will also be interesting if they target the subscriptions market.

I know that Magill, for example, only gave a small reduction on price for subscriptions, while a lot of serious magazines will give you c. 50% off the cover price if you subscribe.

Seion

One of the major challenges a magazine featuring investigative journalism will face is simply resourcing. As pointed out above, much of the content of magazines like the Villiage are sourced through freelance writers and in Ireland, freelance rates are extremely low in comparison to other countries, and in particular with the UK. Often you'll hear people comment on the quality of the reportage featured in the Sunday Times and other UK publications and how poorly the Irish media compares, but often there is a good reason, or at least one good reason anyway. Freelance rates in the UK make it possible to spend weeks researching and writing in depth features, when that is just not possible here.

Most freelance journalists here must churn articles out as quickly as possible in order to actually make a living, and unless a magazine like Villiage puts serious cash behind this aspect of it's business model, it seems likely to me that the supply of agenda-setting cover stories will run out fairly quickly. I've often thought that if a news outlet really wanted to make a name for itself, it should establish a 'trophy commision' whereby it paid several grand for a cover story, allowing freelances the time and space to actually do an authoritative job. It's actually to the credit of the media here that what is produced is as good as it is.

Cork

Magill is also about to be relaunched. It is good to see more titles on the news stand.

Both publications could do with good websites to encourage people to buy a hard copy.

monument

The website is up (http://www.villagemagazine.ie/), and it’s out this Saturday.

monument

Picked it up this evening, I’ve had a quick look through it – so far so good, I’ll be buying it again. It probably isn’t a fluke that the launch tied into the week of the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report. However, it was surprising (although understandable) it appeared on the newsagent’s shelf in newspaper-magazine form, in design it’s similar to the recently redesigned Sunday Tribune.

flogen

I must pick up a copy of that...

/me adds The Village to list

flogen

eefs

I haven't actually read it myself yet. Just flicked through it in work after selling it to someone. Will pick it up tomorrow.

Although, I do know they're really trying to push the freelance journalism aspect of it. They have a skeleton staff and are looking for submissions from everyone. My class was actively encouraged to hound Browne with articles on any kind of topic by our lecturer (on the editorial staff). And the staff themselves are reported to be on the younger side.

the Irish media needs to create a good reportage, and editorial, reputation. We do a lot of hard news but a lot of the analysis and investigative reporting is mediocre at best. Perhaps The Village will create a whole new niche of Irish journalism. (And a job for me when I graduate )

I think: give it six months. It will have either faded into the realms of black-hole-ville, along with WHO magazine, or it will be the most quoted puplication on "The Last Word".

To be honest, I don't know which is worse.

flogen

eefs wrote:

I haven't actually read it myself yet. Just flicked through it in work after selling it to someone. Will pick it up tomorrow.

Although, I do know they're really trying to push the freelance journalism aspect of it. They have a skeleton staff and are looking for submissions from everyone. My class was actively encouraged to hound Browne with articles on any kind of topic by our lecturer (on the editorial staff). And the staff themselves are reported to be on the younger side.

the Irish media needs to create a good reportage, and editorial, reputation. We do a lot of hard news but a lot of the analysis and investigative reporting is mediocre at best. Perhaps The Village will create a whole new niche of Irish journalism. (And a job for me when I graduate )

I think: give it six months. It will have either faded into the realms of black-hole-ville, along with WHO magazine, or it will be the most quoted puplication on "The Last Word".

To be honest, I don't know which is worse.

Well going by the website I'd say you're spot on. A very slim reporter staff, and they all graduated recently, one in 2003 and one says "just graduated". Will certainly be picking up a copy and seeing if I can get something into it.

flogen

dangerman

very ordinary design - it comes off as quite cheap feeling, I think even a heavier weight and glossy paper for the cover would have done it a lot of good. though i guess cost wise this is the most effective.

there's inconsistency in the type used for headlines. Also articles just seem to be plopped anywhere as opposed to a consistent flow to the publication.

the less said about the actual logo the better, its very unoriginal, the icon in the A reminds me of the Ireland Online logo back in 1996-7. I don't see why they were compelled to make it so like other publications, especially the tribune magazine etc. I'm at a loss to understand the red on white masthead. Without the scary photo of Harney on the cover it would be hard to pick the paper out at the newstand. it was designed by http://www.belknap.co.uk/ and if you look at their backlog of work its easy to see why the village came off the way it did but imo it's just not particularly interesting.

Content wise though it's not bad and I think if it can last a bit of time the content will only get better.

mycroft

I found so remarkable about it is this.

The village is supposed to be about quality investiagtive reporting but;

The story about terror suspects going through shannon first appeared on indymedia.ie last week here

And the story here hill of Tara motor way was published on indymedia.ie back in march here

Thats two major articles from the 1st issue ripped off from another news site which has even less resources and zero staff.

It's both distress and disturbing and does not bode well for the quality of journalism we can expect

monument

In what way are the two Village articles "ripping off" the Indymedia ones? The M3 story in the Village is nearly page long, while Indymedia's is just over 300 words.

If you’re somehow ranting just about the timing of the two Village articles, then I'd like to point out the publication has just launched, both stories merit coverage (never mind that the majority of Village readers will probably have never, or rarely, read Indymedia), and the issues covered have not gone away…

As the Shannon kidnap article ends, “the deafening media silence on the issue of expanding US international terror network is a rerun of the cheerleading coverage which accompanied the invasion of Iraq”.

Or maybe you’re trying to say once one publication publishes a ‘investigative reporting’ story on a subject, all others should forget about the issue?

chewy

yeah i too was surprised it wasn't glossy but it guess that cost for you...

i was wondering why there was bit on trees stuck under the ac&G report...

i dunno think this issue was rushed out is it just me or does the site not even come up right for you?

there was no additional info or analysis of the shannon guantomeno story which was what i was looking for... it could have creidtied indymedia as the cyberspace location or mentioned tim h and co work more...?

i thought the main story was well covered...

i went into threes shops on saturday night rushing for the bus at 11.00 and it was sold out in all of them... at that time...

i will buy it next week too...

i didn't really see any unique freelance writing in it...

Flukey

It appears that a lot of us will buy the first edition as will thousands of people. The real test is whether people buy the second one!

Victor

Flukey wrote:

It appears that a lot of us will buy the first edition as will thousands of people. The real test is whether people buy the second one!

It's free. Most people seem to take it (a) it's free (b) because theres a pretty blonde on the cover.

chewy

mary harney???

victor??

Victor

Ooops, I'm thinking of "Totally Dublin"

mycroft wrote:

The story about terror suspects going through shannon first appeared on indymedia.ie last week here

Actually that story is several months old. I suspect it may have been Phoenix originally asked the questions.

chewy

anybody still getting this...

they initially made a big deal about publishing clear corrections and apologies, and then in there second issue the put the photo of the wrong man on the front page... ouch,,, had to make substantial damages payments

it was the story about the betting office owner who placed a bet in his shop.... they put up a picture of a complete different but horse racing associated person in the paper three times...


decent enough though does me on a sunday when there so little choice of newspaper

monument

Yeah, and in last Saturday's edition on the contents page, just inside the cover, they published an apology taking up about one third of the page. All without a flutter of sarcasm.


"decent enough though does me on a sunday when there so little choice of newspaper"

What about the Sunday Business Post, the Tribune, err, the {London} Times? Err, err, err the Sindo [sic!]?

alleepally

Might be worthwhile resurrecting this. I've only recently reverted to a 'normal' working week and now get a chance to do a bit of reading at the weekend. I've picked up Village over the last 3 weeks and I just can't work out what market it is targeting or how it's going to survive longer term. There is hardly any advertising in it, the cover price is 3.95 and prominence on news stands is low and therefore presumably the circulation is low. The economics just don't work. I'll give it to the summer and then bye bye.

chewy

i know weekend newspapers stand can get a bit busy/messy but boy is it usualy buried?

its got to many profiles of people and not issue stories,

it hard a photo of andrea corr on the back last week so did the sindo nuff said:(

mycroft

nuff said?

What is this 1989?

This week it had the potentially fascinating story that two women Monica Leech (cullen's pr) and another Monice Leeck (or something) both had their laptops stolen in and around the same time, at the time, it was assumed the non cullen Monica was the victim of IRA/security service as in her capacity as a barrister had been working on several IRA related cases.

Combine tha with a good profile of Ed Horgan, and some detailed break down on the fall of the north I bought it and liked it for the first time in months.

monument

chewy wrote:

it hard a photo of andrea corr on the back last week so did the sindo nuff said:(

How 'hard' was the photo?

‘Nuff said’, no not really, you’ll have to elaborate

mycroft

I've been saying this in politics all week, I think this weeks issue is where the village voice hit it's stride.

It's coverage of the Myers debacle and the shambolic peace process was excellent, refused to get the boot in and demand Myers resignation over his comments, but instead dragged up Myers near total fabrication of a story involving members of Dundalk Garda station and the IRA, and demanded the times take him to task over this.

The opinion pieces they had on the story where excellent, unfortunately this country is just too damn small to have journalists and lecturers who are completed isolated from the story (Browne's several columns in the times this week are just one example) it was the most non partisan criticism of Myers and the IT that I read.

flogen

I bought The Village a few times at first, but havent done so in months. I just find it difficult to swallow some of it.
Now, don't get me wrong, it has some excellent stories and writers, and while I like Vincent Browne I found his opinion pieces during the Northern Debates in December to be very bias, and since the Northern Bank Raid he seems to be the only Journalist left in Ireland who still doesn't think the IRA committed the crime (not to say that they certainly are, but when two governments, two policing bodies and an independent commission all say it was them, you have to start to wonder).

I know The Village is suppose to be left wing, but I have a problem with any publication that is ignorant to facts. And since when are liberals pro-IRA?

flogen

monument

Just for clarification before I start - I think the IRA were the most likely to have robbed the Northern Bank.

flogen wrote:

(not to say that they certainly are, but when two governments, two policing bodies and an independent commission all say it was them, you have to start to wonder).

Come on, you’ll really have to separate one source and one source repeated a number of times. The one source is the security services.

I know there is a commission which uses the word ‘Independent’ in its name, but what ‘independent commission’ would you be talking about? BTW their source on the bank robbery would also be the security services.

flogen wrote:

I know The Village is suppose to be left wing, but I have a problem with any publication that is ignorant to facts.

What fact is ‘Village’ or Vincent Browne ignorant of?

flogen wrote:

And since when are liberals pro-IRA?

…[FIRST LETS MAKE THIS CLEAR – I’m not a supporter of the means justifies the ends, so I disagree with their methods.]

[I support SF’s goals up to a point, if tomorrow policing was sorted out, and a proper democratic devolved government was in place in the North, my first preference vote in any election would probably go to the Greens]…

Since the beginning of time (again, not really), the ‘liberals’ who have being (at least) accused of being “pro-IRA” that come to mind include John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and the Mayor of London Ken Livingstone. You do know the IRA is seen as a left-wing paramilitary group, right? Their goals are, practically speaking, liberty.

The reason that SF (never mind the IRA) is hated by modern Ireland’s so-called left, the Labour party, is because along time ago in a place far, far away (not really) the Labour merged with ‘Democratic Left’ (some would say DL did a bit of an impressive takeover job), Democratic Left came out of a split in the ‘Workers Party’ (which I think all but one WP TD went to DM), the Workers Party was once known as ‘Sinn Féin the Workers Party’, which was once named ‘Official Sinn Féin’.

The split between them and what is now Sinn Féin, wasn’t really a mature breakup (and when both sides had guns, that doesn’t mean a few phone calls where the caller hangs up).

mycroft

flogen wrote:

I know The Village is suppose to be left wing, but I have a problem with any publication that is ignorant to facts. And since when are liberals pro-IRA?

Actually I beg to differ;

The village was the only media which attempted to break down the relationship between the IRA council and SF.

They attacked the IMC, but at the same time reserved judgement because as they rightly pointed out they didn't know (they being the village) they didn't have access to the intel the govt had, and while they reported what the government stated they refused to support it completely, without having their own independent varification. Which to my mind is good journalism.

flogen

monument wrote:

Just for clarification before I start - I think the IRA were the most likely to have robbed the Northern Bank.



Come on, you’ll really have to separate one source and one source repeated a number of times. The one source is the security services.

I find it hard to believe that the Irish government would make such a bold statement based on intel that they could not independently verify, that is to say that for the Irish government to back the PSNI fully without first ensuring the facts would be a terrible idea.

I know there is a commission which uses the word ‘Independent’ in its name, but what ‘independent commission’ would you be talking about? BTW their source on the bank robbery would also be the security services.

I'm talking about the IMC here, whose job it is to directly oversee the ceasefire and decommissioning (sp?). I'm sure they got a lot of intel from the security services on both sides of the border, but they went further in their claims than both governments which would lead me to believe that they had something extra

What fact is ‘Village’ or Vincent Browne ignorant of?

Ok, fact was probably the wrong word but I have been often annoyed by Vincent Browne's ignorance to reality re: the situation in the north. In any of his opinion pieces I have read in relation to the Northern talks (and I'm happy to admit that I've almost certainly missed a few) Browne has never once laid blame on the door of the IRA or Sinn Fein. This kind of ignorance should be reserved for the party leaders and members and no one else, especially not an extremely intelligent journalist like Browne. I know the Unionists have been the reason for many talks collapsing, but Sinn Fein and the IRA are just as guilty (but let's not get into that debate right now, that's for the politics forum). Even the Daily Ireland was recently saying that the IRA would have to come to terms with the political situation in Ireland if they were to have any part in it's future.

…[FIRST LETS MAKE THIS CLEAR – I’m not a supporter of the means justifies the ends, so I disagree with their methods.]

[I support SF’s goals up to a point, if tomorrow policing was sorted out, and a proper democratic devolved government was in place in the North, my first preference vote in any election would probably go to the Greens]…

Since the beginning of time (again, not really), the ‘liberals’ who have being (at least) accused of being “pro-IRA” that come to mind include John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and the Mayor of London Ken Livingstone.

Fair enough, but to defend the actions of the IRA today is pretty bizarre (I refer to Browne's piece where he defended the IRA's refusal to give photographic evidence of decomissioning).

You do know the IRA is seen as a left-wing paramilitary group, right? Their goals are, practically speaking, liberty.

Their political leaning isn't where the problem arises, it's more to do with their terrorist activities.

The reason that SF (never mind the IRA) is hated by modern Ireland’s so-called left, the Labour party, is because along time ago in a place far, far away (not really) the Labour merged with ‘Democratic Left’ (some would say DL did a bit of an impressive takeover job), Democratic Left came out of a split in the ‘Workers Party’ (which I think all but one WP TD went to DM), the Workers Party was once known as ‘Sinn Féin the Workers Party’, which was once named ‘Official Sinn Féin’.

I'm not sure how hated Sinn Fein are on the left, and I'm that if they are some of the reason is political (in a party history-sense and in a rivalry sense) but I know personally that as regards policy I would certainly consider Sinn Fein, but the fact that they are linked to the IRA, and the fact that my local candidate is an (ex?) member instantly puts me off.

MyCroft wrote:

The village was the only media which attempted to break down the relationship between the IRA council and SF.

They attacked the IMC, but at the same time reserved judgement because as they rightly pointed out they didn't know (they being the village) they didn't have access to the intel the govt had, and while they reported what the government stated they refused to support it completely, without having their own independent varification. Which to my mind is good journalism.

By break down do you mean seperate (and so show that there was no tangable link) or deconstruct and show what links existed?

Also, to hold back and do so as a result of lack of information is good journalism IMO too, but that wasn't the piece I was refering to

flogen