New student newspaper on the block

by Watching Corrie - Griffith Collage Mon Apr 25, 2005 21:06

As somebody who contributed to both Griffiti and the Circular i would like to congratulate them both on their sucess at last weeks Student Media awards. Its just a pity that none of the editors of The Circular felt the need to inform their fellow editors and contributors of the nomination, let alone the sucess. Given that it was a class effort to put the paper together it would have been nice to have been given the chance to celebrate on the night rather than finding out through an e-mail.

by Galvanised Wed Apr 13, 2005 18:21

Just a few quick points about the Circular. The article written by the supposedly unbiased Cormac Cahill was in fact written by one of the collage lecturers, as the original article was so libelous the college couldnt print it. I guess Gwen wasnt to far from the point when she said that students didnt pay attention in class. Also, as regards Griffiti being written by the same group of people that is sad, but true. Most Griffith students couldnt be arsed to get off their arse to write for a college paper. That goes for the majority of The Circular writers, who to the best of my knowlege havent written for the circular since the first issue or for any other collage publication, despite being asked. Unlike The Circular, which was compulsery for students in the Editing class to contribute to, Griffiti relies on student contributions which have been sparser than your average SU event.Claims of it being a paper written by friends is also rubbish as the paper is edited by an outsider.

by Ed - The Circular Team Mon Dec 06, 2004 19:33

I humbly apologise Iain in regards to the Griffiti. Didnt mean to be a pretentious prick. The SU paper has it's own image and so do we, so sorry we tied you into this. I guess i (just me) just wanted to stir some controversy! And apparently it happened with Gwen seeing this and printing a rebuttal to our article for the Sunday Independent yesterday. After all, don't we want a little publicity before all this dies down? I think we can put an end to this discussion about Griff and Gwen now(on indymedia anyway), it's just going to be a war of attrition if it goes on.


PS: Gwen, 'Ed' is not the editor.. he is one of the layout staff who apparently will end up cutting his teeth on tabloids.

by Iain - GCD SU Mon Dec 06, 2004 14:09

I would just like to clear up a few things starting first with the statement that apparently the newspaper Griffiti is just for cheerleeding and praising the SU. Griffiti is a students newspaper set up to give students somewhere to get articles printed we do not encourage anybody to praise us and i ask you to actually read to newspaper and point out these instinces. the newspaper is open to any member of the student body to submit articles including the sabbitacle officers who are also students. i myself wrote the article on the cover and no it was not beacuse i am paid by the college it is beacuse a close friend of mine whos father was homeless up until 6 months ago and whos mother is also unemployed was turned down for a means tested grant. this and this alone is the reason for my writing the article and any suggestion otherwise is wrong.

by Ex Griffith Student Wed Dec 01, 2004 13:09 john_j_connolly at yahoo dot net

Just in general I'd thought I'd add my twopence to this lovely debate.
Halley showed absolutely no recognition or facts or figures to support her argument and in my mind little journalistic integrity in taking a cheap shot to fulfill an apparent personal agenda.

Having finished my degree in GCD, then doing a Masters at Trinity - it would be my own personal opinion that her comments could be more appropriately directed towards TCD than the former. Obviously I have no exact figures to compare either, but I think the results would be startling.
(By the way - worked for, struggled throught and paid for all the fees, rent, etc myself! - Definately not near middle class!!)

The article in general annoys me, but as do some of the other comments - Griffith now has a Fine Gael society from the state of the noticeboards, had a Sinn Fein one, created in direct opposition to the Ogra Fianna Fail society - and until that was created 4 years ago there was no political society or overt signs of bias at all. In general, having been later in other third level institutions on both sides of the wire, I think it true to say that there is little sustainable political debate or opinion roaming through the corridors of colleges.
The other figures given (40% Irish - 39% Upper middle class for example) are hilarious! It really looks like detailed research has been conducted! (a nice car or taxi!) give me a break!! also care to elucidate on the elusive nature of class? Who is lower/upper middle class? How many students did you actually question as to their background/financial position - appearances - mum's car/new clothes for birthdays/your own bitterness perhaps? - can certainly be deceiving.

The point is balance - as one who posted comments noted, Halley's comments seek to denigrate the status/concept/worth of the college and its' degrees with no notion of balance. The degree are not 'paid for' in the colloquial sense 'buy now - get it in three years time, no questions asked!' - a first in TCD - certainly makes that point, but the overall perception of a money grabbing/degrees for sale institution is never helped by such one-sided, purposely inflamatory articles. Comments by Michael Hennigan seeking to make inroads into credibility without at all contacting or considering college policy, procedure or safeguards regarding foreign students are of the same ilk.

The college fills a hole in the educational needs of our society, yet it seems to be a laughing joke to some people. Halley seems quite content with kicking the college that gave her her start, degree, meeting with employers - well, the expression I believe runs along the lines of 'be nice to the people on your way up....'. Personally, without the possibility of doing my course, after screwing up my leaving, I would be still left in limbo - thankfully, by paying comparable fees to those that existed prior to 1997 - i was still able to pursue my ambitions. This 'class division' argument merely clouds the greater point, that Griffith is fulfilling a need and doing a bloody good job of it and all graduates from the college, whether they like it or not, have to realise that they have this perception of a 'bought degree' still hanging in the air and rather than belittle their achievements, should seek to champion
them and the college.
While many of you have sought to do this through letters to the sindo, you should bear in mind that the work continues long after that.

by Another GCD (Comp Science) Student Wed Nov 24, 2004 11:20

I read the article in the Circular but didnt read the Sindo article. Here is the lowdown of the Students of GCD though.

Im a computer science student here in GCD and the reason im attending here is i didnt have a language (ie. French or German), hence when i applied to college GCD was one of the only places I could go in Dublin (also taking into consideration at the time of applying very high points for places like TCD & DIT for computing).

Im from a lower middle class background. Most people in computing (who are Irish) would be either a) lower middle class or b) upper middle class. The government payed the first two years fees for my course i was landed with the last two and yes i paid the full course fees myself from working the entire summer (ie. 7,000 euro).

25% of my year is Irish 50-60% are Chinese the other 15-25% are of mixed nationalities (pakistan, nigeria etc)

What about the rest of the college?

Primarily upper middle class. Most students have a nice SUV, Mercedes or BMW to drive to college or else they arrive by Taxi.

The only political group/society in the college (that i know of) is Oghra Fianna Fail. Most students i have spoken to here have very right wing views.

GCD's overall student Population i would take a guess at is

30-45% Chinese or other Asian Nationality
40% Irish (of which 39% are upper middle class)
15-30% Other nationalities such as Pakistani, India, Nigerian, etc...

by Another GCD (Comp Science) Student Wed Nov 24, 2004 11:19

I read the article in the Circular but didnt read the Sindo article. Here is the lowdown of the Students of GCD though.

Im a computer science student here in GCD and the reason im attending here is i didnt have a language (ie. French or German), hence when i applied to college GCD was one of the only places I could go in Dublin (also taking into consideration at the time of applying very high points for places like TCD & DIT for computing).

Im from a lower middle class background. Most people in computing (who are Irish) would be either a) lower middle class or b) upper middle class. The government payed the first two years fees for my course i was landed with the last two and yes i paid the full course fees myself from working the entire summer (ie. 7,000 euro).

25% of my year is Irish 50-60% are Chinese the other 15-25% are of mixed nationalities (pakistan, nigeria etc)

What about the rest of the college?

Primarily upper middle class. Most students have a nice SUV, Mercedes or BMW to drive to college or else they arrive by Taxi.

The only political group/society in the college (that i know of) is Oghra Fianna Fail. Most students i have spoken to here have very right wing views.

GCD's overall student Population i would take a guess at is

30-45% Chinese or other Asian Nationality
40% Irish (of which 39% are upper middle class)
15-30% Other nationalities such as Pakistani, India, Nigerian, etc...

by GCD Student Tue Nov 23, 2004 22:55

I agree with you that Gwen's comment was irrelevant and immature, and pointless. That's not to say there isn't. But as you said who cares.

I think the circular is probably the best newspaper the college has had in the last 3 years that I have been there. Some strong opinion pieces and some very good features.

Congratulations on an excellent newpaper. Didn't intend to be too harsh in my last post, just the faculty seems obsessed with the gwen halley issue - noticeboards etc.

fair point regarding the refusal of sindo to publish the letters. I did notice that they published a letter from an ex student agreeing with her!

by Ed - The Circular team Tue Nov 23, 2004 21:22

I see you share the same resentment against the so called rich kids of Griffith. Although i can clearly identify a good few of them around the place, I don't really take much notice as it dosen't concern me.
My question is, what about them? Do they affect you? Do they distract you from your studies? I don't understand why some students like yourself and Gwen would be so critical of them.
There is no doubt that Griff consists of students from various financial and indeed ethnic backgrounds. Her statement was biased, and yes was petty also but nevertheless Sindo's refusal to print students' complaint letters drove us to this point. We simply published this once-off rebuttal to give some shred of credibility back to like-minded students and to reputable teaching staff. Bear in mind that the Griffith Adminstration does not fully endorse this paper.
I don't think the writer (Cahill) was being biased too; the bulk of his article simply challenged her statements, and if you think this reflects bias on his part, how else could've the article be made more objective or neutral?

I agree with you on the Griffiti, and if you also think the Circular dosen't live up to your expectation, it's not fair to judge it by the Gwen Halley article, as you so seem to be.

To 'all lies:' No the student activism article did not have anything about grants. And the that page you spoke of is not sports, but local based news.

All in all, thanks for the feedback from everyone. Cheers!

by GCD Student Tue Nov 23, 2004 20:22

As a fellow journalism student at GCD I think putting the Gwen Halley story on the front page was a ridiculous idea. By doing so, you are only giving credibility to her article. The fact is she said GCD journalism students are not fit to write for a 'proper' newspaper. This despite Gwen being a GCD journalism graduate. That is all that needed to be written.

Maybe she proved her point and that is why she is writing for the sindo.

GCD is clearly full of rich kids and to say anything to the contrary would be a lie. In last years newspaper, in the travel section, there was a review of 3 week Caribbean cruise. The writer recommended it as a great trip. I can see students beating a path to their nearest travel agent

That said, not all are. It was petty thing for halley to say, but who cares?

The front page article descends into a farce on page 6 when the writer, accusing Halley of being biased, is biased himself. The hypocrisy is astounding.

Griffiti, the other article, is a cheerleading propaganda tool for the college. The front-page was an opinion piece by a member of the Student Union who is paid by GCD. Friends of the Student Union write about what a great job the SU are doing. It's laughable. GCD is not exactly a hotbed of print journalism

by Michael Hennigan Tue Nov 23, 2004 15:53

1. Firstly, on colleges such as Griffith and Portobello, it would be interesting to compare the proportion of non-EU students with the other colleges. One swallow doesn't make a summer-some weeks ago, I referred to a student at one of the colleges who raised funds from poor relatives to fund enrollment in a course which was way below his achievement in his own country, as he hoped that arriving here as a student would enable him to eventually get a work visa.

The only reason I raise this is not because I'm against immigration but if the case is more than an exception, the for-profit operators would be engaging in another form of human trafficking.

2. It is interesting that contract/piecemeal work in the economy predominates in the public sector and media companies. It is ironically, in the often reviled multinationals where security of tenure and conditions are generally much superior.

As to the benefit of courses such as Media Studies, i would guess that there is always an oversupply of graduates for a small media market. Unless an individual has passion for what they do, there must be easier ways of making a living in the early years than hawking scripts on a payment per word basis.

There is no danger of an oversupply of doctors because the system ensures an artificial scarcity.

3. In the last issue of the Sindo, Liam Collins bemoaned Eddie Irvine's apparent interest in teenage girls and implored Irivine to grow up. The piece was accommpanied with uncredited photographs from a booze-up at the Cocoon bar - of course a contrast from the standard staged photgraphs but we could all look stupid in a photograph taken in a pub on a Friday night- including Liam Colins.

In the same issue of the Sindo, Barry Egan, cheerleader to the stars wrote this contrasing piece:

'WHICH comes first, the Sun or the sick? Or let me put it another way. If that great trumpeter of truth, the Sun, reports that you have been sick all over yourself, chances are you will be when you read it. It's called self-fulfilling profit, something which must please Rupert Murdoch inordinately.

This is precisely what Rupert Murdoch's puerile pamphlet did to Westlife star Kian Egan. A Stockholm nightclub was apparently the setting for Kian's antics....'

by all lies, hmm Tue Nov 23, 2004 14:27

Bah, going to griffith myself i feel she was right about a lot of the students, that car park has a lot of swanky suv's, she was right even about myself admittedly being from the reviled middle class, but in a less than kind way, sniffle, i was so upset i ran home and told mater and pater. However it is true to say her biased article was merely reinforcing a damaging stereotype for such colleges where students work just as hard for their degrees and so having invested so much time and effort must ensure that once they graduate people dont tell them a griffith degree isnt real, and they wasted their time. This is a real concern.

However it is not true of all the students so it was biased, but if that was her experience of griffith then she is entitled to her opinion, also why should students care about her perception of a private company and its customers, no one complains when mcgonads is slagged off. Her statement that she would have been better off cutting her teeth at a tabloid is pretty true however, postgrad courses look nice on paper but aren't always worth that much and can feel like a rip off.

Also the other college rag was bemoaning the lack of a grant to griffith students and in circulars article on student activism i think it included, i may be wrong, mention of student activism in such things as looking for the grant. However i question the rationale of looking for the grant for students of a private money making enterprise as such funding would support the idea of colleges as money making institutions and put pressure on our national colleges to become more profitable which can only be done by dropping less profitable subjects, in a nightmare world this could lead to colleges that only cater for subjects in the field on business, legal agriculture and manufacturing while demoting or abandoning stuff like philosophy, politics, english and most of the stuff that asks you to question the status quo and the construction of meaning and truth in the world around us. Are we to be educated and enslaved by companies from birth to death, doing and being taught to do only what is profitable for someone else?

I think private colleges and grants is a debate worth having. Ah sure and i'll say congratulationss to the first issue of a new paper, it wasnt a bad read,(but a+e crisis on the sports page?), good luck, hope it goes well.

by Ed - The Circular team Tue Nov 23, 2004 00:51

Well the lowdown on Gwen is that she wrote an entirely biased article against our college and we simply made a fair rebuttal.

No it's nothing like Mongrel, this is just a free 12 page newspaper.

by Acid Tue Nov 23, 2004 00:44

that rag Mongrel?

by eeekkk Mon Nov 22, 2004 19:18

gwan give us the text of the lowdown on the redbaiting ex-griffith college journo who turned on her former 'masters' -

by Ed - The Circular team Mon Nov 22, 2004 18:49

Here's the front page you should look out for :)

Feel free to add some comments if you do get your hands on a copy.

by eeekkkk Mon Nov 22, 2004 18:18

whet the appetite and all that