The Irish Times Critical Thinking #4
Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom, while Southern Ireland separated from Northern Ireland in 1922 and is now known to be the Republic of Ireland. BBC News says, âIreland emerged from the conflict that marked its birth as an independent state to become one of Europeâs economic success stories in the decade of the twentieth centuryâ. This conflict BBC is discussing happened in 1921 between the 6 Protestant dominated countries of Northern Ireland and the majority that were Catholic. This conflict leads to Ireland splitting up into Northern and Southern Ireland. Northern Ireland wanted to be apart of the United Kingdom while Southern Ireland wanted to be a united Ireland. After the economy collapsed in 2008 (global financial crisis) Ireland has been trying to recover once again with the help of a bailout program. The capital of Ireland is Dublin; which is located in Southern Ireland. The majority speaks English/Irish and also are Christians. Their currency is the Euro and their population is around 5 million people. Ireland is a very young country that started in 1949 known as the Republic of Ireland. Immigration from other countries is what made Ireland the country it is today. The Central Intelligence Agency states that 4.9 million people have cell phones, and there are a total of 3.9 million people using the Internet. The Central Intelligence Agency also says that about 75% of households use multi- channel satellite TV services that provide access to a wide range of stations. Their broadcast media system is a publicly owned broadcaster Radio Telefis Eireann (RTE). Which operates 2 TV stations, 4 national radio stations and a number of commercial broadcast stations that operate at the national/regional/ and local levels. By 2015 the Irish were connected with 82% of the population by people using the Internet and around 56% of the people were using Facebook. Print and broadcast media are some of the big sources of media outlets for the Irish.
The Irish Times was first published in 1859. They transitioned from print to online publication, while still upholding the journalistic principles. This tradition has earned it the reputation as Irelands paper of record. The principles of the Irish Times is supportive of constitutional democracy expressed governments, supportive of progressive achievement of social justice between people, discouragement of discrimination of all kinds (religions, sexes, race, etc.), promotion of a friendly society, promotion of peace and tolerance, promotion of understanding other nations, and pursuing people to make their own informed and independent judgments. The Irish Times has these principles so that each article they produce has the same basis to work off of. The Irish times was a conservative paper that started in 1859 by Major Lawrence Knox who decided to only publish articles every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. The Irish times went through a lot of different owners by 1974 a trust was formed with the idea of securing and maintaining The Irish Times as an independent newspaper concerned with serious issues. By 1999 The Irish Times began to publish online editions and by 2008 the print and online newsrooms were integrated to irishtimes.com. Over all the Irish Times history shows us that they have gone through several different owners, a couple different political views, and located in several different locations. But over all since 1859 till now The Irish times has been Irelands central source for news and their political view now is social liberalism.
The Irish Times covers news, sports, business, opinion pieces, Life styles, and culture. Under the news section it covers news about Ireland, UK, Europe, US, Africa, Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. It also covers health, education, science, politics, crime & Law, and social affairs. Under the sports section it covers rugby, soccer, school sports, Gaelic games, women is sports, golf, racing, and other sports. Under the business section it covers the economy, work, innovation, your money, companies, technology, and commercial property. Under the opinion piece section it covers editorials, letters, columnists, an Irishmanâs Diary, options & analysisâs, and Martyn Tuner. Under the Life & Style section it covers food & deinks, traveling, homes & properties, Abroad, health & Family, people, motor, and fashion. Under the culture section it covers books, films, art & design, Treibh, music, TV/Radio/Web, Heritage, stage, and photography. The target audience that normally reads all of these sections on The Irish Times is adult men. The political role of The Irish Times towards the country and global media is Social Liberalism. Â
In the UK section on The Irish Times has an article called âImagine what trump could do to our little Countryâ. This article discusses how this man named Henry The Eighth (Barack Obamaâs Irish Cousin eight times removed), visited America and discussed the fears if Trump was elected. They discussed how Trumps victory could harm Irelandâs fragile economic recovery. If Trump was elected next week the dollar will drop and thatâs not going to be good for the US and Ireland. They also discuss that if you believe in what Trump says he will try to pull back the multinationals out of Ireland. This article explains that for the UK and Ireland specifically they donât want Trump to win the election because there are a lot of bad things that could possibly happen to their country if Trump wins. From this article the UK is hoping for Hillary to win the election.
In the Europe section on The Irish Times has an article called âIrish official to join European Commission Brexit taskforceâ. This article discusses how an Irish official (Tadhg OâBriain), has been appointed to the European Commissionâs Brexit negotiating team in Brussels as the European Union steps up preparations for Britainâs exit. The taskforce team will meet with representatives from each of the commissionâs directorate generals or divisions as issues relating to Brexit arise. This article explains that the Brexit is real in Europe and is a real big issue. Europe has now selected certain people from each place in Europe to come together when issues arise and they will come up with solutions to fix these issues. Â
In the US section on The Irish Times has an article called âAmerica Letter: Emails reveal Clintonâs tensions over Irish linked firmâ. This article discusses how Bill Clintonâs long-time aside, Doug Band, and his business partner, Irish journalist- turned-PR man Declan Kelly, using Clintons connections to advance their business interests and open doors to top contracts and plum contracts has long orbited Planet Clinton. Declan Kelly explains how they have very little ties to the Hillary foundation and that they make their money on their own from their business. This article explains that the Irish businessmen are also linked to the Hillary email wikileaks. No one wants ties to the Hillary Wikileaks.
In the Africa section on The Irish Times has an article called âUNâs grand goals struggle to gain traction in slums of Nairobiâ. This article discusses how the UNâs general assembly in New York recently claimed the country was on track to achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs). They say that they have brought three aspects to a sustainable development stage- the economic, social and environmental parts for this country. Critics say they have not really accomplished any of these goals. This article explains that the slums in Nairobi are in real need for some help. They donât need the UNâs who thinks theyâre helping but there really not.
In the Middle East section on The Irish Times has an article called âIsis is using thousands as human shields, says UNâ. This article discusses how UN human rights investigators reported that the Islamic State fighters have killed scores of people and are using tens of thousands more as human shields as government and Kurdish forces battle to reclaim Mosul. This article explains how UN journalists are risking their lives to write about all of the horrible things Isis is doing to tens of thousands of people for land that isnât even theirs. Â
In these five different articles done by The Irish Times shows that they have some sort of news connection to each country they write about. The journalism is very descriptive and more liberal based writings. The coverage of these articles show that the Irish always include themselves a little bit in the writings they do. Whether it has to do with the US elections, the slums of Africa, or the killings in the Middle East. The journalism plays a huge part for the country because it not only gives the people information about news going on in their country, but also news that is going on around the would that can or possibly will effect their country. Reading the Irish Times the past 6 weeks I have learned from their press that they write a lot about the US election and a lot about the protests that were going on about abortions. Finding information about anything else you would have to do some digging to find. I believe the country feeds into the news this site puts out. For example when their were the abortion protests a lot of the Irish and other countries were supporting the Irish women by holding posters up saying vote for taking the law away about making abortion illegal. This paper is very divers and plays a huge part in global media. It covers every part of the world whether it is news, sports or business.
I loved writing/observing/ and reading from the Irish Times even though I had to pay some money to continue working with this site. Half way through the trimester the site gave me a pay wall of a $1 charge since I was using the site so much, which then would end up being $28 by the end of the month. Even though I had to pay $1 it was worth researching how Ireland viewed different issues around the world and how they tied most article back about them. I really found their articles interesting when they would talk about their hatred towards Donald Trump and their thoughts on the Hillary emails. I also enjoyed that they had a lot of different information in different countries as well not only on news. This is a site I would tell anyone to use when trying to look at global issues or global views about the world. As a whole this site gave me more ideas on how to look at different situations around the world. Rather than just hearing the American views on situations it was nice getting a different view. This site shaped me to have a better understanding on global media as a whole. They looked at different situations in America, The Middle East, Russia, and China. Looking at all these different situations in a different perspective was really eye opening. I really enjoyed having this opportunity to study The Irish Times.
