are we our own worst enemy???

andysheehan2003

bit of a rant folks sorry!!!
Limerick was basking in sunshine today with hundreds of athletes competing in the European duathlon on the city streets. I was competing myself I finished my first duathlon in under an hour and was very pleased with myself. the buzz around the strand hotel was great both before and after the race. during the race I wad talking to s guy from Meath who up until last year had never been to Limerick but in last 12 months had been here 10 times and was raving about the place!

all good I hear ye say. well driving home with a big grin and aching legs live 95fm news came on the radio and the lead story was about two men stabbed in o malley park. one had 'superficial wounds' and the other had 'head injurys' no arrests Garda looking for witnesses yadda yadda yadda. who gives a s**t about these 2 guys and why was it lead story. they did mention the duathlon but it was negative story first. I f***ing hate when that kind of thing happens.
sorry guys rant over... for now

krudler

andysheehan2003 wrote: »

bit of a rant folks sorry!!!
Limerick was basking in sunshine today with hundreds of athletes competing in the European duathlon on the city streets. I was competing myself I finished my first duathlon in under an hour and was very pleased with myself. the buzz around the strand hotel was great both before and after the race. during the race I wad talking to s guy from Meath who up until last year had never been to Limerick but in last 12 months had been here 10 times and was raving about the place!

all good I hear ye say. well driving home with a big grin and aching legs live 95fm news came on the radio and the lead story was about two men stabbed in o malley park. one had 'superficial wounds' and the other had 'head injurys' no arrests Garda looking for witnesses yadda yadda yadda. who gives a s**t about these 2 guys and why was it lead story. they did mention the duathlon but it was negative story first. I f***ing hate when that kind of thing happens.
sorry guys rant over... for now

Because a serious crime is more newsworthy than people running?

Insect Overlord

I agree with the OP. An event that entertained thousands around the city should be given far more attention than a crime that injured two lads in an estate somewhere.

Trouble is, the news media is tabloid obsessed. The majority tune in for shock value. Sure part of 95FM's programming is sponsored by The Daily Mail. Which might explain a lot of what's wrong with the station, now that I think about it...

QueensGael

Thankfully, that rubbish 95fm was nowhere near the Duathlon HQ at the Strand hotel this weekend - we were entertained by Spin Southwest, where doom and gloom fears to tread!

Had a great weekend at the Duathlon, fair play to the Limerick Tri club for organizing. Was talking to some people over from the UK, nothing but good feedback from them

DarkJager

andysheehan2003 wrote: »

bit of a rant folks sorry!!!
Limerick was basking in sunshine today with hundreds of athletes competing in the European duathlon on the city streets. I was competing myself I finished my first duathlon in under an hour and was very pleased with myself. the buzz around the strand hotel was great both before and after the race. during the race I wad talking to s guy from Meath who up until last year had never been to Limerick but in last 12 months had been here 10 times and was raving about the place!

all good I hear ye say. well driving home with a big grin and aching legs live 95fm news came on the radio and the lead story was about two men stabbed in o malley park. one had 'superficial wounds' and the other had 'head injurys' no arrests Garda looking for witnesses yadda yadda yadda. who gives a s**t about these 2 guys and why was it lead story. they did mention the duathlon but it was negative story first. I f***ing hate when that kind of thing happens.
sorry guys rant over... for now

Thats my problem with your comment - do you know anything of the 2 people stabbed? I personally don't but there doesn't seem to be any info coming out suggesting they were scumbags, so assuming they are 2 innocent people, why would nobody give a **** about them? Its great that you took part in the duathlon and fair play for doing so, but a news story that involves a violent incident locally is much more important than what is essentially a feel good, but non relevant story.

hatz7

DarkJager wrote: »

Thats my problem with your comment - do you know anything of the 2 people stabbed? I personally don't but there doesn't seem to be any info coming out suggesting they were scumbags, so assuming they are 2 innocent people, why would nobody give a **** about them? Its great that you took part in the duathlon and fair play for doing so, but a news story that involves a violent incident locally is much more important than what is essentially a feel good, but non relevant story.

No I would seriously disagree there. A big event, with many competitors both local and national, showcasing their athleticism and the city, watched by a many well wishers is a bigger newsstory than two people being stabbed, scumbags or not.

A ot of effort was put into promoting the event, it went well, helped by the weather and the OP has a point, relegating it behind that story does not reflect well on the station.

DarkJager

hatz7 wrote: »

No I would seriously disagree there. A big event, with many competitors both local and national, showcasing their athleticism and the city, watched by a many well wishers is a bigger newsstory than two people being stabbed, scumbags or not.

A ot of effort was put into promoting the event, it went well, helped by the weather and the OP has a point, relegating it behind that story does not reflect well on the station.

There needs to be a sense of perspective on this - a violent incident in our city is obviously going to be main news over anything else going on. That's just the way it is and the way the media reports. Yes, the duathlon was a big event but its not an event that should be the main news story unless absolutely nothing else is happening in news that day. Unfortunately on this day, 2 people got stabbed and the Gardai needed it main news so as to appeal for witnesses. Thats a bit more important than a race, as they need to start gathering information on what happened as soon as possible.

The bad side of news doesn't just disapear because other things are going on, and when it involves looking for the people responsible it needs to come first. What if the 2 stabbed had actually been murdered? Should that be ignored because the duathlon was on as well??

The Nark

DarkJager wrote: »

Thats my problem with your comment - do you know anything of the 2 people stabbed? I personally don't but there doesn't seem to be any info coming out suggesting they were scumbags, so assuming they are 2 innocent people, why would nobody give a **** about them? .

You know you could be right! But then again, I'd guess that you're wrong... very wrong!

I'd make 2 guesses... both based on past experience.

1. The people involved in this incident were well known to the Gardai and the injuries sustained were not life threatening. It was a minor row between known associates in a house in Southill. (Thus, it did not merit headline news as suggested by the O/P. There were probably similar incidents between thugs all over Ireland on Saturday night.)

2. They were indeed, and remain, scumbags.

It's about time that these things were called as they are. I'm sick of the bleeding hearts sticking up for the rights of those who have no respect for the rights of decent people.

Get them off our streets and let decent people get on with their lives without having to live in fear and under constant intimidation from these low lives.

hatz7

DarkJager wrote: »

There needs to be a sense of perspective on this - a violent incident in our city is obviously going to be main news over anything else going on. That's just the way it is and the way the media reports. Yes, the duathlon was a big event but its not an event that should be the main news story unless absolutely nothing else is happening in news that day. Unfortunately on this day, 2 people got stabbed and the Gardai needed it main news so as to appeal for witnesses. Thats a bit more important than a race, as they need to start gathering information on what happened as soon as possible.

The bad side of news doesn't just disapear because other things are going on, and when it involves looking for the people responsible it needs to come first. What if the 2 stabbed had actually been murdered? Should that be ignored because the duathlon was on as well??

No I don't go with that at all.
The Gardai do not need 95fm to appeal to witnesses for that type of incident.

The Dublin city marathon would not be relegated to a secondary news item by an incident like that..

Last sundays race was Limericks version of the DC marathon, and all the effort that the organisers put into staging the race was upstaged by the twin stabbing.
It is up to Limerick media to be proactive in how it portrays what goes on in the city. I think that the organisers and participants would have been a bit disheartened to see that they were relegated to the 'in other news...section'

And I am using perspective here, A major Limerick event was overshadowed by a twin stabbing where nobody was killed. In fact I'd go as far as to say I'm using a far more detached outlook on this than you.

You said that the Gardai needed to get the message out to appeal to witnesses, spare me! Do you honestly believe a single phone call went into Henry St after the news? but that's a debate for a new thread.

Promoting Limerick as a sporting city, people from outside Limerick came, sponsors were present $$$, how about give them a bit of the headline airtime? they may consider running it again and again, with more people joining next year. I think you should consider what the sponsors felt about having their efforts relegated by a non event like that. Sponsors love air time, they always like to be ahead of the bad news.

I just finish by saying that maybe you should look at what happened with a bit more perspective. Consider this, A major sporting and economic event (relative for Limerick) was overshadowed by a fight where no one was killed. Perspective that.