Malachy Browne

Attempted robbery a good start to the weekend

An uplifting experience today I thought worth sharing. I skip down the steps of the Luas station at Charlemont, on the way in to a gathering of colleagues at the Storyful office. Wrestle a ball of keys from my pocket to unlock me bike, when BAM! No bike! Hands to head. *Curses* Noooo! Couldn't be gone. Did I walk from work yesterday? No. Did I not lock it properly? No. *Curses*. *Curses*. Fuckers.

Noteworthy saving on iPad2

The automated answer system down at O2 command centre in Clare is right up there in the dulcet-o-meter. But wouldn't it be great if they had Shyrka? A quick Wikipeda tells me that Kelly Ricard was cast as Shyrka in the English version of Ulysees. Someone in O2 should look her up. I might be inclined to call more.

Cool tools for data visualisation

Stanford school of journalism made this video report demo'ing some great tools for online journalists and bloggers to present data in cool ways. They talk about Moodle, Swivel and a new tool that non-techies can customise for deep data analysis such as election results. 

Take the survey - concept for Politico magazine

On the relaunch of Magill in October 1997, former editor Fintan O'Toole wrote:

"By giving journalists more space and time than are generally available in the newspapers, Magill could look beyond the news. Sometimes it could set its own agenda by investigating stories that remain untold. Sometimes it can stand back and try to provide a context in which the endless flow of sensations acquires some shape and meaning."

New magazines on Politico

Last week we added three new titles to the magazine archive on Politico - Changing Ireland, LookLeft and Voice of the Traveller. This brings to six the number of titles on Politico - Nusight (1968 - 1970), Magill (1977 - 1998) and Village magazine (2004 - 2008) are also available.

The tiresome conceit of Jody Corcoran

Jody Corcoran's political reportage reads like an autobiography in which he claims to be squarely placed in the political establishment.

(Left: A photo of Jody Corcoran with Brian Cowen that accompanied a Sunday Independent interview in December 2009 when Corcoran wrote that he  "bounced the Taoiseach into doing a one-to-one interview with [him]" while other journalists were consigned to a round-table chat.)

Heroes and Villians at the GPO

References have been made in recent weeks to the loss of Ireland's economic self-determination and the insult to Irish revolutionaries who fought for independence, human dignity and equality. Some media commentators ridiculed such references.

The November freeze in photos

The blanket of snow that fell overnight seems to be a welcome distraction for many from the blanket coverage of our economic woes. Spirits are upbeat on Twitter and Facebook this morning with photos from across the country. [Gallery below]

Politico - a year in

Politico was founded a year ago this month with modest ambitions. Without seeming too worthy, Politico sought to highlight social and political issues that are very often marginalised by the mainstream media. It sought to challenge the prevailing 'cultural ideology' set out by the political class and propped up by the mainstream media.

TDs take note

[VIDEO] Republican Councilman Phil Davison became an internet sensation after this blazing appeal to become Stark County Treasurer. He lost, crathur, but created internet gold in the attempt. More of this in the Oireachteas.

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