{"id":12976,"date":"2021-12-12T16:52:10","date_gmt":"2021-12-12T16:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/?p=12976"},"modified":"2021-12-12T16:52:10","modified_gmt":"2021-12-12T16:52:10","slug":"we-have-sick-journalism-in-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/2021\/12\/12\/we-have-sick-journalism-in-ireland\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;We have Sick Journalism in Ireland&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/life-and-style\/people\/then-now-1.564802\">Joe MacAnthony<\/a><\/span> might be considered the greatest investigative reporter to have ever operated in the history of the Irish State. His career in Ireland, however, was cut short by vested interests that still appear to insulate those with money in power from accountability and criminal sanction. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Having exposed the staggering corruption lying behind the <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.ie\/opinion\/analysis\/irish-sweepstake-scandal-remains-a-lesson-to-us-all-26237690.html\">Irish Hospitals\u2019 Sweepstakes<\/a><\/span>, he eventually ran out of Irish publishers,<\/span> and was forced to take a job with the Canadian Broadcasting Authority. After receiving threats to his life, he moved to Canada with his wife and four children, where he lived for thirty-five years.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"They&#039;ll Never Show That\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Fr8pVV37BBg?start=1908&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a class=\"yt-simple-endpoint style-scope yt-formatted-string\" dir=\"auto\" style=\"color: #0000ff;\" spellcheck=\"false\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Fr8pVV37BBg&amp;t=0s\">0:00<\/a><\/span><span class=\"style-scope yt-formatted-string\" dir=\"auto\"> Introduction <\/span><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><br \/>\n<a class=\"yt-simple-endpoint style-scope yt-formatted-string\" dir=\"auto\" style=\"color: #0000ff;\" spellcheck=\"false\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Fr8pVV37BBg&amp;t=73s\">1:13<\/a><\/span><span class=\"style-scope yt-formatted-string\" dir=\"auto\"> The Irish Sweepstakes <\/span><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><br \/>\n<a class=\"yt-simple-endpoint style-scope yt-formatted-string\" dir=\"auto\" style=\"color: #0000ff;\" spellcheck=\"false\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Fr8pVV37BBg&amp;t=882s\">14:42<\/a><\/span><span class=\"style-scope yt-formatted-string\" dir=\"auto\"> Story on Ray Burke <\/span><br \/>\n<a class=\"yt-simple-endpoint style-scope yt-formatted-string\" dir=\"auto\" spellcheck=\"false\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Fr8pVV37BBg&amp;t=1170s\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">19:30<\/span><\/a><span class=\"style-scope yt-formatted-string\" dir=\"auto\"> Closed down in RTE <\/span><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><br \/>\n<a class=\"yt-simple-endpoint style-scope yt-formatted-string\" dir=\"auto\" style=\"color: #0000ff;\" spellcheck=\"false\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Fr8pVV37BBg&amp;t=1440s\">24:00<\/a><\/span><span class=\"style-scope yt-formatted-string\" dir=\"auto\"> Move to Canada <\/span><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><br \/>\n<a class=\"yt-simple-endpoint style-scope yt-formatted-string\" dir=\"auto\" style=\"color: #0000ff;\" spellcheck=\"false\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Fr8pVV37BBg&amp;t=1740s\">29:00<\/a><\/span><span class=\"style-scope yt-formatted-string\" dir=\"auto\"> Death Threats <\/span><br \/>\n<a class=\"yt-simple-endpoint style-scope yt-formatted-string\" dir=\"auto\" spellcheck=\"false\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Fr8pVV37BBg&amp;t=1860s\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">31:00<\/span><\/a><span class=\"style-scope yt-formatted-string\" dir=\"auto\"> Unable to Work in Ireland <\/span><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><br \/>\n<a class=\"yt-simple-endpoint style-scope yt-formatted-string\" dir=\"auto\" style=\"color: #0000ff;\" spellcheck=\"false\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Fr8pVV37BBg&amp;t=1978s\">32:58<\/a><\/span><span class=\"style-scope yt-formatted-string\" dir=\"auto\"> Views on the Irish Times <\/span><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><br \/>\n<a class=\"yt-simple-endpoint style-scope yt-formatted-string\" dir=\"auto\" style=\"color: #0000ff;\" spellcheck=\"false\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Fr8pVV37BBg&amp;t=2050s\">34:10<\/a><\/span><span class=\"style-scope yt-formatted-string\" dir=\"auto\"> &#8216;We have sick journalism in Ireland&#8217; <\/span><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><br \/>\n<a class=\"yt-simple-endpoint style-scope yt-formatted-string\" dir=\"auto\" style=\"color: #0000ff;\" spellcheck=\"false\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Fr8pVV37BBg&amp;t=2280s\">38:00<\/a><\/span><span class=\"style-scope yt-formatted-string\" dir=\"auto\"> Possibility of Solution<\/span><\/p>\n<p>As testament to MacAnthony\u2019s stature in Irish journalism, on November 15 2020 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.ie\/irish-news\/follow-the-money-the-hidden-tale-of-greed-behind-the-first-irish-hospitals-sweepstakes-and-where-those-millions-went-39748023.html\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Liam Collins<\/span><\/a> wrote for the Sunday Independent:<\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">The first Irish Hospitals&#8217; Sweepstakes draw took place 90 years ago this month and it quickly became a global phenomenon. Behind the razzmatazz and the instant riches, however, was a hidden tale of greed. More than four decades later, investigative journalist Joe MacAnthony broke the biggest story in the history of the Sunday Independent and revealed where the Sweep millions went.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p>The state-sponsored lottery was set up under the first Cumann na nGaedhal (later <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/history\/declan-costello-and-the-decline-of-the-just-society\/\">Fine Gael<\/a><\/span>) government of the State in 1930, and would bring unheard of riches to former Minister for Industry and Commerce <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dib.ie\/biography\/mcgrath-joseph-joe-a5683\">Josephy McGrath<\/a><\/span>, and his heirs, who became firm fixtures in the commercial life of the country, with many influential friends. MacAnthony estimates their fortune amounted to <strong><em>up to four hundred million dollars by 1972<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Last week filmmaker and Cassandra Voices contributor <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/author\/bob-quinn\/\">Bob Quinn<\/a><\/span> sent us a recording of a film he made in 2006 entitled \u2018<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Fr8pVV37BBg&amp;t=1908s\">They\u2019ll Never Show That.<\/a><\/span>\u2019<\/p>\n<p>MacAnthony reflects on his career, and the sorry state of Irish media as he saw it; the structure of which remains <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/politics\/how-irish-propaganda-operates\/\">substantially unaltered<\/a><\/span> today; in an era increasingly <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/targeting-the-messenger-investigative-journalists-under-extreme-pressure\/\">hostile to investigative reporting<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>Having blazed a trail with his work on the Irish <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.ie\/opinion\/analysis\/irish-sweepstake-scandal-remains-a-lesson-to-us-all-26237690.html\">Hospitals\u2019 <\/a>Sweepstakes, MacAnthony explains how his revelations into the corrupt affairs of former Fianna F\u00e1il Minister Ray Burke as far back as the 1970s, hastened the end of his career in both the Sunday Independent and <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/current-affairs\/comment\/rte-says-stars-in-their-own-cars\/\">RTE<\/a><\/span>, who withdrew his security card for a period of six months, while he continued to draw a salary.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ray Burke TD draws his &quot;Line in the Sand&quot; in Dail Eireann, September 1997\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UesOWVRdWLU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>MacAnthony provides a chilling assessment of Irish media:<\/p>\n<p><em>the Irish Times, when you look at the manner in which this whole thing seems to be fitted to whoever can make the most money in the upper circles of that paper \u2026 that is a total disgrace, an unconscionable disgrace in terms of Irish press freedom &#8230; <strong>the result is we have sick journalists in Ireland and it is sick journalism, and it&#8217;s not due to the people who want to be good journalists. It&#8217;s the people who control what the good or bad journalists say and who encourage triviality<\/strong> &#8230; I mean, the level of triviality that you read. It&#8217;s unbelievable.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>He argues that corruption has come about through what he calls \u2018facilitators<em>\u2019<\/em> \u2013 accountants and lawyers \u2013 who ensure that few, if any, politicians are ever held to account.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/opinion\/burke-s-corruption-was-well-known-and-nothing-was-done-1.1096840?mode=sample&amp;auth-failed=1&amp;pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fopinion%2Fburke-s-corruption-was-well-known-and-nothing-was-done-1.1096840\">Ray Burke<\/a><\/span> would serve just four and-a-half months of a six month sentence behind bars, while <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/news\/liam-lawlor-ordered-to-serve-another-month-in-jail-1.412077?mode=sample&amp;auth-failed=1&amp;pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fnews%2Fliam-lawlor-ordered-to-serve-another-month-in-jail-1.412077\">Liam Lawlor<\/a><\/span> served a few weeks for contempt.<\/p>\n<p>MacAnthony traces the lenient treatment of politicians to a class distinction, between those who get \u2018six years and who gets probation,\u2019 while <em>\u2018<\/em>basically no lawyer in this country and no accountant ever imagines he&#8217;s going to go to jail for playing ducks and drakes<em>.\u2019<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p>He asserts<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>it&#8217;s just embedded. A culture is embedded \u2026 that you can get away with murder<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>MacAnthony proposed the solution of a \u2018counter power,\u2019 similar to the FBI, which could set up \u2018stings on politicians.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>He concludes:<\/p>\n<p><em>Nobody goes to jail &#8230; I mean, these exile millionaires like <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/media\/greenslade\/2016\/jan\/11\/denis-obrien-under-investigation-by-irelands-criminal-assets-bureau\">Denis O&#8217;Brien<\/a><\/span>, I mean, that&#8217;s disgusting<\/em> &#8230; <em>here is a guy who makes &#8230; money out of Irish assets and then goes off and lives somewhere else and only comes in here &#8230; when he has the prospect of taking more money out of the system.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>He warns:<\/p>\n<p><em>You know, every time you take money out of the system somebody pays and they&#8217;re paying [with their] health or they pay in other areas, but they always pay. So these people, I mean, there is conscience involved here. You know that when you make a lot of money, somebody&#8217;s suffering at the other end of the scale.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Joe MacAnthony might be considered the greatest investigative reporter to have ever operated in the history of the Irish State. His career in Ireland, however, was cut short by vested interests that still appear to insulate those with money in power from accountability and criminal sanction. Having exposed the staggering corruption lying behind the Irish &#8230; <a title=\"&#8220;We have Sick Journalism in Ireland&#8221;\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/2021\/12\/12\/we-have-sick-journalism-in-ireland\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about &#8220;We have Sick Journalism in Ireland&#8221;\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":12981,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[109,2396,3120,4018,4448,4459,4563,4573,4587,4914,4915,4916,5032,5049,5504,7649,8382,8383,8500,8617,8738,10056],"class_list":["post-12976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society","tag-we","tag-denis-obrien","tag-exposure-of-ray-burke","tag-have","tag-investigative-reporting-in-ireland","tag-ireland","tag-irish-hospitals-sweepstakes","tag-irish-investigative-reporting","tag-irish-media","tag-joe-macanthony","tag-joe-macanthony-bob-quinn","tag-joe-macanthony-film","tag-joseph-mcgrath","tag-journalism","tag-liam-collins","tag-ray-burke","tag-sick","tag-sick-journalism-in-ireland","tag-society","tag-state-of-irish-journalism","tag-sunday-independent","tag-whats-wrong-with-irish-journalism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12976\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}