That once upon a time in the media we didn’t realise the value of archives, of holding onto original programming and editions, never ceases to amaze me.
Of course, as the ongoing fallout from the devastating fire in 2008 at the Universal Music archive warehouse in Hollywood shows, it wasn’t just a media shortcoming and that even now, what we chose to store and how we store it is far from perfect.
The twelfth media-mad Off Message podcast features political writer, Lise Hand, soon to be ex- of the Times Ireland edition parish.
In Buswells Hotel, across the road from her major work haunt of Leinster House in Dublin, and in many ways over the years her office away from her office, she came clean on the life of the political hack, the impact of social media on the world she covers, the downside of the closure of local newspapers, why the Times Ireland is closing and how she’s dealing with it, and much much more.
For the 11th media-curious Off Message podcast I dropped into the NUJ’s Irish HQ in Dublin to talk all things media with the Irish Secretary of the journalists’ trade union, Seamus Dooley.
We discussed the recent shooting dead of freelancer Lyra McKee in Derry, the lack of genuine media ownership diversity, their ongoing campaigns, fixing trust in journalism, why he thinks all journalists should join the NUJ, and loads more.
On a flying visit to his native Dublin, freelance journalist Philip O’Connor, the man behind his own media blog and podcast, the wonderfully titled Our Man In Stockholm, dropped by for the tenth media-savvy Off Message podcast.
We chewed the fat on his attempt to crowdfund much of his journalism income, how he uses social media to generate work, his often outspoken tone online, his unique and unusual route into journalism, and loads more.
As the Press Council of Ireland nears the end of its tenth year in operation, Press Ombudsman, Peter Feeney is my guest on the ninth media-savvy Off Message podcast.
Our chat explored the vagaries of dealing with complaints for both online and print publications, his previous lengthy career in RTE making programmes and overseeing their Freedom of Information activity, his love of local newspapers, his predictions for the future of the press and public service broadcasting, and lots more.
The sixth media circus that is the Off Message podcast is with Michael O’Keeffe, CEO at the regulator of all Irish broadcasting – though thankfully not podcasts…not yet, anyway – the BAI, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.
During our chat Michael revealed the BAI’s origins in Ireland’s murky pirate radio past and its planned next move into regulating parts of the online media wild west; the type of complaints they regularly get about programmes; where they get their funding and how some would rather not pay up; their wooing of London’s international broadcasters pre-Brexit; the growing Irish appetite for podcasts – *applauds*; their take on diversity and plurality in Ireland’s broadcast media; and more.
The fourth media-mad Off Message podcast is with the ubiquitous Norah Casey who has worked both here in Ireland and in the UK across all sectors in the media.
She’s run and owned numerous publishing ventures, she’s presented her own radio and television programmes, she’s managed a handful of online businesses and written a book of her hectic life to date.
In it the podcast Norah reveals the tortuous stories behind her hugely emotional live Late Late Show and Marian Finucane appearances in which she first told the highly charged stories of her second husband’s death and the domestic abuse she suffered for nine years at the hands of her first; her recently-discovered insatiable love of podcasts; her real fear that she’s now become a news junkie; the trauma of selling most of her cherished magazine titles late last year; her love-hate relationship with social media; and lots more.
The other day I had the most unexpected – and more than a little frightening – thought: I wondered if coming home was a mistake.
I spent 11 years in London, returning to Dublin in 2009 when RTÉ commissioned a TV idea I’d had.
It got me thinking about the pros and cons of my return.
Freelancers make career decisions all the time.
Most choices are made with limited other options.
All have unintended consequences.
It’s a vital part of any freelancer’s armoury. It’s what regularly helps brings home the bacon.
And in its own way, it’s fun.
So how best to do the hustle?
As I left RTÉ last week at the end of another long run there I was very aware that I hadn’t a gig lined up to go to anywhere else anytime soon.
Oddly I wasn’t too worried, which as a freelancer is a very weird feeling.
Having to look after all your own tax affairs is just one of the things you have to consider when thinking of becoming a freelancer.
Here are the main pros and cons, as far as I can tell.
Today music on television generally doesn’t rate well enough to interest those in charge of commissioning programmes.
It wasn’t always like this, of course.
There are quite a few varyingly significant personal anniversaries in the air this year.
Some are more significant than others.
All have a story to tell.
It was 25 years ago this month that I auditioned for Head 2 Toe.
How that even came to happen at all is itself a bit of a tale.
Football and television have long been natural bedfellows.
We all remember great World Cup incidents.
Why?
Because we saw them live, as they happened, along with a massive global audience, on television.
