Am I the only one who hardly watches Irish TV/media (news and entertainment)?

jeanjolie

I don't hate Irish TV/media or go out of my way to avoid it but it's just that I don't have much interest aside from a few good documentaries e.g. 'Better off Abroad' on RTE or Niall Boylan on 4fm. Perhaps it's because I've lived in the US during my early years.

It's generally a mixture of CNN International, BBC News, Russia Today (Max Keiser specifically). Mostly I watch news as entertainment. Documentaries and conspiracies are my thing mostly.

For music, I never listen to the radio except talk radio which a lot of people don't seem to like. Niall Boylan seems to be pretty good, IMO..

What type of media do you consume?

osarusan

BBC, Associated Press, Reuters are the tabs on my browser. RTE also for Irish news, but they are not great really. I usually end up googling to see what the papers say, and the reports would be better. Irish Times reports are usually the most detailed.

Hardly ever watch Irish news reports or current affairs debates on TV. Maybe for a big news story, but the internet allows me to have read it all already.

Basically never watch Irish TV for entertainment. The only thing I really watch is sports and films, and occasionally stuff like Family Guy or the Simpsons - this would usually be on UK channels, though the sport would often be on RTE.

I can't even remember the last time I listened to the radio that wasn't connected to sport.

The result of all this is that an awful lot of the time, when people are commenting on a comedian, singer, character from a tv show, and so on, I haven't the slightest notion who they are.

5rtytry56

For news I visit Asian / Oz sites and look at what they say about Europe / America etc.
The Irish sites have become very unedifying in their reporting of local events the past few years.
No doubt in part because of some people's control of the media.

Jrop

In the car I tend to listen to Spotify or online stations from the USA/UK/Europe

At home I watch Netflix or online streams on my tv.

I can't remember the last time I watched RTE or TV3

Harry Palmr

Never watch Irish tv beyond the odd CL match and the six one news, mind you I watch very little mainstream new TV drama/comedy these days. Mainly its anything new on BBC Four, old films and re-run stuff like the Prisoner on True Entertainment.

my3cents

Only have satellite so no Irish channels and have never missed them.

retro:electro

You lost me at "Niall Boylan"

murpho999

This is just going to descend into an RTE bashing/TV licence thread.

As I am Irish with an interest in what happens in Ireland I would watch RTE news regularly as well as The Week in Politics, Claire Byrne and Prime Time.

RTE and TG4 are also good for documentaries with an Irish interest.

Of course nobody on boards or thejournal.ie watches Irish TV.

jeanjolie

anna080 wrote: »

You lost me at "Niall Boylan"

Is he REALLY that bad?

Bracken81

Don't follow anything on RTE Tv or Radio meself....................
So I'm with you on this OP

Might read the Journal the odd time, but that's about it, Oirish wise

Am I the only person who never says "Am I the only person", when starting a thread on boards or commenting on a post?

NIMAN

murpho999 wrote: »

This is just going to descend into an RTE bashing/TV licence thread.

As I am Irish with an interest in what happens in Ireland I would watch RTE news regularly as well as The Week in Politics, Claire Byrne and Prime Time.

RTE and TG4 are also good for documentaries with an Irish interest.

Of course nobody on boards or thejournal.ie watches Irish TV.

Exactly like yourself.

Don't understand why someone living in a country would have zero interest in the news that happens there, unless they are lying to make a point on the internet.

99.9% of people who say "I never watch RTE TV or listen to RTE radio" are lying.

Your Face

I watch the evening news but will have read some of the papers earlier.
It can be very obvious that it is the state channel broadcasting the news at times.

Irish Guitarist

I have a Roku and a Netflix subscription. Between Netflix, YouTube and the other free channels I can get I see absolutely no reason to watch RTE.

Bracken81

NIMAN wrote: »

Exactly like yourself.

Don't understand why someone living in a country would have zero interest in the news that happens there, unless they are lying to make a point on the internet.

99.9% of people who say "I never watch RTE TV or listen to RTE radio" are lying.

Id disagree with you completely here, sure its a cool thing to say
But personally I don't even have any TV aerials or dishes plugged into the house. We are in the age of the internet loike

GLaDOS

NIMAN wrote: »

99.9% of people who say "I never watch RTE TV or listen to RTE radio" are lying.

I think you'd be surprised. A lot of people wouldn't watch conventional TV in general, never mind RTE specifically. My girlfriend for example just uses netflix for watching TV. Personally I'd only ever watch live television for sport, otherwise it's netflix/downloads for me. Neither of us would have any interest in watching the news. From talking to friends, we're nothing unusual. TV habits, and the way we consume information, are changing drastically.

Jayop

I'd watch the gaa on Rte through gritted teeth at how badly they do it. That's the only Irish TV I watch. I listen to news talk a bit and check out the Irish times website once a day but there's rarely am article worth clicking on. It's all rubbish. Pretty much exclusively watch American TV shows now with the odd English one thrown in and I watch them on demand.

Jayop

NIMAN wrote: »

Exactly like yourself.

Don't understand why someone living in a country would have zero interest in the news that happens there, unless they are lying to make a point on the internet.

99.9% of people who say "I never watch RTE TV or listen to RTE radio" are lying.

A huge assumption I see here Al the time but I can tell you for an absolute fact that no one in my house ever puts on Rte TV or radio unless there's sports that's not available elsewhere.

murpho999

Jayop wrote: »

I'd watch the gaa on Rte through gritted teeth at how badly they do it. That's the only Irish TV I watch. I listen to news talk a bit and check out the Irish times website once a day but there's rarely am article worth clicking on. It's all rubbish. Pretty much exclusively watch American TV shows now with the odd English one thrown in and I watch them on demand.

Yes of course American TV is so much better and high brow.

Irish Times never has a good article....seriously.

NIMAN

Bracken81 wrote: »

Id disagree with you completely here, sure its a cool thing to say
But personally I don't even have any TV aerials or dishes plugged into the house. We are in the age of the internet loike

You are the 0.1%.

Most are just liars.

Glenster

jeanjolie wrote: »

I don't hate Irish TV/media or go out of my way to avoid it but it's just that I don't have much interest

Only shut-ins and technophobes watch Irish TV.

I used to listen to Irish radio because of the car, now I just Bluetooth stuff from my phone.

I just looked at the RTE schedule and the only thing I'd watch all day is Animanics which starts in 5 minutes.

NIMAN

Glenster wrote: »

Only shut-ins and technophobes watch Irish TV.

Nonsense.

I am neither.

I have had all the gadgets and tecnology over the years, had Sky TV since 1988, had satellite dishes put up to get Eutelsat when no-one would have had a clue what I was chatting about, have had cinema rooms, projectors, 7.1 systems, DTS, the works.

I now stream on my Chromecast from various apps like CartoonHD, MovieHD etc, have a Netflix account, a Dreambox with every channel under the sun......

.... and I still watch RTE and listen to RTE radio.

silverharp

I don't really watch any Irish news anymore, if anything important happens Sky will pick it up :pac: otherwise how many news items from last week or month could you actually recall

ScumLord

I got rid of my TV years ago, I have no TV, just a PC. I watch TV shows through the likes of Netflix, 4OD, youtube or men with parrots on their shoulders.

It changes your viewing habits a lot. There no sitting in front of the screen channel hopping or settling on something because there's nothing else on. Now I might spend 30 minutes browsing everything from netflix to youtube looking for something to watch at times but I'll never load up a reality TV show, there are a lot of shows people watch because it's on but wouldn't choose to watch, even if it just means clicking two links. All that kind of vegetable viewing goes away if you're not watching broadcast TV.

The next huge, massive, life changing difference if you stop watching broadcast TV is that advertising will be gone from your life. You won't even have to fast forward through it. It's just gone. That stuff is propaganda, it really is, it's creating a fantasy land on consumer bliss that isn't real.

It's not so much TV that people need to get away from, it's all that advertising, take a break from advertising for 6 months, then go back and watch it, it's borderline disgusting the things some of these ads imply in their ads.

I don't watch anything on RTE anymore because they don't produce anything that I'd go out of my way to watch. I don't listen to RTE radio because I don't like their slant on Irish life.

NIMAN

ScumLord wrote: »

I don't watch anything on RTE anymore because they don't produce anything that I'd go out of my way to watch. I don't listen to RTE radio because I don't like their slant on Irish life.

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I like to watch Irish news, and see what is actually happening in the country I live in. What is happening in our politics? Our sport? Our weather? Our economy?

And I don't understand how you can say you don't like RTE radios slant on Irish Life. What does that even mean? I listen to Morning Ireland, The News at One, Drivetime, John Creedon Show.

Between all those shows, there are loads of others, all different presenters and DJs. History shows, arts shows, Irish music shows etc etc....do they all have the one slant on Irish life???????

Irish Guitarist

Why do people here find it so hard to believe that someone doesn't watch RTE? Of all the things you could lie about on the internet why would someone say they don't watch RTE? Is that what passes for 'cool' nowadays? Yeah, I'm sitting around in my leather jacket and my shades watching a channel that isn't RTE. Just like The Fonze.

murpho999

silverharp wrote: »

I don't really watch any Irish news anymore, if anything important happens Sky will pick it up :pac: otherwise how many news items from last week or month could you actually recall

So you'd watch Sky which is all UK centric , lots of Royal family etc over RTE news so you know what's happening in your own country?

murpho999

Glenster wrote: »

Only shut-ins and technophobes watch Irish TV.

I used to listen to Irish radio because of the car, now I just Bluetooth stuff from my phone.

I just looked at the RTE schedule and the only thing I'd watch all day is Animanics which starts in 5 minutes.

What are you on about technophobe?

It's all about content. If you want stuff that's relevant to Ireland and what is happening in it then you'll need an Irish media outlet.

osarusan

NIMAN wrote: »

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I like to watch Irish news, and see what is actually happening in the country I live in. What is happening in our politics? Our sport? Our weather? Our economy?

I get all this info without actually watching the news. From the RTE site and other sources too.

NIMAN

osarusan wrote: »

I get all this info without actually watching the news. From the RTE site and other sources too.

But thats using RTE. In our new connected world.

I think the OP was more having a dig at RTE and that they never watch, listen, read, anything to do with RTE.

jeanjolie

murpho999 wrote: »

So you'd watch Sky which is all UK centric , lots of Royal family etc over RTE news so you know what's happening in your own country?

lol...don't pretend that its some unique travesty not to watch your national news...I know plenty of American relatives who are intelligent and wealthy but don't focus on 'mainstream news' of politics (especially with Trump!), economy, social issues etc in the US.

It's not that they're ignorant but tbh most of what is on news channels isn't meant to be informative but rather give a hypnotic, 1984 style of news. Conspiracy theories no matter how ridiculous, and are probably true than what I watch regularly on CNN International.

murpho999

jeanjolie wrote: »

lol...don't pretend that its some unique travesty not to watch your national news...I know plenty of American relatives who are intelligent and wealthy but don't focus on 'mainstream news' of politics (especially with Trump!), economy, social issues etc in the US.

It's not that they're ignorant but tbh most of what is on news channels isn't meant to be informative but rather give a hypnotic, 1984 style of news. Conspiracy theories no matter how ridiculous, and are probably true than what I watch regularly on CNN International.

I watch foreign news too find out what's going on in the world and also to hear other's viewpoints on issues.

Still if something domestic is happening in politics etc then you have to have an Irish source for this as foreign outlets just don't cover it.

Say for example, the row last week over the National maternity hospital or even the controversy over water charges over the last 5 years. How could people get information about that without an Irish source as I'm pretty sure that Sky, BBC or any American media outlet did not cover it.

Ubbquittious

Netflix is only load of aul sh!te

Agricola

Only really watch Irish TV for the news, current affairs and sports coverage, especially the big summer tournaments. World cups and Euros aren't the same without the Irish punditry/commentary.

Apart from that, it's terrible muck. Way too much reality tv, cookery, Vogue Williams vehicles etc.

In terms of this issue, the only thing sadder than people whose lives revolve around TV reality shows/soaps etc are the people who engage in the usual Irish-hating cultural cringe "RTÉ is crap; British TV is, like, so much like better". These people are all decidedly and unequivocally embarrassingly pedestrian cultureless arseholes. The Butcher's Apron would still be flying over government buildings if they had their way. Ironically, RTÉ is at its very, very worst when it's aping the "reality" TV culture of British tv, but the Irish haters wilfully overlook that entire knacker culture that is the dominant culture of British television. Just awful, ineffably so. Shudder. Really fúcking abysmal that one society can produce so huge an underclass!


I watch TV maybe three times a year. It's all utterly woeful, full of people in small worlds with nasty little egos. Moreover, it's an excuse for reprobates to come into your family home to push all sorts of material shíte - what are called "advertisements" - and political agendas that I want nothing to do with. RTÉ Lyric FM on an evening or a good documentary on RTÉ Radio 1 or an interview on RnaG is a much calmer, more thoughtful and civilised experience. Usually, however, I just listen to audiobooks on some topic that interests me.

osarusan

^^^

Must be some shoehorn you have.

Harry Palmr

Christ, you could just have saved us all that and posted a picture the Starry Plough instead

ScumLord

Deleted User wrote: »

cultural cringe "RTÉ is crap; British TV is, like, so much like better".

British TV can be terribly bland a lot of the time, especially the BBC, bland, middle of the road, try not to upset anyone. Some things like nature documentaries they do really well, and a lot of that is down to the respectability of the likes of Attenborough.

If the BBC didn't have a load of money backing up their productions they wouldn't be much better than RTE at times. The problem with RTE is they often try to ape the BBC when they're just not in the same league so their stuff can look laughable in comparison.

Chain Smoker

Basically all my Irish news over the past two or so years since I've been out of the country has came from friends ranting about **** on facebook.


Am I right in saying not a whole lot has happened? Bus strikes, Fine Gael almost but not quite losing power but definitely losing it in the next election, and the death of Bill O'Herlihy?

Zubeneschamali

TV news is awful - no idea why anyone would sit through it.

Likewise with internet sites that insist on presenting stuff as video - just type it out you plonkers, I'll read it for info much faster than you'll r e a d i t o u t.

I do try to listen to the radio in the car at times, since I am sitting there anyhow and can't be reading, but there is a lot of channel hopping involved to avoid repetitive news, traffic "news", sport "news" and random blather.

DEFTLEFTHAND

I've even stopped listening to the radio recently, which is very unusual for me.

It's hard to pinpoint what exactly has turned me off the Irish media. It may have started with disgracefully biased coverage of the US Presidential election.

Zubeneschamali

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

It may have started with disgracefully biased coverage of the US Presidential election.

What, where they made out that Trump is not fit for the job and Hillary was the only rational choice?

freshpopcorn

Nial Boylan is the anti austerity alliance of radio to me!

dadad231

Never watch any traditional TV anymore, just Netflx and some live sports

Mint Sauce

Not the only one. Rarely watch Irish TV, unless it's for an occasional football/rugby/GAA match, or the News for a major Irish event. It's usually Freesat, Netflix, or Eurosport.

Radio, if in the house it's usually BBCR2, LBC, or Absolute, only Irish Radio I listen to is Nova, occasionally RTE Gold. In the car, would listen to TodayFM, and only for the breakfast show, the last word, or Paul McClone and Ed Smith. Otherwise it's News Talk, or Nova or BBCR2 once I can pick them up, or what ever CDs are in the glove box.

Even for social media, would follow a lot more UK feeds compared to Irish feeds.

Little interests me on Irish TV, and Radio is too poppy or commercial. TodayFM used to be good, until they changed most of their schedule.

Glenster

murpho999 wrote: »

What are you on about technophobe?

It's all about content. If you want stuff that's relevant to Ireland and what is happening in it then you'll need an Irish media outlet.

IF YOU'RE A TECHNOPHOBE YOU CAN ONLY ACCESS IRISH CHANNEL CONTENT THOUGH.

NAE NETFLIX, NAE SKY BOX SETS, NAE YOUTUBE

STRAIGHTFORWARD POINT MATE.

Glenster

NIMAN wrote: »

Nonsense.

I am neither.

I have had all the gadgets and tecnology over the years, had Sky TV since 1988, had satellite dishes put up to get Eutelsat when no-one would have had a clue what I was chatting about, have had cinema rooms, projectors, 7.1 systems, DTS, the works.

I now stream on my Chromecast from various apps like CartoonHD, MovieHD etc, have a Netflix account, a Dreambox with every channel under the sun......

.... and I still watch RTE and listen to RTE radio.

Must be an old man in the west of ireland then.

only explanation.

Outlaw Pete

The only Irish show I watch is Nationwide. A gem of a show.

Jesus Wept

If I wanted to hear about every person who has died in a road accident, I'd be sure to tune into RTE at 6 every day. Alas I don't.

annascott

I do not have saoirview or any Irish channels. I can access RTE player and 3player on my ipad

Mountainsandh

LI listen to Newstalk mostly and sometimes rte radio 1, documentaries are often interesting.
We cancelled sky about 6 months ago thinking we'd get Saoirview, still haven't bothered. The only one who misses the telly slightly is the youngest, for cartoons.
We all use the internet to watch whatever, and kodi occasionally at weekends for a family movie.
Will probably get Saoirview some time for the sake of late late toy show or odd documentary that suits whole family.
I get all my news online, I feel I get 2 or 3 perspectives instead of just Rte bias, and I find rte news website is terrible to use and slow to update.
For breaking news I read breaking news online, a lot closer to instant.