"Reporting" about deer cull/stalking.

Cass

The national papers seem to go out of their way to use provocative language and sensationalist wording to bring life to their "articles".

Here is an article in the Times about "snipers" being used to kill deer in the Phoenix park. They go on about 4,250 license given out for people to kill deer and how there is a reported 300,000 deer in Ireland.

The term is stalking or stalk deer. We are not snipers and the number of deer is a pure fabrication, as we have said before, because there has never been a census of deer taken, EVER.

dodderangler

Dunno about the culling but everyday last week I found carcasses of deer left on the side of roads an lane ways with just their heads taken off them.
Some if the bodies were still warm and it was always in the dark from 5-6 am. I'm working in Wicklow mountains ATM.

Cass

I'm not talking about the carry on of people like you describe. I talking about the papers, once again, using inflamatory words like sniper, kill, etc. to sensationalise a story.

Much like the Garda figures from a couple of years back the 300,000 number is pulled out of thin air.

dodderangler

Cass wrote: »

I'm not talking about the carry on of people like you describe. I talking about the papers, once again, using inflamatory words like sniper, kill, etc. to sensationalise a story.

Much like the Garda figures from a couple of years back the 300,000 number is pulled out of thin air.

Snipers with weapons is actually something I've heard before. Murderers is another. I know it's stupid and totally blown out of proportion but I wouldn't let it bother ya mate. Plenty of idiot out there. Wouldn't sink to that level of stupidity. Your better than that. Leave them to it. We can't do anything right by them sort anyway.

cookimonster

dodderangler wrote: »

Dunno about the culling but everyday last week I found carcasses of deer left on the side of roads an lane ways with just their heads taken off them.
Some if the bodies were still warm and it was always in the dark from 5-6 am. I'm working in Wicklow mountains ATM.

I would say what your finding are the results of poaching for the purpose of selling onto game dealers. Shoot the animal and leave it for extraction later. It would be unusual but not unlikely that lads are trophy hunting out of hours and if so I would presume it would be easier and more discreet to remove the head in situ rather then drag the carcass down to the road.

Maudi

dodderangler wrote: »

Dunno about the culling but everyday last week I found carcasses of deer left on the side of roads an lane ways with just their heads taken off them.
Some if the bodies were still warm and it was always in the dark from 5-6 am. I'm working in Wicklow mountains ATM.

Dodderangler..out of interest what do you work at?

Nekarsulm

Did you bring the warm one home with you?

garrettod

Hi Cass,

Out of interest, have you contacted the Irish Times about this ?

I do agree with you on the principal btw, just as bad as the last RTE Prime Time show and in my view, down to specific staff pushing their own agendas.

yubabill1

Sloppy reporting is a sign of the decline of MSM.

You could forgive a cub reporter on Jobbridge for writing like this, but their editor - who should pick up on poor language - is probably on Jobbridge too.

People have little faith on what's printed today and I personally don't watch RTE/TV3 any more as it's complete propaganda.

I trawl any story I'm interested in, usually get 3 or 4 different takes on it and try to work out what is actually happening (headache).

Cass

garrettod wrote: »

Hi Cass,

Out of interest, have you contacted the Irish Times about this ?

I lashed off an e-mail, but the Times has history of doing this, much like the rest of the major outlets.

I don't expect a reply, nor have i ever received one from any paper i've written to. I was polite and non aggressive. I asked them where they got the figures from, did they not check them before publishing (as any reporter would), why the need to use inflammatory language such as sniper when the actual term is stalker, etc.

If you remember the Prime Time debacle and the endless letter writing campaign that many of the posters here took part in, and the "responses" they received. Every action was explained away and/or ignored.

The simple fact is these media outlets have carte blanche to print what they want or more accurately in any manner they want. I already know the answer they will provide, if the reply at all.

dodderangler wrote: »

I know it's stupid and totally blown out of proportion but I wouldn't let it bother ya mate. .

Hard not to.

Also it should bother everyone else. As i said just above they have a large audience and to allow them to continue to, imo, denigrate our sport as they do without so much as one e-mal to ask them to correct inaccuracies or of complaint is as bad the article itself.

We should not let things like this go unchallenged. I know nothing will come off it, and God knows this won't be the last time this comes up, but we (the shooting community as a whole) should be quick to point out what we believe are the inaccuracies, falsehoods, and simply poor reporting whenever it appears.

Its by doing this that so called "anti bloodsport" groups are so successful. They number in the dozens (only) yet their commitment to writing to anyone that will listen to them garners them support they would not otherwise enjoy.

We could drown out that support with our numbers, but the "don't worry about it" or "someone else will do it" attitude means we get less than 1% of the shooting population replying, only those replies are usually singular whereas the other crowd write numerous letters. IOW some 25 people can do more than 1,500.

Grizzly 45

Well, seeing its the Irish Times...Enough said about that paper and its agenda driven staff.
The other reason the antis are getting their ink on national paper is the fact two of them purport to be "journalists" and have some sort of online cow college diplomas to prove it.So of course some "professional colleuge" is going to get some ink space for articles..In such worthy and august papers like... Irelands Eye....And......er.....It will come to me in a sec....

Yet still, despite all that their letter out put has dropped off dramatically...Johnnie Fitz is only managing a seasonal letter a month these days which is then subsidised around all the nationals that belong to whatever main media group owned by O Brien or Murdoch. In fact nowadays seeing that no one responds to his monthly rants,it makes him look like some sad old man in Kilkenny in the same leauge of the "send em all back!" OAP arguement on immigration.
Bar ICABS and Broxon's student group of AFAR,all the other websites are non updated,closed or domain name up for sale. Even on FB their pages are pretty pathetic.ARAN and their free public strip shows are gone as well So it seems their PR machine is about as effective as ours these days.
So how are they doing it??Simple ,they are contact points for any journo looking for a comment on animal rights issues.Same as our friend in the NARGC was one for firearms issues,as was [ albeit a very useless for us ] Col,Dr,Senator, T Clonan.

Which methinks would behoove us in both NARGC,WADI and who is nowadays repersenting most target shooting sport disiplines in Ireland??Should be making moves to drop in to national media points or journalists who wrote articles like this with contact details and say basically "Look,if you ever want to fact check or want a professional opinion or comment on anything gun/hunting related...Here's my details...call me." That's the old school way of doing things and still works.Any journalist worth their salt will and should have a rolodex worth of contacts on any and every subject they might have to write about.

Also,am wondering since it was RTE primetime that did the hatchet jobs on us both times in the last decade.IOW state approved,Donnybrook canteen class agenda driven Tv programme...Would we get a fairer hearing if it was a non State broadcaster like TV3 and whatever else is out there that doesn't get a TV liscense fee tit stuck in its mouth?

Finally,we really do need to move with the times abit here,and consider using Youtube and the like alot more and produce some thing like a "shooters channel" for Ireland.Trickey enough with our limited market and older not so technologically advanced shooters age group,but one we need to consider if we want younger people to join us and to counter messages like these articles.

dodderangler

Maudi wrote: »

Dodderangler..out of interest what do you work at?

Currently I am an extra on the show vikings.

Grizzly 45

How's Catherine Winnick[Lagethra] looking these days?:p:D

dodderangler

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

How's Catherine Winnick[Lagethra] looking these days?:p:D

Good enough to make you cry. Kinda hard to be on set with a semi on anytime she's around.

garrettod

Cass wrote: »

I lashed off an e-mail, but the Times has history of doing this, much like the rest of the major outlets.

Maybe thats because they have been getting away with it ... perhaps the rest of us should also kick up ?

Cass wrote: »

....Also it should bother everyone else. As i said just above they have a large audience and to allow them to continue to, imo, denigrate our sport as they do without so much as one e-mal to ask them to correct inaccuracies or of complaint is as bad the article itself.

We should not let things like this go unchallenged. .....

Agree 100%.

I think the old saying goes something along these lines.... The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.



I see there's the option to lodge a complaint with the Office of the Press Ombudsman, but you need to have first written to the editor to complain about the journalist if you feel that they have broken the Code of Practice (see: here .... although I'm struggling to find something that might stick from the list in their code).



.

Cass

Been down the path as have others on the forum of the official complaints and to the ombudsman. Like all other ombudsman offices i've dealt with they are a time sink, and ultimately a waste of time.

Even just written complaints in large enough numbers would show that we are paying attention and will not sit idly by while a mockery and insult of our sport is written about, unchecked.

garrettod

Cass,

With due respect, I think we both know that the bottom line here is that most are just to lazy too bother, so leave it to the next fella (recent evidence of this was the Prime Time issue, when I looked at the level of complaints the BAI had recieved on the matter, there were only something like seven - which was shameful !)

Until everyony starts making an effort, we'll get no where. What you mention about yourself and a few others getting no where in times past, is down to the limited numbers involved I'd imagine.... the more voices, the more likely people will pay attention etc.

There are a lot of shooters on this site for example, perhaps it's time they decided to do a bit more than just be the occassional internet warrior ?

Cass

It's true, most won't bother.

I cannot blame them to an extent. The majority of people just want to get on with their shooting and when it comes to issues like this one where its just poor reporting i can understand the lack of response.

My concern is the same apathy is applied to other, far more serious, issues. Just look at the thread on the main forum about the EU gun grab. I need to check but the petition signatures from Irish people is in and around the 1,800 mark. These are proposals that could possibly effect all firearm owners and yet less than 1% of the shooting community has signed it.

Same thing 2 years ago when we faced the same situation on the national front with new proposals from the Minister for justice. Again less than 1% wrote in.

The old saying about 2% doing all the work is very true, and until we can get out of this "sure someone else will do it" attitude we are our own worse enemy. I said it before on another thread. If we loose our firearms and sport through a hard fought but ultimately futile fight then so be it. However to loose them through apathy and ignorance would devastate me.

Chiparus

Snipers actually was a term from sport shooting , so I would not be too upset. Just a term used to describe an accurate shooter, like sharpshooter or marksman.

Cass

I know where the term came from. It was used for those who could shoot snipe due to the difficulty of hitting them.

However how many non shooters, and even some shooters, think of anything other than a sniper as in Army, etc. when the term is used.

In the same vein as when any article about firearms is reported and they show a picture of an AK.

It's a constant PR game and every time such inaccuracies are allowed to go unchecked we loose ground.

Rimfire Shooter

There are plenty of shooting associations some with paid employees who should be dealing with this kind of crap.

Letters from individuals would help however letters from "official" representative organisations would surely garner more attention?

We're all paying into some sort of organisation so isn't it time they done something especially the ones with paid employees?