Communication Technology and New Media Commons^™

Audience Identification And Raidio Na Gaeltachta, Niamh Hourigan

Irish Communication Review

Issues of audience identification have always been crucial for radio and television stations broadcasting tn lesser used languages. The imminent arrival of Teilifis na Gaeilge and increased interest in the radio station itself have re-opened the debate concerning Raidio na Gaeltachta and its target audience. This paper argues that approaches to audience identification for Raidio na Gaeltachta have been characterized by a lack of clarity and a failure to recognize the diversity within the Irish-speaking community. The expansive and ill-defined nature of their target audience has not been addressed in a structured manner. Consequently the station's position Is becoming increasingly …

Book Reviews Volume 5

Irish Communication Review

Book Reviews

D. Butler, The Trouble With Reporting Northern Ireland Aldershot, Reviewed by Catherine Curran.

K. Tester, Media Culture and Morality, Reviewed by Eoin Devereux

B. Gunter, J. Sancho-Aidridge and P. Winston, Television - The Public's View, Reviewed by Amanda Dunne.

R. Winsbury and S. Fazal (eds.) Vision and Hindsight: The first 25 Years of the International Institute of Communications, Reviewed by Desmond Fisher.

R. Silverstone, Television and Everyday Life, Reviewed by Richard Fitzsimons.

J. Tambling, A Night in at the Opera London, Reviewed by lan Fox.

S. Moores, Interpreting Audiences, An Ethnography of Media Consumption Livingstone and P. Lunt …

After The Green Paper: What Next For Broadcasting In Ireland? : Discussion, Ellen Hazelkorn

Irish Communication Review

On 27 April 1995, the long-awaited Green Paper on Broadcasting, drafted by the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Michael D. Higgins. and entitled Active or Passive? Broadcasting in the future tense was published. Its publication carne one week after the publication of the Interim Report of the Competition Authority on the newspaper industry In Ireland. and preceded the publication of an examination of the skills requirements of lhe independent film and television production sector In Ireland. entitled, Training Needs to 2000 (June 1995). It is remarkable that within a very short space of time, three very substantial studies …

Freedom Of Access To Information On The Environment - The Reality In Ireland, Geraldine O'Brien

Irish Communication Review

A chink of light appeared on the horizon in 1990 with the lrish Government's laudable comments on the adoption of the EC Directive 90/313 on Freedom of Access to Information on the Environment. This commendable approach was contained in the Government's Programme for Action during its EC Presidency and appeared to herald new beginnings. The Directive would come Into force on 1 January 1993.

Saving Us From Ourselves: Contraception, Censorship And The 'Evil Literature' Controversy Of 1926, John Horgan

Irish Communication Review

In the history of Irish public policy on communications, the ban on the publication of information about contraception merits a special place. It existed for half a century. and the circumstances of its elaboration and implementation offer a special insight into the sensitivity of Irish governments on matters of sexual morality, as well as into public and media attitudes to the controversies involved.

Some Thoughts On Freedom Of Information And The Civil Service, Sean Dooney

Irish Communication Review

All new civil servants receive from the personnel unit of their department a number of circulars dealing with various aspects of their conditions of employment. One of these circulars. the receipt of which they are obliged to acknowledge, deals with official secrecy. The Circular draws attention to the obllgations of civil servants in relation to secrecy in the transaction of official business, which obligations are provided for in Section 4 of the Official Secrets Act 1963. That section, as readers are no doubt aware, provides that they shall not communicate any official information to any other person unless they are …

Scots Gaelic And Welsh Language Broadcasting In The Cultural Contexts: A Comparative Analysis, Fachna O'Drisceoil

Irish Communication Review

This paper will be a presentation and comparative analysis of the experiences of Welsh and Scots Gaelic broadcasting. The intention is to draw conclusions regarding broadcasting strategies in those languages and to identify the implications of those conclusions for Irish language broadcasting strategy. It was decided that a brief discussion of a wider range of lesser used languages would be superficial in nature, and of little real benefit to understanding the Irish situation. Instead, a more detailed presentation will be given of the Welsh and Scots Gaelic cases on the basis that their cultural and historical experience has most similarity …

On Gendered Knowledge In Communication: Women In The Film Industry, Michele Martin

Irish Communication Review

Studies in communication have shown that, in the fllm industry. women as directors obtain less financial support than men. They find themselves in a peculiar situation: the discrimination they suffer obliges them to innovate. and hence they often find themselves at the 'avant garde' of cinematographic production. This is specifically true in the area of documentary film-making. To use Carle's words, In film 'the revolution passes through women'.

Feature Writing In Women's Magazines: A Limited Ideological Challenge, Susan Liddy

Irish Communication Review

Since the emergence of the International women's movement in the early 1970s. women's magazines have increasingly popularized feminist Ideas. The fragmented format of the genre ensures that a debate on feminist issues can surface in features side by side such old reliables as beauty tips, recipes or advice on how to attract and keep a man. In 1991, over one third of feature writing in Woman's Way and three quarters in U, reflected items from the Irish feminist agenda. Issues like the wage gap, the absence of state funded childcare, the need for equal status legislation , rape and domestic …

New Media Technologies In Europe: The Politics Of Satellite, Hdtv And Dab, Hans J. Kleinsteuber

Irish Communication Review

It has been lhe tradition in Europe to develop media technologies at national level with close cooperation between the state and the private sector, and frequently with competition between different states and their industrial Infrastructures. The creation of new technologies mostly occurred within lhe electric, and later the electronics industry and included studio equipment, transmitters and receivers; it also included those industries supplying equipment to areas such as telecommunications. optics and the aerospace indus try. The state has always provided some of the central players. for example, Post Office administrations (Telecoms), research ministries, the military sector and in particular, the …

Thatcher, The Iba And Death On The Rock, Tony Fleck

Irish Communication Review

Since its beginnings in the 1920s. broadcasting in these islands has always been considered by the vartous governments of the day. whatever their political complexion. to be too important to be left solely to the broadcasters. Successive administrations have attempted to regulate and control what is heard or seen over the airWaves by a series of acts of the British Parliament or Dail E!reann. These acts have been drafted so as to give designated ministers the power to decide on the composition and membership of the Authorities. Boards of Governors or Commissions established by law - and to dismiss them …

Book Reviews: Volume 4

Irish Communication Review

J. Fiske Power plays, power works, reviewed by David E. Butler

M. Skovmand and K. Schroder {eds.) Media cultures: reappraising transnational media, reviewed by Richard Fitzsimons

B. Gunter and T. Viney Seeing is believing: religion and television in the 1990's, reviewed by Tony Fleck

A. Millwood Hargrave {ed.), Broadcasting Standards Council: Violence in factual television, reviewed by Muiris MacConghail

J. A. Walker Arts TV - A history of arts television in Britain, reviewed by Brian O'Neill

J. N. Didie Aid for cinematographic and audio-visual production in Europe, reviewed by John G. Phelan

N. Miller and …

The French Have Got A Great Culture, I'Ve Been To Versailles' (Ted Turner): Towards A 500 Channel World, Raymond Snoddy

Irish Communication Review

Ladies and Gentlemen, good evening and thank you very much indeed for the honour and pleasure of being Invited to give the second Annual Rathmines Media Lecture. First of all I owe you a necessary word of explanation for the strange title of this talk , 'The French have got a great culture - I've been to Versailles': Towards a 500 Channel World. It sums up rather well some of the themes I want to touch on tonight. I heard these words about French culture spoken during a supposedly serious interview last month. I was on a 24-hour visit to …

Making The Headlines: Africa In The News, Mary Van Lieshout

Irish Communication Review

Familiar images of emaciated, dying children from Sudan and Somalia once again found the front pages of our national dailies and the headlines on the RTE Six-One News. Perhaps the authors of such footage and photographers of these pictures justify capturing children in this way because they feel that showing the awful truth about those lives will do more good than harm, convinced that invading the privacy of a dying individual and his or her family is in some way 'worth it'. If that logic is correct why do these photographs bear such close resemblance to those of the mid-l980s …

Devils And Angels: The Rise Of Irish Telethon Television, Eoin Devereux

Irish Communication Review

In this article I wish to examine the issue of how the media portray the lrlsh poor with particular reference to the emergence of fund-raising or telethon television. This study Is part of a larger project which examines how the Irish national public service broadcasting organization, Radio Teiefis Elreann (RTE), portrays poverty and the poor through an examination of fund-raising television, factual television (news, current affairs and documentaries) and fictional accounts of poverty (television drama) over a twelve month period. My project represents a significant departure from the existing debate about poverty and the media in an Irish context in …

Canadian Television Broadcasters And National Audiovisual Production: The Attitude Of The Private Sector, Michel Saint-Lauren, Gaetan Tremblay

Irish Communication Review

This article examines the financial contribution of private television companies to the development and production of authentic Canadian programmes. Until the beginning of the 1980s, all Canadian television stations were under an obligation to produce as well as broadcast the great majority of their programming. This constituted a distinctive feature of Canadian broadcasting when compared to what had always been the case in the United States, not to mention a fundamental aspect of Canadian broadcasting policy since 1958. (It is important to note, however, that for the past several years private US television stations have been obliged to use Independent …

The Future Of Channel Four After The Broadcasting Act 1990, Amanda Dunne

Irish Communication Review

Television operates in the mutually-influencing realms of economics, politics and culture. Across Europe, huge changes have occurred at the indefinable point where culture and economics meet, and politics seeks to mediate or, more often, impose an agenda. This has brought about the deregulation of the television industry and, in its wake, re-regulation (Siune and McQuail 1992: 192, Silj l992: 1 7).

Promoting A Healthy Lifestyle Through Public Communication: Experiences And Results Of The Kilkenny Health Project, Peter Murray

Irish Communication Review

In 1985 the Kilkenny Health Project was initiated with the aim of reducing coronary heart disease among the people of County Kilkenny. Coronary heart disease is the biggest single cause of death in Ireland (Kilkenny Health Project 1992: 4-10). The risk of developing it is widely agreed to be related to how people live their everyday lives - to the diet they eat, to whether or not they take exercise, to cigarette smoking, etc. (World Health Organization 1982). Many premature deaths and episodes of serious illness could therefore be prevented by changes in currently prevailing lifestyles. The Kilkenny Health Project …

Science And Technology: The Media's Blind Spot, John Sterne, Brian Trench

Irish Communication Review

University-based scientists began to display an unprecedented militancy during 1993. The newly formed Irish Research Scientists Association (IRSA) complained of cutbacks In the already low level of state funding for basic research projects. IRSA members highlighted the inadequate grants for postgraduate students and the need for more money to equip their laboratories. They argued that the erosion of scientific research was inhibiting the long-term vitality of Irish industry and lobbied government ministers for a change of policy. By early 1994 the IRSA campaign had achieved results. In particular, when Minister of State Seamus Brennan' established a new advisory body - …

Television And The Irish Language, Triona Quill

Irish Communication Review

The controversy which greeted the announcement by Minister for Arts. Culture and the Gaeltacht Michael D. Higgins of the forthcoming establishment of Teilifis na Gaellge (TnG) - particularly in view of its cost - has once again put the Issue of Irish language television broadcasting under the spotlight.

The Audio Format War, Derek Cronin

Irish Communication Review

Recently, two new music carriers have made their way on to the market, both vying to replace the common cassette tape which has been in use for thirty years. These new formats are Phillps/Matsushita's digital compact cassette (DCC) and Sony's mini disc (MD). Both companies have invested large sums of money into the development and marketing of these products. Both are aiming their product at the same market, wanting their format to be a companion to the recently established compact disc (CD), the accepted standard playback medium. The new formats would be its more compact, recordable, robust cousin, convenient but …

Political Communication And Broadcasting: Theory, Practice And Reform, Colum Mccaffery

Irish Communication Review

The origins of this research project lie in the writer's dissatisfaction with the growing library of work which frets aimlessly about the effects of broadcasting on political communication. Missing from the shelves, It is argued, is a clear statement of w Is achievable by way of political communication. In other words, if television's contribution to political communication is to be criticized, a set of criteria - a specification - for adequate public debate is long overdue.

The Demonization Of Women In Popular Culture: Some Recent Examples, Ciaran Mccullagh

Irish Communication Review

Until recently the study of popular culture .was dominated by the perspective of the Frankfurt School. For them all mass culture was identical. Cultural products were 'cyclically recurrent and rigidly invariable types' (Adorno and Horkheimer, 1 977:352}. They were the products of the 'assembly-line character of the culture industry' (Adorno and Horkheimer, 1977:380}. The similarities extended beyond plotlines and genre-types to the consistent promotion of conventional values. This culture was primarily a form of social control. It was, to quote De Tocquevil!e, ·a tyranny (which} leaves the body free and directs its attack at the soul' (Adorno and Horkheimer, 1 …

Thirty Years A' Growing: The Past, The Present And The Future Of Irish Broadcasting, Vincent Finn

Irish Communication Review

Way back in the early months of 1960, the then British Prime Minister, Harold · McMillan - whose most memorable phrase until then had been his salutation to the British public 'You've never had it so good' - made a six-weeks tour of the African continent. By the time Mr. McMillan arrived in Cape Town he was geared up for another phrase-making speech, this time to the assembled members of the South African Parliament: 'The wind of change is blowing through this continent, and, whether we like it or not, this growth of the national consciousness is a political fact. …

Media Education In Ireland: An Overview, Brian O'Neill

Irish Communication Review

The Irish educational system is frequently celebrated as a world class system that is held in high domestic esteem, has contributed substantially to Ireland’s economic success and been compared very favourably with our counterparts elsewhere in the European Union. Such contentment belies the fact that it has also been a system very slow to change, is notoriously centralised and has only in the last decade instituted significant legislative reform that will enable and facilitate the growth of new curricular areas such as media studies – the topic of this article – an area in which Ireland lags substantially behind our …

Patterns Of Irish Viewing, Tom Harper

Irish Communication Review

Analyses of the way people view programmes have been examined extensively in the USA and in the UK. For example, work by Barwise et al (1988). Collins et al (1982) and Ehrenberg (1990) is generally well known In the broadcasting area. Much of their work has to do with segmentation of the TV audience, audience flow, repeat viewing and audience duplication. This paper examines some of these concepts using Irish data from the AGB TAM panel.

Attitudes On Tv Advertising For Children: A Survey Among Flemish Parents Of Children Aged 6 - 12 Years., Els De Bens, Patrick Vyncke, Peter Vandenbruane

Irish Communication Review

The issue of 1V advertising and children has always been quite controversial. From I the early 1970s until now, hundreds of studies have been conducted on this topic. Some of these studies are based on the observation of children in experimental situations. By their use of a non-verbal research method, these studies have the advantage of avoiding misrepresentation caused by some children's verbal skills when responding to verbal tests.2 The disadvantage of this type of experimental research, however, is that the real-life validity of the results is sometimes quite low: the skillfully constructed research-experiments In which children's short-term reactions to …

Government, Propaganda And The Irish News Agency, John Horgan

Irish Communication Review

The theme of identity forged in adversity has bulked large on the agenda of the founders of many small nation states, and the case of Ireland is no exception. The extent and nature of the Irish diaspora, in addition, has given this theme an added dimension: its propagation to the world at large. Bending the world's ear to the cause of righting . Ireland's wrongs has been a constant, if rarely successful, strand in Irish nationalist policy for over two centuries. It is only in more recent times, however, that it has become more formally associated with the official structures …

The Political Lobby System, Michael Foley

Irish Communication Review

At the heart of the political system in Ireland, inside Leinster House, is a small groQp of journalists who cover politics. They are the political correspondents. They have a privileged position, their own rooms, access to politicians in their place of work, access to government ministers and regular briefings from the government press secretary and from the press officers of the other political parties. It is these few journalists, working together, who write the first story on any event, who decide what to cover and how stories should be covered. It is to these journalists that the government press secretary …

Social Scientists And Journalists: Are The Former Really So Different From The Latter?, Liz Fawcett

Irish Communication Review

As a journalist who has recently begun carrying out sociological research, I have been struck by the parallels between social science and journalism. I have also been intrigued by some sociological studies of the media which seem to me to suggest that we are little more than a bunch of jumped-up charlatans. This article seeks to examine whether journalism is, in fact, so very different from the social sciences and to ask what might motivate some social scientists to wish to establish a firm differential between the two occupations.