Connacht Tribune
Media chief calls for State support for local ‘watchdog’ journalism
The Government should provide funding for local journalism – “watchdogs of society” – the head of the country’s largest media group suggested during the annual ‘John Cunningham Journalism Lecture’ at the University of Galway last week.
Peter Vandermeersch, Chief Executive Officer with Mediahuis Ireland – which owns the Irish Independent and Belfast Telegraph amongst others – gave the lecture, which was hosted by UG and the Connacht Tribune, where John Cunningham was Group Editor for more than 30 years.
During the lecture, entitled ‘Good Journalism is Bad Business?’, Mr Vandermeersch spoke of the drastically changing landscape of journalism – particularly since 2006/7.
He has carried out extensive research and analysis in his academic career and has also served as Editor-in-Chief of national newspapers in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Mr Vandermeersch spoke of the media waking from a “deep sleep” in 2006/7 when people stopped buying newspapers and advertising revenue also collapsed.
He said that in reaction to people turning to websites and social media, newspapers forgot they were a business and started giving most of their content away for free. Rather than revenues increasing, advertisers flocked to giants like Google and Facebook.
There was massive cost-cutting in journalism worldwide, but since then fake news had become a serious threat to democracy.
He described journalists as the “watchdogs of society” in their role combatting fake news.
“More than ever, we need professional journalism. In international and national news, but more important, local news. We need people who dig for the truth. We need investigative journalism. We need people who are the guardians of the news.
“In a world of fake news, algorithms, PR, the truth is more important now than ever. But what is the truth, where is it? It’s not the influencers of Instagram who are looking for the truth; it’s not the PR team of big companies; it’s not the politicians. It will be, in many cases, professional journalists.
“In a world where there is lots of fake news, where people do not know who to believe or what to believe and looking for sources they can trust, they are more and more – again – willing to pay for trusted news. Good journalism is becoming good business,” he said.
Enda Cunningham, Editor of the Galway City Tribune, asked Mr Vandermeersch if he believed the Government’s ‘Future of Media Commission’ had done anything at all to help the newspaper industry.
He replied: “The Government had a wonderful opportunity to make good choices about how we see journalism in this country in the next ten years, and basically they didn’t do that.
“Yes, as publishers we got 0% VAT, and that’s very important,” he said, but noted that the cost-saving had been cancelled out by the rocketing cost of newsprint paper.
“There were missed chances. The main missed chance is support for local journalism. If we want to keep serious local journalism, we need to support that journalism.
“We should take taxpayers’ money to fund local journalism and also raise the bar in local journalism,” he said, acknowledging that would be “a difficult debate”.
“We [Mediahuis] were annoyed, we were a bit angry, and mainly we were disappointed,” Mr Vandermeersch said of the Commission’s report and its recommendations.
Mr Cunningham spoke of the threats facing local journalism – from decreasing advertising revenues; the internet giants like Google and Meta, and the ‘lifting’ (theft) of hardworking journalists’ work.
“Without journalism, democracy dies. These are the threats that we face and they’re very real,” he said.
Tom Felle, Head of the Discipline of Journalism and Communication at University of Galway said the business model to support local journalism is bust, and local news deserts are growing globally.
“Ireland’s Media Commission report and the Government’s inaction since has been, frankly, disappointing. The proposal to abolish the TV licence fee might best be described as naïve. There are bigger elephants in the room than the licence fee.
“Digital advertising is now largely controlled by a duopoly of big tech companies. This has a distorting impact on the market in Ireland an in Europe.
“There has also been a failure to regulate social media, and its harmful effects. Ireland’s defamation laws have a chilling effect on investigative journalism and need reform.
“Local media are in significant difficulty and for the sake of democracy need to be protected to prevent news deserts; and what we now see in much of America, the rampant spread of disinformation and a lack of any accountability for large swathes of local government,” said Mr Felle.
The annual memorial lecture honours the late John Cunningham, who also taught at the university for 18 years.
Mr Felle said: “John Cunningham was one of Ireland’s best local newspaper editors and he made an indelible impression on the lives of the hundreds of journalists he trained as a lecturer in journalism. We are delighted to be able to honour his memory with this public lecture that has become an important annual event.”
(Photo: Peter Vandermeersch, CEO Mediahuis Ireland, Tom Felle, Associate Professor and Head, Discipline of Journalism and Communication, University of Galway, and Enda Cunningham, Editor, Galway City Tribune, at the John Cunningham Journalism Lecture in the Hardiman Building, University of Galway).
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
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