The Real Free Press!Issue 18Saturday May 11
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The Chance for Change
The week before polling
Into the last week before polling day and Wexford people are about to be presented with their last chance for another 5 years to make a bold statement to the conservative establishment that has failed this county so badly for so long.At Lochgarman.com we have highlighted the neglect of this county. We have been bewildered, saddened and angered that our current representatives have sat on their hands in Leinster House while this great county has been treated shamefully.
We have never made a pretence on this website of being impartial, we are not impartial, we want to see change and are confident that there will be real change when the votes are counted.
However some of our local media, most notably the People Newspaper group, do make a pretence at being impartial, ......they are anything but impartial!!
The following email was sent by us to the editor and selected journalists of the Wexford People Newspaper following their May 8th edition:
A Chairde
----- Original Message ----- From: Setanta Design To: michael.ryan@peoplenews.ie ; david.tucker@peoplenews.ie ;
maria.pepper@peoplenews.ie ; ann.jones@peoplenews.ie ;
amoc@peoplenews.ie Sent: Wednesday, May 08, 2002 13:49 Subject: Ethics in Journalism/General Election Coverage!It is with much disappointment but sadly no great surprise, that I write to protest at the clear and blatant bias in election coverage shown by the Wexford People in todays edition (Weds May 8th). One would have thought that journalistic ethics if not good conscience would impell you to provide fair and impartial coverage of the general election campaign but sadly it seems that this is just not so.
I am referring to the fact that the Sinn Féin candidate John Dwyer was completely blanked in todays edition despite nine full pages dedicated to coverage of the election! A range of profiles, pics, press releases and statements from ten other candidates were featured but not a single mention of John Dywer who is at present showing ahead of all 3 FG candidates on 1st preferences in the latest opinion poll and in contention to cause perhaps the biggest upset in local politics in this constituency for decades. This is a very glaring omission and one can only deduce that it is no accident but entirely deliberate on your behalf.
Last weekend, the Minister for Education in the Northern Assembly, Martin McGuinness M.P., toured the Wexford constituency, made a keynote address at a press conference in New Ross and canvassed in Wexford and Gorey. This received no mention whatsoever nor did any of the press releases issued by John Dwyer make your pages in this crucial phase of the election campaign. The visit of Martin McGuinness, a Minister, a member of Parliament, a member of the Northern assembly as well as a leading architect of the Peace Process and chief negotiator for Sinn Féin to Wexford is totally ignored by your paper, this is no accident at all is it?
It is certainly no accident when the fact that John Bruton's visit to the Ashdown Park Hotel in Gorey is considered newsworthy, is printed and photographed. When Avril Doyles picture appears four times beside articles, Michael D'Arcy appears three times, Paul Kehoe twice, Dr Liam Twomey twice, Cllr Seán Doyle once, Brendan Howlin once, Bertie Ahern four times on a double page spread, Tony Dempsey six times, Hugh Byrne four times, John Browne three times, even Ivan Yates, Lorcan Allen and Senator Jim Walsh(twice) appeared....but not one single mention in word or picture of John Dwyer or Martin McGuinness?
I am reminded of the day that Gerry Adams addressed a crowd of approx 10,000 people on Vinegar Hill in Enniscorthy as part of the 1798 commemorations. This major event and mass gathering of Wexford people was also totally ignored by your newspaper as if it never happened. Hardly an accident on your behalf either?
The Independent Newspaper Group are often criticised for biased reporting and pursuing the agenda of Tony O'Reilly's own personal politics. Of course this is consistently denied but the evidence is unfortunately just too obvious. It is more than sad that our own local paper is blatantly pursuing this agenda. Sadly it does not reflect well on your newspaper nor your professionalism.
I am not writing as a member of Sinn Féin but readily admit to being biased in wanting to see real and much needed change for Wexford in the coming election and can recognise a clear and deliberate lack of fair play in your coverage.
Le Meas
Daithí Mac Giollarnáth
To date only the following reply has been received:
"Tks for your forthright views which I have passed on to the editor.Any further replies will be posted on this page...... don't hold your breath!
regards.
david tucker."
A New Era
Who Fears to Speak of '98
Within a week we will know if a new era has begun in Irish Politics and in Wexford politics. We will know if the people have had enough of poor representation and have decided to break the mould.On Thursday May 9th this writer joined a 3 mile convoy of cars bearing flags and blaring horns in bright sunshine from Gorey to Enniscorthy where Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams addressed a large crowd in Murphy-Floods Hotel.
The athmosphere on this colourful cavalcade and the reception received as it drove along the road can only be compared to the journies home from Croke park during the glorious days of '96 and '97.
A sense of nervous excitement could be felt in the room as Gerry Adams addressed the large crowd of supporters and activists. That nervous anticipation exists because all present know that a momentous breakthrough is now within touching distance.
For the first time since 1922 a Sinn Féin TD from Wexford may walk through the doors of Leinster House to be joined by other Sinn Féin TD's from around the country as a new era begins in Irish Politics.
The People Newspaper will tell us that it cannot happen because.....Tony O'Reilly does not want it to happen!
If the People of Wexford want it to happen....it will happen!
It is time to break the mould.
Go out and make it happen!
Gig Report
From: "The Rambler"
Hanley, McCarthy & SinnottOne of Wexford’s greatest, unrealized, exports was back on May 2nd. Declan Sinnott accompanied by two of Ireland’s top songwriters played to an unfairly small audience in Whites Hotel on the night.
The show was a benefit to raise funds for Kathy Sinnott’s attempt to get elected to Dail Eireann to continue her fight for disabled rights.
With such a combination of great cause and unimaginable line up this gig should have been packed to the rafters but sadly it wasn’t.
Sinnott, perhaps best known for producing many of Mary Black’s albums opened the gig with some excellent renditions of Bob Dylan material in particular ‘Boots of Spanish Leather’. Sinnott got a rousing performance on his home turf. He is without any doubt, one of the great artistic exports of Wexford and has been a force within groups that if they had been formed following individual members success would be called super groups. He consolidated his reputation by moving into production. As an audience member remarked, “he makes the guitar speak, but makes it look so simple”.
Next up was the man from Cork, Jimmy McCarthy. For the uninitiated, he is the man responsible for hits by Christy Moore, Mary Black and just about every major singer in the folk genre in the past 20 years. McCarthy, like so many stars is a shy person to begin with but as the music takes over, a witty repartee emerges. He held the audience spellbound with his unadorned versions of his better-known material from ‘Ride On’ to ‘Neidin’. It was a revelation, to listen to this gentle man sing the songs that obviously meant so much to him. In particular they enjoyed his ‘Rose of Harlem’.
One snippet of information that came out of the banter was that McCarthy has just finished a book so fans of this prolific and gifted songwriter may have their Christmas wish for 2002 ready to be granted. He did not give much away about content but he said that Declan Sinnott would blush at the references to himself.
Most country singers in the world have recorded a version of ‘Past the Point of Rescue’, including a Norwegian language cover. The man responsible, Mick Hanley, took the stage next and as what was perhaps the performer of whom least was known on the bill, he bowled the crowd over. His combination of repartee, explanations of how his songs came to be written, put-downs for mobile phone owners and excellent tunes were a joy to witness. His songs might have been less well known than some of McCarthy’s but everyone there soon wanted to know more of them. Many of his songs are witty, funny story songs which all worked extremely well in the intimate setting.
Although the gig was a benefit for Cathy Sinnott, the great songwriters present were full of praise for Declan and complimented him for his work for the music scene and his encouragement of their writing talent. It is when we hear such praise from distinguished performers that we in Wexford should feel proud of this able ambassador who gets little recognition in his hometown.
To conclude the session all three artistes converged on the stage for some very obviously impromptu offerings. They had the crowd screaming for more with spirited renditions of ‘My Sweet Lord’ and the big finale ‘I saw her Standing There’, the Beatles hit.
As with so many great concerts, this was the silver lining from a very black cloud. Declan Sinnott and his wife Kathy had a son who suffers from autism and Kathy has had to fight the Irish government for years to secure proper education programmes for him and other with similar problems. As a final resort she has decided to stand in the government elections and the concert was to raise funds for her campaign.
FM Productions (Frank & Mick) who brought this concert to fruition had previously presented Christy Moore at the same venue and are committed to re-vitalizing the live music diet of this part of Ireland. That can be no bad thing and could be a great boost for the interactive nightlife that good live sessions can bring. How many recall the marvelous sessions in The Long Room in Whites or McMurrough packing the Talbot on a Saturday night?
As people chatted with these very real ‘superstars’ one person likened it to the old sessions held in the upstairs rooms of pubs, like the Shamrock Bar, back in the sixties except that the participants this time were very accomplished professionals.
I believe that this session was the closest we in Wexford will ever come to those magical Greenwich Village days when the likes of Dylan, Baez and Farina would have played in a session.
The Rambler
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