Marian Finucane

Lapin

Raspberry Fileds wrote: »

Sinn Feinn's proportion is clearly of most note. But it would be a travesty if airtime for politicians was allocated on the basis of proportion of parliamentary seats.

I wouldn't call it a travesty but I agree, airtime on radio shouldn't be determined by the proportion of bums on seats in Kildare Street.

Raspberry Fileds wrote: »

I would dispute somewhat that that is a reasonable reflection; perhaps immediately after the election, but not now.

Hard to tell. The relatively high percentage of Greens would suggest that the Village sample covers a period prior to the last election.

Perhaps coalating all the opinion polls taken in the last 5 years and getting an average figure would present the most accurate gauge of party representation.

constitutionus

Raspberry Fileds wrote: »

Glad it was of interest. I'm not sure I agree that the analysis is especially good. The piece feels disjointed to me, combining criticism of Finucane's salary, the banality of the discussion, Finucane's presenting ability, and the programme's guest policy.

The central topic of the article is the guest policy, but I'm not sure the facts speak for themselves. What exactly is wrong with there being a preponderance of journalists and politicians? As long as there are neutral guests to balance the discussion, what is wrong with having vested interests?

A more interesting analysis might have been of the political allegiance of the politicians. I have done that below using the names given in the Village spreadsheet:

ill take a stab at that.

the answer is "groupthink", or to be precise. institutionalised demographic bias.

it can be concious or unconcious but when ya have a bunch of lads from the same demographic all talking to each other you dont get a forensic discussion.

you get a cozy conscensus.

look at the property crash. ok it didnt help that EVERY one of the professions involved were making out like bandits from it, but it was very telling that even when it got to the stage where the dogs in the street knew the country was fupped- these lads were still going on about "pulling on the green jersey/dont talk down the economy/ fupp off and commit suicide". its why mogan kelly came out of academia , he saw the blatent LYING that was going on and wanted to address it. when he did he promptly fecekd off with a clear conscious.

another example is pay.

shortly before the crash (or maybe just around it) blair horan was on every radio show going on about his "ordinary working people" that he represented earning a "low" wage of 35k a year.

and sagely and earnestly you could almost see the radio journos nodding their head in agreement.

why?

cause industry average at that stage for a journo was 56k a year. of course it looked low to them, but most importantly NONE of em copped that 35k a year was actualy the average industrial wage at the time.

its not a low wage, its a fantastic wage, particularly for clerical officers. a good whack of the country, some where around a third or half, will never earn that at the top of their pay scale in their lives.

and that went right over the heads of our broadcasting lads , cause no one they knew was in that postion

what the media in this country need is a couple of nutters to get in there and shake things up. or at the very least someone pretending to be a nutter who automatically takes a contrarian view.

thats what dunphy did for years and radios been boring as feck since he toddled off.

ive no problem with insiders being on the radio, but they ARE insiders representing at best the top 10% of the country. and thats not healthy.

washiskin

constitutionus wrote: »

what the media in this country need is a couple of nutters to get in there and shake things up. or at the very least someone pretending to be a nutter who automatically takes a contrarian view.

Isn't that what we have Vincent Browne for? In truth, if he wasn't so downright rude for the sake of ratings, then maybe he would be the voice of it being stuck to the man.

I'd love to see a deeper drilling down to see how many of the same individuals show up on the MF show in a year.

Raspberry Fileds

constitutionus wrote: »

ill take a stab at that.

the answer is "groupthink", or to be precise. institutionalised demographic bias.

it can be concious or unconcious but when ya have a bunch of lads from the same demographic all talking to each other you dont get a forensic discussion.

you get a cozy conscensus.

look at the property crash. ok it didnt help that EVERY one of the professions involved were making out like bandits from it, but it was very telling that even when it got to the stage where the dogs in the street knew the country was fupped- these lads were still going on about "pulling on the green jersey/dont talk down the economy/ fupp off and commit suicide". its why mogan kelly came out of academia , he saw the blatent LYING that was going on and wanted to address it. when he did he promptly fecekd off with a clear conscious.

another example is pay.

shortly before the crash (or maybe just around it) blair horan was on every radio show going on about his "ordinary working people" that he represented earning a "low" wage of 35k a year.

and sagely and earnestly you could almost see the radio journos nodding their head in agreement.

why?

cause industry average at that stage for a journo was 56k a year. of course it looked low to them, but most importantly NONE of em copped that 35k a year was actualy the average industrial wage at the time.

its not a low wage, its a fantastic wage, particularly for clerical officers. a good whack of the country, some where around a third or half, will never earn that at the top of their pay scale in their lives.

and that went right over the heads of our broadcasting lads , cause no one they knew was in that postion

what the media in this country need is a couple of nutters to get in there and shake things up. or at the very least someone pretending to be a nutter who automatically takes a contrarian view.

thats what dunphy did for years and radios been boring as feck since he toddled off.

ive no problem with insiders being on the radio, but they ARE insiders representing at best the top 10% of the country. and thats not healthy.

Wow, I should have responded before the "Thank"-ing got out of hand!

You give two examples to contextualise your argument: media failure during Celtic Tiger and response to a union leader on the radio. The first is a special case because almost all of Society was absorbed by that fantasy. And, even then, it's not as if voices were suppressed: David McWilliams, Morgan Kelly, George Lee, etc, were all given high-profile platforms. Institutionalised Bias can't be blamed because there were very few outsiders. The second is too weak to respond to.

Finucane's panel responds to the week's (generally speaking, serious) news. Politicians, through being involved, and journalists, through being paid to think and analyse, are in a unique position in being able opine on such. Political guests were from across all parties (though, as I highlighted, not evenly); journalists from across all media outlets. Whom do you propose they have on who would be qualified to talk, have media experience, and be willing to come in on a Sunday?

Onthe3rdDay

Raspberry Fileds wrote: »

and be willing to come in on a Sunday?

I'm not getting into the broader debate here but there's group think that Sunday's are special and coming in to work on a Sunday is like going down a mine for 8 hours. Some weeks especially around Bank Holidays or near to Christmas the amount of thanking she does that people actually came in.

It's like the other thing she always says and you can see her producer and team nodding their heads in agreement. It the moment every few weeks when she goes on about a book or looking for a book that will be perfect for your holidays. As if everyone who listens has weeks to contemplate on a break what they had read in the papers the previous month or two.

In the real world most people I know are lucky to get away for a week every two years.

Raspberry Fileds

Onthe3rdDay wrote: »

I'm not getting into the broader debate here but there's group think that Sunday's are special and coming in to work on a Sunday is like going down a mine for 8 hours. Some weeks especially around Bank Holidays or near to Christmas the amount of thanking she does that people actually came in.

It's like the other thing she always says and you can see her producer and team nodding their heads in agreement. It the moment every few weeks when she goes on about a book or looking for a book that will be perfect for your holidays. As if everyone who listens has weeks to contemplate on a break what they had read in the papers the previous month or two.

In the real world most people I know are lucky to get away for a week every two years.

Surely, madam/sir, you are not contending that it as easy to get a guest on a Sunday as on a weekday?

serfboard

constitutionus wrote: »

when ya have a bunch of lads from the same demographic all talking to each other you dont get a forensic discussion.

you get a cozy conscensus.

Totally agree.

I call the Sunday morning panel the six-figured salaried all talking to each other.

The five-figured don't get a look in and the seven figured are usually featured on Saturday mornings, where they are given free reign to whinge ...

Onthe3rdDay

Raspberry Fileds wrote: »

Surely, madam/sir, you are not contending that it as easy to get a guest on a Sunday as on a weekday?

Of course it's as easy, unless you're pulling your guests from a pool that's overpaid in real terms and have (half) lost the run of themselves. Let me put it to you this way, Someone from Sinn Fein would queue from 6 am if they knew they were going to get that much airtime.

serfboard

Onthe3rdDay wrote: »

Someone from Sinn Fein would queue from 6 am run bollock-naked all the way from Kerry if they knew they were going to get that much airtime.

FYP

Raspberry Fileds

Onthe3rdDay wrote: »

Of course it's as easy, unless you're pulling your guests from a pool that's overpaid in real terms and have (half) lost the run of themselves. Let me put it to you this way, Someone from Sinn Fein would queue from 6 am if they knew they were going to get that much airtime.

I don't agree with the first. Also, I would be very surprised if the producers haven't repeatedly tried to get McDonald on the programme; in other words, it may be a SF policy to refuse an invite.

Onthe3rdDay

Raspberry Fileds wrote: »

I don't agree with the first. Also, I would be very surprised if the producers haven't repeatedly tried to get McDonald on the programme; in other words, it may be a SF policy to refuse an invite.

It could be, but to be honest It would be one of the few programmes they would refuse to go on or send on a Representative. Sinn Fein are always eager to give a soundbite or to come into studio. Far more so than any of the other parties. With a lot of FF or FG it's like pulling teeth. Plus I have to say a grilling by Marion on a Sunday is very unlikely. I basically think it's producer choices.

Raspberry Fileds

Onthe3rdDay wrote: »

It could be, but to be honest It would be one of the few programmes they would refuse to go on or send on a Representative. Sinn Fein are always eager to give a soundbite or to come into studio. Far more so than any of the other parties. With a lot of FF or FG it's like pulling teeth. Plus I have to say a grilling by Marion on a Sunday is very unlikely. I basically think it's producer choices.

When I mentioned difficulty, I was referring to non-traditional guests. I probably agree that it makes little difference what day it is when it comes to inviting politicians and (maybe) journalists. But, what about the "Mother" or "Healthcare-worker" or "Average Joe" - the types of guest the article seemed to be calling for.

Callan57

I always have to smile when I hear Marian refer to "group think" as let it be said she regularly does ... group think in Health, group think in the Guards, group think among doctors, solictors, barristers etc etc etc
Never once has she alluded to the "group think" of her panels - as somebody has pointed out here repeatedly her panels could easily be mistaken for a D4 dinner party set.

(Regulars listeners will know that "let it be said" must be pronounced with emphasis and the gravitas of the exhaustive researcher)

Onthe3rdDay

Raspberry Fileds wrote: »

When I mentioned difficulty, I was referring to non-traditional guests. I probably agree that it makes little difference what day it is when it comes to inviting politicians and (maybe) journalists. But, what about the "Mother" or "Healthcare-worker" or "Average Joe" - the types of guest the article seemed to be calling for.

Just to make it clear I'm not sure inviting an Average Joe on would make good radio. Having said that the Mother, the Healthcare Worker and that Average Joe are more likely to be free on A Sunday Morning rather than Sometime during a busy work week. (most of these people don't do brunch unlike many of Marion's Normal Panel)

Lapin

CountyHurler wrote: »

In case anybody was wondering about that Brian Ormond story that Marion made a brief allusion to at the start of the show (particularly Harry who I know is a big Brian Ormond fan), here is a link to it.

https://www.sundayworld.com/top-stories/news/viper-foley-calls-in-rte-star-brian-ormond-s-40k-debt

Ormond, apparently, got a loan of 40k from a family friend. When he was a bit tardy about paying it back, she handed the debt over to Martin Foley. Some time recently a "Viper Debt Collection Agency" van pulled up in the Ormond-O'Connor driveway...

I cant imagine that The National Lottery will be overly enamoured with their ball-caller being associated with notorious ball-breaker Martin Foley.

:pac:

Dan Jaman

Lapin wrote: »

:pac:

"This video is private."

CountyHurler

Dan Jaman wrote: »

"This video is private."

This video is private, so to speak, since god was a child, and all that jazz

CountyHurler

Callan57 wrote: »

I always have to smile when I hear Marian refer to "group think" as let it be said she regularly does ... group think in Health, group think in the Guards, group think among doctors,

I don't think it takes an "insightful" reporter to bring this point to the fore. I've been saying it for months that the panel is more like one of Marion's coffee mornings than a proper political discussion. I think there was a marked change in the palsy tone the week that Dunphy was on the show. A single minded dissenting voice.

But he hasn't been allowed back since. Looking through that list of contributors RTE shoul be ashamed of yourself.

serfboard

Onthe3rdDay wrote: »

Just to make it clear I'm not sure inviting an Average Joe on would make good radio.

If Marion wanted to bring on average Joes all her researcher has to do is walk down to the liveline office and grab lists of people from their massive database. After all, these are "Average Joes" who are used to talking on the radio - to "Average Joe"

Onthe3rdDay

serfboard wrote: »

If Marion wanted to bring on average Joes all her researcher has to do is walk down to the liveline office and grab lists of people from their massive database. After all, these are "Average Joes" who are used to talking on the radio - to "Average Joe"

Some of the Average Joes on Liveline aren't as average as first appears.

CountyHurler

Aíne Lawlor is up next... "ha ha ha ha ha"

SaveOurLyric

Is Marian's guest stint on the Aine Lawlor Show finished for the summer ?

Oops69

She'll keep us guessing as to how long she'll be away and it'll be Aine every week and before we know it it'll be mid October.

brooke 2

Ebbola

Welsh Megaman

Fair play to Joanne...I wish her all the best at UCC.

IvyTheTerrible

Welsh Megaman wrote: »

Fair play to Joanne...I wish her all the best at UCC.

She is very inspirational, so upbeat and positive.

CountyHurler

Brian Cowen ..... *shakes fist at the radio*

Bertie Ahern .... *shakes other fist at the radio*

Oops69

4 children in oz, hope Cowen and aherne sleep well , traitors.

CountyHurler

brooke 2 wrote: »

Ebbola

Marion called it Y-Bulla the first week, then conformed by saying Ee-bowl-a the second week... Now Aíne has her own spin... Sloppy from RTE really. Wouldnt you think that somebody in the newsroom would have told them all how to pronounce it properly..

IvyTheTerrible

CountyHurler wrote: »

Marion called it Y-Bulla the first week, then conformed by saying Ee-bowl-a the second week... Now Aíne has her own spin... Sloppy from RTE really. Wouldnt you think that somebody in the newsroom would have told them all how to pronounce it properly..

I'm not sure any newreader knows what the proper pronunciation is, I've heard so many different ways!

Oops69

CountyHurler wrote: »

Marion called it Y-Bulla the first week, then conformed by saying Ee-bowl-a the second week... Now Aíne has her own spin... Sloppy from RTE really. Wouldnt you think that somebody in the newsroom would have told them all how to pronounce it properly..

Michael Murphys retired and Doirreann ni Bhriann is prob on holidays so they're leaderless in Montrose.

brooke 2

brooke 2 wrote: »

Ebbola

Just checked Ebola pronunciation on Macmillan dictionary.
E-bole-a.

Why does Áine Lawlor insist on saying Ebbola??

In similar fashion she once kept pronouncing Tuam as Tu-am!!

Rant over!!

Edit: She just said E-bole-a!! Perhaps because the expert she is interviewing pronounced it as such!!!!

Oops69

Sorry Dr kelleher , what " people" do " we " have out there at the moment ? , if it is hse staff it's outrageous, why couldn't aine ask the right question , she seems to turn a bit dizzy at the weekend .

IvyTheTerrible

Oops69 wrote: »

Sorry Dr kelleher , what " people" do " we " have out there at the moment ? , if it is hse staff it's outrageous, why couldn't aine ask the right question , she seems to turn a bit dizzy at the weekend .

It hardly surprises me though that information came out of the HSE, it's amazing how some staff members gossip about stuff that is supposed to be confidential. (I know this from more than one personal experience).

Oops69

Sean Quinn is taking up bee keeping now , well have Quinn honey now , from the heart of Cavan .

brooke 2

CountyHurler wrote: »

Marion called it Y-Bulla the first week, then conformed by saying Ee-bowl-a the second week... Now Aíne has her own spin... Sloppy from RTE really. Wouldnt you think that somebody in the newsroom would have told them all how to pronounce it properly..

Áine and Marian are the only two I have heard calling it 'ebbola'.
I think there is a certain arrogance involved in insisting on an alternative
pronunciation - reminds me of Pat Kenny, who sees himself as the supreme
linguistic expert!!

Oops69

You'd need a Cavan man to put the poor mouth on something " there's lots of bees this summer...ahh but they're not all honey bees " , don't worry sean , revenue aren't listening.

alaimacerc

brooke 2 wrote: »

Áine and Marian are the only two I have heard calling it 'ebbola'.
I think there is a certain arrogance involved in insisting on an alternative
pronunciation - reminds me of Pat Kenny, who sees himself as the supreme
linguistic expert!!

Struck me as a tad odd, too. I've a lot of time for Áine as a broadcaster -- sure, isn't the Marian Finucane show great, only when there's no Marian Finucane ruining it! Maybe when she left the programme to go on her holliers, she left behind her list of eccentric pronunciations...

Pat Kenny suffers, like Jimmy McNulty, from thinking he's the smartest person in the room, regardless of who else is in it at the time. Or else he's so deeply insecure that he feels the need to overcompensate, one or the other. Hence he can chair a discussion about "floodplains", in which everyone else, expert and layperson, is indeed calling them "floodplains", and only he decides it would be "more correct" and satisfying to his own sensibilities to be calling them "flooding plains". ?

Dan Jaman

"Nobody harks back fondly to the days of Blue Nun and Black Tower."
Hoy, speak for yourself, matey. Plenty of water under that bridge.

Onthe3rdDay

brooke 2 wrote: »

reminds me of Pat Kenny, who sees himself as the supreme
linguistic expert!!

Fixed that for you.:D

brooke 2

alaimacerc wrote: »

Struck me as a tad odd, too. I've a lot of time for Áine as a broadcaster -- sure, isn't the Marian Finucane show great, only when there's no Marian Finucane ruining it! Maybe when she left the programme to go on her holliers, she left behind her list of eccentric pronunciations...

Pat Kenny suffers, like Jimmy McNulty, from thinking he's the smartest person in the room, regardless of who else is in it at the time. Or else he's so deeply insecure that he feels the need to overcompensate, one or the other. Hence he can chair a discussion about "floodplains", in which everyone else, expert and layperson, is indeed calling them "floodplains", and only he decides it would be "more correct" and satisfying to his own sensibilities to be calling them "flooding plains". ?

Áine's pronunciation of Tuam as Tu-am used to do my head in. If she had done any
homework, she would have known how the locals say it. An element of how 'we in
RTE' know better than 'you country bumpkins' permeates the whole issue. It is a
similar scenario with her 'ebbola' pronunciation.

Pat amuses me especially around election times with 'referenda/referendums'.
Students of Latin who were taught that the plural of words ending in 'um' was 'a'
happily used referenda as the plural of referendum. But, somewhere along the
line, Pat made the awesome discovery that the 'correct' plural was referenDUMS -
emphasis always on that last syllable!!!

Dan Jaman

brooke 2 wrote: »

Pat amuses me especially around election times with 'referenda/referendums'.
Students of Latin who were taught that the plural of words ending in 'um' was 'a'
happily used referenda as the plural of referendum. But, somewhere along the
line, Pat made the awesome discovery that the 'correct' plural was referenDUMS -
emphasis always on that last syllable!!!

If it's been stolen for use in English, the gloves are off and any old word that thinks it's safe in its cosy mother-tongue plural can have an 'S' appended to it, whether it likes it or not, and no say in the matter.

Onthe3rdDay

I'm just wondering, by any chance do the Presenters, Producer, researchers get free samples of the coffee to take home with them. This used to be an ongoing problem with Pat Kenny. When Certain producers were producing, all of a sudden they'd be reviewing food or wine (mostly wine) It would be great to know that no product is given to production staff. Otherwise how are we to trust what we hear?

Dan Jaman

"...and now over to our resident wine taster..."
<hic>
"That Pinot Grigo,, ssssssmmarevaelouussssssssssshhhhh..... snore."

CountyHurler

Am I the only person who thinks that Declan O'Rourke is a terrible singer?

If he'd brought his guitar to Flanders, they would have had no problem getting people to go over the top.


...

CountyHurler

Uh oh. I'm hearing mass on the main Radio One digital channel, anybody else?

my friend

More time off for the great spoofer

CountyHurler

Stephen O'Byrnes NKC Communications.
Mary O'Rourke Fianna Fail
Brian Dowling
Derbhail MacDonald
Breda O'Brien Irish Times

Oh and "Diggy"

So a political secretary and RTE staffer, a former politician, a current RTE political reporter, two reporters and a spin doctor....

Dan Jaman

Oh goody - more dreadfully heavy world affairs might remove her tendency to talk about her hootchicoo with other women.

CountyHurler

"That's certainly something unusual...."

Derek Mooney on line one.

Pretty childish from Derbhail MacDonald.... She sounds delighted that the winner turned out to be gay so as to ruin the whole thing on the event organisers...