Is Ireland's fake tan use problematic?

CrabRevolution

If anyone thinks that all other circumstances being the same (unknown author, no past work etc.) they'd have published an article titled "It's a veritable fact that immigration adds to housing demand" or "The travelling community need to acknowledge that respect goes two ways", you're comically deluded or (more likely) lying.

The authors of the article picked their subject carefully because an article from a member of a "minority" calling Irish people racist was likely to bypass all editorial scrutiny and be immediately published.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120595139#Comment_120595139

Nobody here is an editor.

The fact it was written by AI or human is not the point. They chose to publish the woke identity politics race baiting.

Put it this way. If someone used AI to write something criticising non whites for cultural appropriation you can bet they would not have published it.

Their woke ideology got in the way of editorial professionalism. Or they had none to begin with.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120595644#Comment_120595644

yeah, it'd be standard practice to pay their contributors, i'd have thought.

skimpydoo

The sub editor who agreed to this being published should be sacked. As a journalist I can't believe the so called paper of note published this clickbait AI bullshit.This is a sad time for the media.

magicbastarder

just got this in the mail:

Good morning, *****

If a good newspaper is a nation talking to itself, the Opinion section is where much of that talking happens. It is an open, pluralistic space that hosts everyone from public figures and commentators to specialist analysts and ordinary readers with something to say. The aim each day is to come up with a blend of thought-provoking columns that inform, stimulate and lend a fresh perspective on a current issue.

For us at The Irish Times, it is an important means of making good on our founding principles. Those principles describe a view of the world that is open-minded, tolerant, curious, respectful of divergent views and always attentive to the needs of minorities.

We work hard at this. As in any 24/7 news operation, some days we do better than others. But last Thursday we got it badly wrong. That day, we published online an opinion column under the headline ‘Irish women’s obsession with fake tan is problematic’, written by someone purporting to be a young immigrant woman in Ireland. It made an argument that has been aired in other countries but related it to the Irish context.

Over the course of several days, the author engaged with the relevant editorial desk - taking suggestions for edits on board, offering personal anecdotes and supplying links to relevant research. All of this was taken in good faith, and the article was published online on Thursday morning.

Less than 24 hours after publication on our digital platforms, The Irish Times became aware that the column may not have been genuine. That prompted us to remove it from the site and to initiate a review, which is ongoing. It now appears that the article and the accompanying byline photo may have been produced, at least in part, using generative AI technology. It was a hoax; the person we were corresponding with was not who they claimed to be. We had fallen victim to a deliberate and coordinated deception.

We don’t take this lightly. It was a breach of the trust between The Irish Times and its readers, and we are genuinely sorry. The incident has highlighted a gap in our pre-publication procedures. We need to make them more robust - and we will. It has also underlined one of the challenges raised by generative AI for news organisations. We, like others, will learn and adapt.

In the meantime, The Irish Times will continue to make space for new writers, not least those from under-represented communities, and to offer you, our readers, the high-quality journalism you expect.

Ruadhán Mac Cormaic

Editor

Everlong1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120596217#Comment_120596217

Nice of them to end with the pledge to ensure they continue to feature writers from "under - represented communities." Does that mean we might start to see an occasional piece from a white heterosexual?

magicbastarder

there are i think 6 opinion pieces in yesterday's paper. have a guess how many are non-white?

i'm not going to speculate about their sexuality (but would be confident in my guess about breda o'brien).

lmao10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120596281#Comment_120596281

Tell us why this is happening. The big conspiracy theory and who is behind it.....

Varik

See the Indo listed the words they used to generate the image.

“overweight, blue hair, smug expression”

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120596327#Comment_120596327

Answer the question. How many are non-white.

cheese sandwich

No acknowledgement that the article was divisive clickbait that had no place in a supposed newspaper of record. The only problem the editor sees with it is that the IT was hoaxed. So the root cause that led to this debacle is not addressed and likely to reoccur

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120596473#Comment_120596473

If they were hoaxed or not is irrelevant. They chose to publish this racist tripe and now they are too cowardly to own it. They’re literally trying to blame the alt right for what happened.

thegame983

From now on we will ensure that the race baiting clowns who write for us are verified.

growleaves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120596473#Comment_120596473

Yes and I think Mac Cormaic and friends may not even find it all that easy to dig up (real) activists with an ethnic grudge to stir the pot.

The Mayor of Detroit - a city with a 78% black population - is a white Irish-American guy named Mike Duggan. Its easy to forget that ordinary non-whites like white people just fine for the most part.

Usually the "I hate white males" stuff comes from white Irish feminist women and ball-less wonder male leftists.

Burt Renaults

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120596270#Comment_120596270

As a white heterosexual (and a male one too... these days, you can get arrested for that, these days), I can't honestly say I've ever felt that my demographic is under-represented in the opinion pages of the Irish Times. Off the top of my head, Michael McDowell, Fintan O'Toole, Diarmaid Ferriter, Cliff Taylor, Newton Emerson... I mean, I could go on...

Guildenstern

There was enough evidence in recent years that the IT was going down the rabbit hole of wokedom at an uncontrollable rate. This apology seems to be buttoning down on that.

Let them to it. Anyone with half a braincell cannot and should not take them seriously.

It's a free country. If someone is happy to continue subscribing to this nonsense, let them to it.

Do they regularly publish subscriber numbers? Would be interesting to see before and after numbers after this week.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120596664#Comment_120596664

Everyone of those a self hating lefty. They don’t represent their demographics, they don’t even represent themselves. They just say what they think is required from them the absolute cowards

AyeGer

If fake tan is not bad for you how could it be problematic op?

Burt Renaults

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120596688#Comment_120596688

If I was Michael McDowell, I'd hate myself too. But I wouldn't call him a lefty. Although I do think that the vast majority of opinion columnists could easily have their articles written by an AI algorithm and nobody would notice.

growleaves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120596669#Comment_120596669

They are sowing ethnic divisions. Its hard to underestimate just how destructive and ill-intentioned it is.

0ph0rce0

10 pages on fake tan bullshit 😂 I hope Russia just nukes the world soon.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120596688#Comment_120596688

michael mcdowell a self hating lefty?

we're not in kansas anymore...

Guildenstern

It also feeds into the Irish psyche of just following trends, in this case US identity politics. The IT must have both The New York Times and The Guardian on speed dial.

It's also a particular backlash to the strict conservative priest ridden times. We shall be uber social liberal, and nothing shall stop us.

They'll end up turning this into a rant about how we need to be careful about the rise of the far right. Words such as 'controversial' 'disturbing' 'concerning' will get plenty airing.

lmao10

I'm just shocked that the conspiracy theorists in the thread can't tell us what is actually going on....

There seems to be some conspiracy they keep alluding to but seem scared to say anything about it.

pjcb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120593924#Comment_120593924

Iraqs WMDs

fits

Jaysus. Once again on boards I feel like I’ve gone down the rabbit hole. This thread is weird.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120596809#Comment_120596809

What conspiracy do you think anyone actually mentioned? I didn’t see anything like what you imagined.

lmao10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120596865#Comment_120596865

I think there is definitely some reason behind what people are posting but they seem terrified to spell it out unfortunately.

jmcc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120595846#Comment_120595846

Typically. Not sure if they'd get the same rate as a freelancer or working journalist writing for print and onliine as it was an online-only article.

Regards...jmcc

jmcc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120596111#Comment_120596111

Unfortunately for the IT, it wasn't a subby but rather the opinion section editor and she is newly appointed.

Regards...jmcc