A good Irish Times article by Lorna Siggins on the knots the Garda Ombudsman Commission have tied themselves in around the recordings of Gardai discussing raping and deporting protestors. There has still been no word from GSOC on their difficulties in grasping what research confidentiality means, or why it seems hard to understand that digital cameras record files separately so that research material can be deleted without touching other files.
For those new to this story, there's an excellent background piece by Andrew Flood here.
Recently, the Sunday Independent had to publish an apology to Jerrieann Sullivan to its coverage of the matter where the Press Council decided that a Sindo article breached articles 1 (Truth and accuracy) and 2 (Distinguishing fact and comment) of the press code (see commentary by journalist William Hederman).
Today (Wed 7th December), RTE broadcast an apology for its misleading coverage just before the 6.01 and 9 o'clock news, following the Broadcasting Authority's ruling that it was misleading to claim that the deletion constituted tampering with evidence (see this Shell to Sea press release which gives considerably more information, and a more detailed analysis by William Hederman).
Apologies in both cases no doubt delivered through gritted teeth as prior to the formal Press Council / Broadcasting Authority rulings neither body was willing to acknowledge that they had seriously misrepresented the situation and in the process impugned Ms Sullivan's integrity (as well of course as giving the impression that nothing significant had happened).
All of which brings to mind another transcript (Fish called Wanda):
Otto: Apes don't read philosophy.
Wanda: Yes, they do Otto, they just don't understand it.
Now let me
correct you on a couple of things here. Aristotle was not Belgian. The
central message of Buddhism is not 'every man for himself,' and the London
Underground is not a political movement. Those are all mistakes, Otto. I
looked them up.
Now, you have just assaulted the one man who can keep you
out of jail and make you rich. What are you going to do about it huh? What
would an intellectual do? What would Plato do?
Otto (gritted teeth): Apol...
Wanda: Pardon me?
Otto: Apol...
Wanda: What
Otto: Apologize!
Now, for interactive fun, you can even sing along...
