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Column 'The press is becoming the battleground for thought control'

Nobody is investing in newspapers for profit any more, writes Michael McDowell. Instead, it’s driven by political and editorial control and influence.

Last night, Michael McDowell spoke at the launch of a book by Elaine Byrne on corruption in Ireland. During his speech, he spoke about media ownership in Ireland. This is an abridged version of what he said:

IT SEEMS TO me that two issues arise from a consideration of this book. The first of those issues is the way in which we establish and vindicate standards by which our society is to be run and judged.

The second major issue is how we respond as a society to proven departures from those standards.

As to the first issue – the establishment and vindication of standards – it is not enough to investigate by retrospective civil inquiries cases of suspected wrong-doing. Such inquiries are necessary but they are not sufficent.

We need significant deterrents to wrong-doing.

“In Ireland, the oligarchs are on the march”

If in politics, “daylight is the best disinfectant”, the role of our media cannot be ignored. The printed press is facing a technological challenge to its very existence. It now seems to be becoming the battleground for thought control as well.

As a society, and as a democracy, we need to face up to the challenge to freedom and liberty which stems from the total absence of laws diversifying the media and their ownership.

Nobody is investing in the print media these days for profit; on the contrary, it seems plain as a pikestaff that investment is driven by considerations of social, political and editorial control and influence.

Our media must be diverse in their ownership and editorial policy. They are not trophy possession for the surplus cash of plutocrats and oligarchs like large hotels and Premiership football clubs.

The Leveson Inquiry, even as we speak, shows how media control and the political system interact, and underlines the mortal dangers to democracy of surrendering ownership and control of our media to the agendas of those with demonstrated low standards coupled with ruthlessness and greed.

In Ireland, the oligarchs are on the march.

They have some allies, alas, in high places who fete them as much as they can get away with while feigning distance from them.

It was interesting to note recently how some who hold office holders took pains to condemn hostile comments made in the past about the Mahon Tribunal while posing for pictures and slapping the backs and whispering in the ears of those who subjected the Moriarty Tribunal to a sustained campaign of vilification and abuse.

If the two parties in our Government cannot unite in challenging on our behalf the culture of impunity fostered by the rich and powerful, they will deserve the consequences. As British politicians are hourly learning to their pain at Leveson, snuggling up to the oligarchs doesn’t seem so good the morning after.

Sam Smyth and the Moriarty Tribunal

I want to finish by expressing my admiration for the bravery of those who speak truth to power and wealth.

Many journalists, editors and commentators put their professional duties and convictions before their own self-interest. Some alas do not.

Elaine Byrne is brave in her commentary and research.

So also is my good friend, Sam Smyth. Sam has paid a heavy price for standing up for decency in journalism. Some of you will recall that his radio show was closed down to make way for something else in a programme that doesn’t immediately spring to mind. We were assured, of course, that it had “nothing to do” with his coverage of the Moriarty Tribunal.

But those of you who care to Google broadsheet.ie and the words “smoking gun” and “editorial interference” may form a different view of the real agendas already at work. Strange too that Sam personally (and not his paper or the broadcasters) is being sued in the courts. Those cases are obviously not about compensation – they are about silencing an investigative journalist without whose work we would never have known the truth about the former Minister and the coming Oligarch in the first place.

Michael McDowell is a Senior Counsel and former Minister for Justice.

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16 Comments
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    Mute Slew Lok
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    May 26th 2016, 2:46 PM

    So sad …. I hope there family is at peace …

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    Mute Dain Bramage
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    May 26th 2016, 9:36 PM

    Their.

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    Mute Ben Coughlan
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    May 26th 2016, 2:55 PM

    poor lady, still at 66, that’s an admirable way to spend your time, you could live for longer on the couch, but experience much less.

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    Mute Scarr
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    May 26th 2016, 3:54 PM

    Very sad for her family. Its probably hard for me to grasp the enormity of the area she was hiking in, as I instinctively think ‘just keep going 1 direction, you’ll meet civilization eventually’

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    Mute Paddy Ryan
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    May 26th 2016, 5:16 PM

    Even going in “one direction” becomes a problem in such a large wooded area unless you know how to navigate by the sun or stars. For some reason humans seem pre programmed to wander in circles.

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    Mute Ían Ó Ceallaigh
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    May 27th 2016, 10:45 AM

    Generally to do with your stride lengths being different, no? Without specific markers we can not walk in straight lines over time, we always gradually move more to the left or right (depends on the person)

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    Mute Jeni Moriarty
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    May 26th 2016, 5:27 PM

    So sad, at least her family got closure

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    Mute Debi Nikita
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    May 26th 2016, 9:10 PM

    She died alone. How awful for her. All the stories and reality documentaries that are shown on T. V. mounts up to nothing when you are alone in a situation such as this.

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    Mute Dave Smith
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    May 26th 2016, 3:27 PM

    interesting story. If she had put some effort into having an App like viewranger that would track her location using GPS she would have found her way back to the trail.

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    Mute Sarrah29
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    May 26th 2016, 3:34 PM

    You must have missed the part about her not having phone signal . . . Poor lady may she rest in peace.

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    Mute Stephen Cullen
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    May 26th 2016, 3:34 PM

    Dave you’re a idiot.

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    Mute Mise Éire
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    May 26th 2016, 3:35 PM

    Dave you muppet, most of those apps won’t function on the Appalachian trail. A compass and map will save you quicker than a crap app on your phone. Oh and have a heart while you’re at it.

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    Mute Dave Smith
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    May 26th 2016, 3:39 PM

    you don’t need a phone signal, you have the maps on your phone and the GPS tells you where you are.

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    Mute john
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    May 26th 2016, 3:47 PM

    Isnt there a compass app for phones?

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    Mute john kelly
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    May 26th 2016, 3:48 PM

    Hmm, Dave, I wonder did she pack a charger?

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    Mute Dave Smith
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    May 26th 2016, 4:11 PM

    a charger would have helped, I wouldn’t even go out for a weekend without having a 3x charger. 80% of people doing the AT carry some kind of GPS these days and the trail itself is very well marked.

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    Mute Kevin De Groot
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    May 26th 2016, 7:01 PM

    Thank you Captain Hindsight!! God bless you!!

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    Mute NeilGoochFerriter
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    May 26th 2016, 11:39 PM

    Prize idiot.

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    Mute dublinlad
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    May 27th 2016, 1:35 AM

    Dave is right. I hike these trails and I have a app on my iPhone that shows your location by GPS. You won’t get a phone signal but the app works from satellite signals.

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    Mute Anthony Byrne
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    May 27th 2016, 8:00 AM

    There’s no app to fix Dave’s problem.

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    Mute Ían Ó Ceallaigh
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    May 27th 2016, 11:00 AM

    Indeed and anyone who would trust their life to a cell phone app should not be on the trail. They are good indicators but not exactly safety specced equipment.

    A good Personal Locator Beacon connecting with the COSPAS SARSAT is the only way to go. Phone sized radio beacons which will transmit for min 24 hours and cost only C.€250.

    Tragic what happened to this lady but hopefully anyone reading this will consider purchasing one of these devices, if they are going into the real wild (or even up our own mountains)

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    Mute Pat Gorman
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    May 28th 2016, 12:29 PM

    Dave is not an idiot.
    GPS has nothing to do with phone signals.
    A GPS device communicates directly with satellites orbiting overhead.
    A GPS device times the signals from known satellites and works out the exact position ion the ground.
    The “constellation” of overhead GPS satellites covers all areas on the earth.
    As you might have guessed…….it was once top secret American military technology.
    Before mobile phones.

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    Mute Pat Gorman
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    May 28th 2016, 12:58 PM

    P.S.
    This picture showy you what your GPS receiver connects to:

    https://lh5.ggpht.com/AUlwKe40rbidPHxZvDKdv-Rt0JawyKJGLwOvSXio21J6Nlg6XxgDFcEM-yNuG1eQVA=h900

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    Mute Paul Connell
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    May 27th 2016, 9:20 AM

    Good man Dave . You are a great wealth of information , if a bit insensitive . I am embarrassed for you.

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    Mute Ger
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    May 27th 2016, 4:06 AM

    I’ve hiked part of the application trail and while some parts are very well marked others others not. My biggest pet peeve there was the amount of times we ended up following trails but not the correct ones.Im guessing she must have taken a wrong trail somewhere because even in such a vast wilderness the main trail will have a steady stream of hikers. Im glad her family have peace. I wonder will they release the journal.

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    Mute Pat Gorman
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    May 28th 2016, 12:11 PM

    She was only three or four miles away from the trail.
    About an hour’s walk.
    She should have “walked the compass and returned if unsuccessful”.
    If she marked the spot she was lost and systematically walk 5 miles from her lost point and then returned she could have covered “all points of the compass” (N,S,E,W,NE,SE SW,NW) and reached safety.
    Clear thinking.
    Tragically…a dirt cheap ($50) GPS device would have saved her…NO phone signal is required for GPS.
    A cheap GPS receiver would tell her where she was anywhere on the earth to an accuracy of a meter or two.

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    Mute June Rose-Sommer
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    May 27th 2016, 5:25 PM

    That is so sad!! Very brave woman. It must have been very lonely and frightening for her. To know that you’re not getting out alive. Never to see your husband and daughter again!!

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