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Bitter-Sweet Irish Times Coverage of Russia.
It may sound banal and in “what else did you expect” mode, but since I started reading the Irish Times, I have not read a single positive and objective article on Russia. The exception would be the Irish Times issues with accounts of the Beslan tragedy. But even then inconsistency with the usage of words “terrorist” and “insurgent” was baffling. I got the impression that “terrorist” was being used only when it was beneficial to one party in its attempts to discredit the other.
I am not trying to present Russia as the best country in the world, flawless in its politics and actions. Not at all, it is far from it, like any other state. But what I am looking for is an objective, detailed and convincing account of events that take place in Russia. Isn’t it what the whole world wants Russia to be? Objective and consistent with international freedom of speech laws. If so, why can’t the rest of the world do the same? Here again comes a notion of when it is in one party’s interest, then it’s a different story. The problem is people tend to believe or at least partially believe in what they read, especially in the national newspaper.
However, I must admit, I do enjoy reading the Irish Times, but not when it comes to Russia. A [particular] journalist who writes for the IT when referring to the current Russian president, fails (intentionally or not, I would not know) to call him “President”, he prefers “former KGB spy”. KGB was not a mere spy agency, it was more than that, and labelling Mr. Putin in a gossipy press style is definitely not up to Irish Times standards.
What motivated me to write this piece was a short and nicely written article in the Irish Times today on Mr. Ahern’s speech in Brussels. I have nothing against the article itself, but the extracts from theTaoiseach’s speech and the title angered me. Every EU country together with the US is warning Russia like a silly immature baby. This judgement does not take into account that not every aspect of so-called democracy applies to every single country around the world. Russia needs a completely different ruling system essentially because it is NOT a European country and does not need to be one. In this case, to contradict Mr. Bush, Russia does not embrace “those very same values that America embraces” and it does not need to be preached on ideology that most of EU leaders are not good at themselves.
To conclude, I’ll keep a close look at what Irish Times is going to write on ex-KGB-spy-father of democracy [Bush] “rendez-vous” in Bratislava tomorrow.
23rd of February is a national holiday in Russia praising soldiers that were fighting for the country throughout numerous wars.
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opinion/analysis
Wednesday February 23, 2005 14:48
by Maria
mariaoleinik at hotmail dot com
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Comments (7 of 7)
Jump To Comment: 7 6 5 4 3 2 1If you've got internet access don't waist a penny on the Irish Times to read about international news. That's the first thing I wonna say. There are countless resources out there, from NGOs and discussion sites (the best sources, I find), to independent news and international newspaper websites.
Though I guess whether you read the IT or not, others in Ireland (about 100,000 or so daily?) still will. The same goes for RTE News.
One day in late 2001 RTE News were reporting on the US attacks on Afghanistan they included a US flag draped over the RTE graphics and the slogan "War on terrorism" where the foreign correspondent's name and title normally goes. I complained the following morning, and phoned in my complaint to Marian Finucan's RTE radio program. I said that I couldn't recall seeing the Russian flag draped over RTE's graphics and the slogan "War on terrorism" (or anything like it!) when RTE News last reported on Chechnya. The producers found it not important enough to discuss, and Marian shrugged it off as "some observant viewer" noticed something about flags on air.
When was the last time the Irish Times referred to Bush Snr as the former head of the CIA (during the time of the Iran-Contra affair!)?
Priveyt!
That may be true, but it's hard to see what benefit the Irish Times could benefit from misrepresenting Russia or being underhand about her President. I think it's more a case that they don't know what's going on and can't penetrate the Russian political culture to inject any real insights into life in Russia. I'm not sure about subsequent IT correspondents in Russia, but initally the reports they published in the 80's were little better than official handouts from the State - the first correspondent didn't speak Russian, for example.
On the other hand, the Putin government is less open than it could be and diliberately suppressed the truth about the Beslan murders and their own incomptence, same for the Kursk tragedy, and their take on the Yukos crackdown is politically charged. I'm not saying that is wrong given the challenges in governing Russia, plus Russians expect tough government becase they believe its good government - which is fair enough given what they'd tried to do and the way they've been treated by "the west". However, such cultural pardigms would make it difficult for the Irish Times to be little more than a cypher for reports of others.
There isn't an Indymedia in Moscow (or Russia?) - very surprising given the technical excellence of the people and the tradition of Samizdat/Tamizdat, so that could be telling in itself.
Btw, I don't buy this Peter the Great crap about Russia being European. Ever looked up Vladivostock on a map...
But apparently, the world is not happy with it. And if the world is not happy with Russian system - criticism, trade barriers seem to go into action.
My main point is enough of this political bla-bla, boring :(
After the collapse of the "cordon sanitaire", it's not Russia that is alienating itself, the EU and the US do not want to have anything to do with Russia unless this and that. Russia is not a puppet, it is a country neither better nor worse, a partner that has smth to share.
Think of the implications of this:
"Russia needs a completely different ruling system essentially because it is NOT a European country..." (see above).
Surely Russia can have any system Russia wants regardless of whether Russians are or see themselves as European or not.
Perhaps the IT is not a 'national paper' - but it is the 'newspaper of record' - the one you quote if you need a footnote of some bit of rep, as opposed to citing The Herald, for example.
-- -- --
The Irish Times is cited as a 'Newspaper of Record' at Wikipedia:
http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=?tname=the-irish-times
'newspaper of record' means...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newspaper_of_record
A newspaper of record is a broadsheet (although now some of these publications have switched or are planning to switch to a tabloid or compact format) newspaper with high standards of journalism.
Newspapers of record are usually found internationaly at newsstands as representative of the publishing country's news.
Newspapers of record generally have strong editors and proprietors and are allowed to hold independent views from those of their proprietor.
But the Irish Times is definitely more professional and has more correspondents outside Ireland. Plus, there are great journalists writing for the IT.
I also agree with you on its extreme marketing campaign (I hope we are talking about the same thing here).
"The problem is people tend to believe or at least partially believe in what they read, especially in the national newspaper"
Have to take issue with you there, Maria. The Irish Times is NOT "the" national paper. There are three other morning papers in the country, the Examiner, the Irish Independent, and Daily Ireland.
And if you have been following recent events regarding the Irish Times you would be aware of the depths to which it prepared to go to sell copies.