Quality of reporting on the Dublin riots
Published February 26th, 2006 in PR in IrelandSome people seem to think that the Dublin riots is some kind of pivotal moment for Irish blogs as they supposedly brought the story and the pictures to the Irish public. In reality it did nothing more, but highlight the line between the mainstream media and citizen reporters.
While RTE radio should be criticised for failing to switch from its sports coverage to cover the events on the streets live, NewsTalk 106 stepped in with some excellent reporting. As others have already pointed out, there were plenty of innocent shoppers caught out in the mayhem. As the national broadcaster, RTE should have been making it clear to people that the city should be avoided. Last week NewsTalk announced that it had raised another €5 million in its bid to secure a national license later this year and it was obvious from their coverage yesterday that their brand of talk radio is in demand.
However, when the news was broadcast later that evening RTE brought the story home to me. They broadcast pictures of the carnage on the streets, had eye-witness testimony from Charlie Bird who was assaulted while trying to report on the events and had numerous spokespeople to comment on the event.
Blogs added a dimension to it, but not much. Some of the best reporting was Richard Develan’s account of the lotting in Schuh on O’Connell St. But as for reporting the events as they happened, traditional media sources such as RTE and the Irish Times matched bloggers in terms of their speed of reporting and capturing pictures on the streets. More importantly, just as people legitimately added their thoughts to the days events, there were plenty of idiots who gave their mindless two cents matching the stupidity of those on the streets.
That is not to say however that blogs will not add another dimension to the reporting of similar events in the future. The real contribution from the Internet came from the footage that eye witnesses captured and posted online. If people could have recorded more footage similar to below (courtesy of United Irelander and Tcal) then the general public would have turned to the Internet for more in-depth reporting on the day’s events.
(EDIT The footage from YouTube seems to have been taken down, but you can view video footage here)
Flickr pools: Love Ulster and Riot
It always has to be remembered though, the best coverage isn’t necessarily from the person who first reported on an incident. The Dublin Riots will drag out in the mainstream media for some time to come, offering details and analysis that bloggers simply cannot compete with.
Technorati Tags: Blogging, Blogs, Dublin, Dublin Riots, Ireland, Piaras Kelly, Love Ulster
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Hear, hear. There’s too much heed being paid to the grandiose claims of right-wing bloggers in the US claiming that they’re (perpetually, it seems) about to replace the “MSM” (dreadful title, and indicative of the attitude).
So, just how is Pajamas Media getting long these days, and how fast are they burning through their $7million slush-fund from their as-yet unrevealed conservative sugar daddy?
“But as for reporting the events as they happened, traditional media sources such as RTE and the Irish Times matched bloggers in terms of their speed of reporting and capturing pictures on the streets.”
If this was the case, then bloggers deserve an even bigger applause.
Why? Because they could post what they heard on the radio or read on the RTE or Irish Times websites?
The whole point about the citizen reporters posting about the London Bombings being so insightful was that they could bring us pictures that we wouldn’t have been able to see through traditional media sources. If there was a load of videos posted on the day of the rioting then I’d be praising Irish bloggers more.
To say that the traditional media only matched bloggers in terms of speed of reporting indicates that the blogosphere has made huge strides. And the London bombings versus Dublin riots as a “who reported more footage” competition cannot be considered. As anyone with a camera or cameraphone will tell you, they faced serious violent threats and did so anyway. This is something they should all be very proud of.
Thanks for your thought-provoking piece. I especially liked your link to Richard Develan’s piece.
But all this jealousy between bloggers and traditional print/media journalists, where does it lead to?
Let me twist your key point: analysis is what makes meaning of event. Yes, there were people throwing stones; yes there were gardai in action; yes, there were political protesters who stood back from the fray and opportunists who made off with stolen goods. Quickfire photos and video are exciting. But so too is thoughtful reflection that makes connections between Saturday’s event , its context and a wider playing field.
This is the first bit of riot that’s happened in RoI since I came back here from UK. It made me think of 1916 and how unpopular that “rising” was. I’m probably being provocative by making a link. (if you’d like to read my view see my blog.)
At least no one was killed this time.
Omaniblog - Traditonal media is going to bring us the thoughtful reflection. Bloggers will expand upon it.
Colm - I meant to say bloggers kept up with mainstream media
But all this jealousy between bloggers and traditional print/media journalists, where does it lead to?
A fair number of the top bloggers are actually “traditional print/media journalists” themselves. Which may make it a case of sibling rivalry in their case.
It made me think of 1916 and how unpopular that “rising” was.
Please, don’t even begin to compare the patriots of 1916 to this shower.
As a blogging optimist, let me try to set out a counter case to Piaras’ perfectly proper scepticism. Several points which quickly come to mind:
- Blogging as a phenomenon, an article of hype, the next big thing, is over. Flickr and uTube and photos ripped from the traffic cameras were as important to reporting of the riot phenomenon as any individual blog reporting.
- The real story is about networks and the capacity of new media networks to contain multiple and often conflicting views of one big story. This in tur points to the central truth is that there never really is one big story; each big story is comprised of many many forgotten or unheard and perhaps irrelevant detail - like the guys looked in the upper floors of McDonalds. Or the guy who came along 20 minutes later and was surprised to feel nothing of the heightened tension denoted in the traffic camera picture.
- The importance of the Dublin riots lies in the network both expanding and beginning to recognise the power of its entirely mutual capabilities. There may be some, I suspect, far from trivial political spin offs too. Both benefits lie in the capacity of strangers and friends to converse (like this) and turn over the value of received messages.
- Broadcast media’s greatest strength is also one of its weaknesses. It is enthralling because it is in the moment and immediate and enthralling. But it is also ethereal and possesses no public memory to speak of. New media does. And that is one of its strengths. If you didn’t get Charlie Bird’s piece on the six o’clock news, you got what he said because you read it on the net. And then maybe the papers (if the editor thought it suited) the next day.
- The challenge to the mainstream does not arise from some coterie of proto-Trotskite/Neo Con plotters in pursuit of permanent revolution, although this is what it may entail for some news organisations. Nor does it necessarily mean that any of us making ‘the challenge’ will benefit from it. We are simply (and in many cases unconsciously) benefiting from the fact that we are applying new technologies to commonplace events. It’s this action that creates the challenges to the establishment to refresh the means of doing news and cultural dissemination in a new context.
In my professional life I work with large organisations and am more than happy to use my blogging experience to help them to adapt and re-adjust to a new and challenging set of circumstances. To that extent, blogging is not a personal crusade. Nor is it about expressing animus, or dancing with egos. It’s about utilising new ways of making intelligent connections and accumulating and spending knowledge on a range of issues that matter.
In that regard, blogging is only the tip of the iceberg.
Thanks for the great comment Mick. I agree that blogging adds to how we capture events, I just don’t follow the line that it will somehow surpass or replace traditional media.
Another aspect of the coverage of the riots is how they are reported abroad. Following a conversation with someone it was interesting to note how relatives abroad, etc used the footage and blogs to find out what happened. I also was going through my logs and noticed my posts were driving some traffic and ranked high enough in Google. This would go some way to combatting how media abroad were reporting events and illustrate that the rioters were a small minority of thugs.
why not,
no huns in da hood, remember dublin/monaghan bombings, remember robinson marching down Clontibret with his hired Guns in 1987?? i do!!! they reject all progress, thats their gameplan, I’m not stupid!!! mcDowell your grandpa knew the story, where did you go wrong???
Did it take you long to write that?