The reason these so-called journalists pick apart the county boards reports is precisely because you can download them and scan through them for a story or two. The truth is your average FAI football clubs accounts would make hilarious reading if they where subject to the same scrutiny but they are not. GAA boards are answerable to a membership and that is why they are published and are an easy target. Easy is the word, there are very very few decent skins in newsprint or on the radio/tv. You only have to consider the shameless and callous way the Harte family where treated by our so called national broadcaster and then you look at the trouble that arrogant elitist organisation has behaved since and the trouble it is. Ditto for newsprint, you'd need to be an awful gobdaw to even read th tripe in the Indo or the Irish times.

arock (Dublin) - Posts: 4954 - 29/12/2011 14:22:16    1087710

Well put, arock

lilywhite1 (Kildare) - Posts: 3028 - 29/12/2011 15:35:58    1087728

Tricky,

very well put in relation to being slow to name one hack which appears not have been whiter than white in recent times.
I see one paper nemed him but several papers have still not named him

tomsmith (Cavan) - Posts: 4044 - 29/12/2011 20:19:42    1087799

Ulsterman
County: Antrim
Posts: 4641

1087465 It's part of the revisionist mentality that predominates the Irish media; deny the past or ridicule and shame Ireland's Gaelic and Nationalist history while embracing a right wing British, Dublin 4 and Unionist agenda. It's sickening but many are starting to see through it now. It's the same media that spent 15 years pushing the building boom, publishing big colour weekly and Sunday property supplements encouraging everyone to invest 1000's of Euros in shoe box, stud wall apartments then when it went arse up denied they had any responsibility........and blamed everyone and everything on the public sector. The Irish media have an agenda.

Spot on.... what media would you recommend to somebody needing a more balanced view without an agenda, apart from the iris oifiguil which tends to be a bit light on sport

dhorse (Laois) - Posts: 11374 - 29/12/2011 21:00:34    1087809

Trixy
County: Mayo
Posts: 802

1087697 Some good points on this thread. Problem is many of the new journalistic kids are just biding their time till they land on Television and/or radio. Few if any have played or participated as Gaelic players. Most hacks suffer from moral cowardice ie they will hurt feelings,incite anger,and be totally insensitive to the human conditiion in the "interests of good journalism". However they all have a price and will "kill" a story if the price is right.Especially if it gives them leverage to call in a favour at a later date. 40 years ago my wise father advised me against a career in journalism insisting it was beneath me and my familys`principles. With regard to the media in general they are very devious when one of their own is implicated in anything scandalous.These stories take ages to get legs.

Very good post Trixy. Your father advised you well.

Greengrass (Louth) - Posts: 6180 - 29/12/2011 21:19:53    1087821

A club rugby player failed a drugs test recently.
Hardly a peep about it.
It was covered in the papers, but it was covered minimally.
It certainly wasn't headline news.
Now imagine if the word 'rugby' was replaced with 'GAA' in that first sentence.
The rugby media machine ensures all the good news stories get maximum coverage and the bad news stories get minimum coverage.
The GAA media machine often does the exact opposite.
Particularly at this time of year.

Coylers Elbow (Meath) - Posts: 1075 - 30/12/2011 11:02:30    1087853

30/12/2011 11:02:30
Coylers Elbow
County: Meath
Posts: 773

1087853 A club rugby player failed a drugs test recently.
Hardly a peep about it.
It was covered in the papers, but it was covered minimally.
It certainly wasn't headline news.
Now imagine if the word 'rugby' was replaced with 'GAA' in that first sentence.
The rugby media machine ensures all the good news stories get maximum coverage and the bad news stories get minimum coverage.
The GAA media machine often does the exact opposite.
Particularly at this time of year.

Thats harsh on the rugby comparison, if the lad was a pro or top intercounty player it would be picked up much more by the media but its the same as if an ordinary club hurler with clarinbridges in galwey or toomevara in tipperary or a footballer with glenties in donegal failed a drugs test.
Why would the story of a lad most people in the country didnt know and will never know be headline news, at least a lot of people will know a intercounty player or in rugbys case a pro player

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 30/12/2011 12:35:41    1087872

"The only thing worse than being talked about.....is not being talked about!"

Embrace it!

Regards,

Snufalufagus....Laochra Gael

Snufalufagus (Dublin) - Posts: 8100 - 30/12/2011 16:17:00    1087921

I agree with Ulsterman. The "West Brit Media" as are alive and well and really we should vote with our feet here and if you want to read genuine stuff with the gaa at heart, buy something else.

ballybannongael (Down) - Posts: 547 - 03/01/2012 11:33:44    1087989

its not west brit or d4 media as you are referring to it its actual british media all our main newsoaoers are actualy owned by british newspapers and just a so called irish addition like the irish sun its owned by the sun in england

hill16no1man (Dublin) - Posts: 12665 - 03/01/2012 11:50:16    1088000

Anyone who buys the Sun or Irish Sun or Star expecting to read anything remotely sensible sport or otherwise needs their head examined.

ballybannongael (Down) - Posts: 547 - 03/01/2012 13:17:54    1088051

Ulsterman
County: Antrim
Posts: 4641

1087465 It's part of the revisionist mentality that predominates the Irish media; deny the past or ridicule and shame Ireland's Gaelic and Nationalist history while embracing a right wing British, Dublin 4 and Unionist agenda. It's sickening but many are starting to see through it now. It's the same media that spent 15 years pushing the building boom, publishing big colour weekly and Sunday property supplements encouraging everyone to invest 1000's of Euros in shoe box, stud wall apartments then when it went arse up denied they had any responsibility........and blamed everyone and everything on the public sector. The Irish media have an agenda.





House prices in Belfast have slumped by 19% in the past year - the worst slide of any city in the UK.

And Northern Ireland was named worst performing region in the Nationwide Building Society survey for the fourth year in a row, with house prices averaging £113,614 a property - around half the peak prices seen in 2007.

The average house price to earnings ratio here is now 4.1, down from 9.2 in 2007.

In contrast, nine out of 13 regions in the UK recorded a house price rise over 2011, including a 5.4% increase in London.

Northern Ireland spokesman for the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, said that circumstances which led to the boom may not be seen for another five decades.

He said: "The 2007 peak was caused by a number of factors which are unlikely to be repeated in the next 50 years. There was a combination of easy access to debt, bizarre financial products like interest-only loans, an aspiration that prices would always rise and the fact that we were sheltered from the boom and bust seen in England in the 1980s.

"We also saw a surge in the buy-to-let market to accommodate an influx of immigrant workers."


The astute folk of Nothern Ireland seem to have been taken in by the Southern, West Brit, Revisionist meeja also

dhorse (Laois) - Posts: 11374 - 03/01/2012 14:05:33    1088074

ballybannongael
County: Down
Posts: 157

1087989 I agree with Ulsterman. The "West Brit Media" as are alive and well and really we should vote with our feet here and if you want to read genuine stuff with the gaa at heart, buy something else

Indeed, but pleae tell us what you would recommend??

dhorse (Laois) - Posts: 11374 - 03/01/2012 14:06:54    1088076

I agree dhorse, both sides of the border are economic basket cases and will continue to be while an artificial divide exists. We should have political and economic unity as soon as possible. You crowd need some Ulster Scots reserve and organising while we need more diddly dee music, humour and chill out mindsets. Though you are going to have to sort out those drugs, crime gang killings and begrudgery first.

Ulsterman (Antrim) - Posts: 9818 - 03/01/2012 14:30:07    1088094

Ulsterman
County: Antrim
Posts: 4645

1088094 I agree dhorse, both sides of the border are economic basket cases and will continue to be while an artificial divide exists. We should have political and economic unity as soon as possible. You crowd need some Ulster Scots reserve and organising while we need more diddly dee music, humour and chill out mindsets. Though you are going to have to sort out those drugs, crime gang killings and begrudgery first.

Less of this agreement stuff boss, it usually ends up being a political party or a religion. The divide isn't artifical, there are historical natural divisions in every town , village and parish on the island going back for centuries. It's all very well getting SF and the DUP to form a single party junta in order to keep both of them in power with substantial subventions of course, but I can't see it spreading to the south as not enough people will be served by it. speaking as a Bagpipe playing drug dealer I can see what you mean Re "YOU CROWD" chilling out. I would dearly love to get the begrudgery issue sorted but unfortunately I need to concentrate on my rather wild skiing technique at this point in time.

dhorse (Laois) - Posts: 11374 - 03/01/2012 14:54:59    1088105

Oh please, not ROI vs NI again

House prices? Diddly dee music? Drugs? Gangs?

where is the GAA element in this I ask?

Looks like adminstrators will be breaking out the keys again..........

gigoer (Wexford) - Posts: 1998 - 03/01/2012 15:40:40    1088138

Is diddly dee and diddly oi the same thing?

You're corrrect though gigoer , god be with the days of "would a corncrake bate an Eel at spin the bottle" type threads

dhorse (Laois) - Posts: 11374 - 03/01/2012 15:56:46    1088149

Well it has to be said that another reason that the GAA takes so much criticism is that it doesn't owe any of us anything. By that I mean a player, administrator, county board officer is able to put the boot into the organisation or some decision or rule-change they disagree with as they know it will have no effect on their professional livelihood or career.

And as we all know ourselves, opinions are like belly buttons, everyone's got one...

So Manager X slams winter ban, Player Y slams fixture scheduling, county board officer criticises pricing, etc, etc, etc... This doesn't happen in the high-end of the IRFU and professional football because no-one bites the hand that feeds them. It happens in the lower levels of their games but no-one listens. In the GAA, with local papers, radio stations and GAA writers all this dirty laundry gets washed in public. I wrote on here before that the level of scrutiny the GAA has to undergo is a good thing as it holds it to a higher moral standard than other sports. But this type of infighting does not count. If all GAA journalists are being constantly fed negativity by well-known performers or high-placed officers of course they're going to run with them stories and quotes. And while that might suit the agenda of the originator of the comment it is rarely good for the GAA or it's image.

doublehop (Kildare) - Posts: 4172 - 03/01/2012 15:56:46    1088150

ballybannongael
County: Down
Posts: 157

1088051
Anyone who buys the Sun or Irish Sun or Star expecting to read anything remotely sensible sport or otherwise needs their head examined.

exactly but whats the alternative as a national newspaper there is none is my point the national media is british run here in ireland,the evening herald is dublin newspaper and to be honest is far better at giving a fair quota on all irish sports

hill16no1man (Dublin) - Posts: 12665 - 03/01/2012 15:59:20    1088154

tomsmith
County: Cavan
Posts: 1408

Exactly how many journalists are against the GAA, and how many support the GAA?

dhorse (Laois) - Posts: 11374 - 04/01/2012 19:15:20    1088700