{"id":4379,"date":"2019-07-19T00:01:10","date_gmt":"2019-07-18T23:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/?p=4379"},"modified":"2019-07-19T00:01:10","modified_gmt":"2019-07-18T23:01:10","slug":"irish-medias-business-model-brings-climate-inaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/2019\/07\/19\/irish-medias-business-model-brings-climate-inaction\/","title":{"rendered":"Irish Media\u2019s Business Model Brings Climate Inaction"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Following a global trend since the arrival of the Internet, mainstream Irish media, including the so-called \u2018paper of record\u2019 the <em>Irish Times<\/em>, is increasingly required to sell itself. The days of someone reading a daily newspapers cover-to-cover are fading into nostalgic memories. Now editors feel obliged to dangle click-bait, and even fake news, often through social media feeds, with content increasingly accessed on smartphones.<\/p>\n<p>The result is diminished intellectual content, with greater emphasis on sports, titillating lifestyle stories, and consumer surveys. Moreover, advertising paymasters, generally multinational companies, often appear insulated from probing investigations; in Ireland\u2019s case leading to a reliance on foreign-owned publications to break stories.<\/p>\n<p>Journalism should not be placed on a pedestal, or equated with a secular priesthood: any writer has conflicts of interest, biases and personal foibles. Nor are business people bereft of ethical considerations. The point is about how the interests of the public informant and salesperson are balanced across a media spectrum, and the danger inherent to any democracy when media is run on a purely commercial basis, identifying its interests with other businesses. This now appears to be the case with the three main Irish players: the national broadcaster RT\u00c9, Independent News and Media and the <em>Irish Times<\/em> newspaper (which last year purchased the only other indigenous national daily, the <em>Irish Examiner<\/em>).<\/p>\n<p>It is also apparent that the current Irish government\u2019s \u2018pro-business\u2019 policies align with the interests of leading providers. This brings broadly sympathetic coverage, evident especially in the uncritical \u2018reporting\u2019 of strategic leaks, and publication of generally flattering images of leading politicians, especially media-conscious Taoiseach Varadkar.<\/p>\n<p>The close relationship between mainstream Irish media and the government came into sharp focus last year when unmarked government advertorials appeared across indigenous print media.<a href=\"#_edn1\" name=\"_ednref1\">[i]<\/a> This now has serious implications for reporting on the environment, including man-made climate change and the Extinction Crisis.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Climate Inaction<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On June 16<sup>th<\/sup> the Irish government launched a Climate Action Plan that gained essentially positive press coverage, emphasising how seriously the government was taking the issue. For example, the headline in the <em>Irish Times<\/em> the following day read: \u2018Climate action plan promises \u2018radical\u2019 change.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Environmental NGOs, however, reacted very differently to the Plan. <em>An Taisce<\/em> said it fell \u2018well short of the kind of radical, transformational document our recently declared national \u2018climate and biodiversity emergency\u2019 warrants.\u2019<a href=\"#_edn2\" name=\"_ednref2\">[ii]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Friends of the Earth offered a more favourable assessment describing the machinery for delivery as \u2018the biggest innovation in Irish climate policy in 20 years.\u2019 They cautioned, however, that the \u2018plan gets us to the starting line on climate action. It will take consistent political leadership to ensure it is implemented on time\u2026\u2019<a href=\"#_edn3\" name=\"_ednref3\">[iii]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere, The Environmental Pillar, a coalition of over thirty national environment groups, lambasted a \u2018general lack of clarity, ambition and urgency in the new Climate Action Plan to Tackle Climate Breakdown\u2019, or reverse biodiversity decline.<a href=\"#_edn4\" name=\"_ednref4\">[iv]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Finally, the Irish Wildlife Trust in its press release bluntly stated: \u2018There is no indication that the government is willing to rethink agricultural expansion plans which are as odds with environment goals.\u2019<a href=\"#_edn5\" name=\"_ednref5\">[v]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Importantly, agriculture (essentially livestock agriculture) and transport (mostly of the private motor car variety) are projected to remain the main sources of Irish greenhouse gas emissions (currently combining to comprise over 50% of the total \u2013 rising both in absolute terms and proportionately. See table below).<\/p>\n<p>C<strong><em>limate Deception<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Plan does little to address the Irish population\u2019s disproportionate contribution to a climate change (the third highest per capita in the EU<a href=\"#_edn6\" name=\"_ednref6\">[vi]<\/a>) that is already giving rise to extreme weather events close to our shores, and increasing frequency of storms here too. It also all but ignores a potentially irreversible Extinction Crisis facing the natural world, including in Ireland.<\/p>\n<p>Since then the government has blocked the passage of a cross-party Climate Emergency Bill, using a previously arcane and potentially unconstitutional \u2018money messages\u2019 parliamentary procedure. The Bill would have denied any further licences being granted for the purpose of oil or gas exploration in the country. This is certainly not evidence of the kind of \u201cconsistent political leadership\u201d sought by Friends of the Earth, who, on reflection, more recently acknowledged that the \u2018actual measures in the Plan don&#8217;t add up to bringing Irish emissions down far enough fast enough.\u2019<a href=\"#_edn7\" name=\"_ednref7\">[vii]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In essence, the <em>Irish Times<\/em>, among others,<a href=\"#_edn8\" name=\"_ednref8\">[viii]<\/a> helped generate positivity in the Plan\u2019s wake. This is apparent in the opening paragraph to an editorial the following day:<\/p>\n<p><em>The appropriately broad scope of the Government\u2019s Climate Action Plan must be acknowledged. A scan of the plan\u2019s headings shows that this administration, however belatedly, has fully grasped that global heating is negatively impacting every aspect of our life and that a plethora of policies and behaviours require urgent changes.<a href=\"#_edn9\" name=\"_ednref9\"><strong>[ix]<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Over the following days, opinion writers debated aspects of the plan, but none, it seems, was permitted to excoriate it.<\/p>\n<p>The greenwashing is best illustrated by a photograph featuring the following day in the <em>Irish Times<\/em> of the full Cabinet of Ministers arriving in the Phoenix Park to launch the Plan on an electric bus.<a href=\"#_edn10\" name=\"_ednref10\">[x]<\/a> Yet this is one of just 13 State-owned electric vehicles among 6,573 listed, and came after the National Transport Authority recently announced the purchase of a further 200 diesel buses,<a href=\"#_edn11\" name=\"_ednref11\">[xi]<\/a> for use nationwide. In Dublin nitrogen dioxide levels from diesel engines are already in breach of EU standards in a range of locations,<a href=\"#_edn12\" name=\"_ednref12\">[xii]<\/a> seriously imperilling human health.<\/p>\n<p>The EPA\u2019s recent emissions\u2019 projections<a href=\"#_edn13\" name=\"_ednref13\">[xiii]<\/a> make for stark reading:<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Mt CO2 eq<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>2017<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>2020<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>2025<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>2030<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Growth 2018-2030<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Agriculture<\/td>\n<td>20.21<\/td>\n<td>\u00a020.32<\/td>\n<td>\u00a020.66<\/td>\n<td>\u00a020.85<\/td>\n<td>\u00a03.2%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Transport<\/td>\n<td>12.00<\/td>\n<td>\u00a012.68<\/td>\n<td>\u00a012.48<\/td>\n<td>\u00a011.86<\/td>\n<td>\u00a0-1.2%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Energy Industries<\/td>\n<td>11.74<\/td>\n<td>\u00a011.95<\/td>\n<td>\u00a013.66<\/td>\n<td>\u00a08.62<\/td>\n<td>\u00a0-26.5%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Residential<\/td>\n<td>5.74<\/td>\n<td>\u00a06.42<\/td>\n<td>\u00a05.66<\/td>\n<td>\u00a04.55<\/td>\n<td>\u00a0-20.7%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Manufacturing Combustion<\/td>\n<td>4.66<\/td>\n<td>\u00a03.86<\/td>\n<td>\u00a03.70<\/td>\n<td>\u00a03.44<\/td>\n<td>\u00a0-26.2%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Industrial Processes<\/td>\n<td>2.23<\/td>\n<td>\u00a02.39<\/td>\n<td>\u00a02.67<\/td>\n<td>\u00a03.01<\/td>\n<td>\u00a034.6%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Commercial and Public Services<\/td>\n<td>1.97<\/td>\n<td>\u00a01.31<\/td>\n<td>\u00a01.15<\/td>\n<td>\u00a00.97<\/td>\n<td>\u00a0-50.9%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>F-Gases<\/td>\n<td>1.23<\/td>\n<td>\u00a00.98<\/td>\n<td>\u00a00.90<\/td>\n<td>\u00a00.78<\/td>\n<td>\u00a0-35.9%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Waste<\/td>\n<td>0.93<\/td>\n<td>\u00a00.58<\/td>\n<td>\u00a00.49<\/td>\n<td>\u00a00.44<\/td>\n<td>\u00a0-52.2%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>TOTAL<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>60.74<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>\u00a0<strong>60.53<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>\u00a0<strong>61.43<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>\u00a0<strong>54.55<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>\u00a0<strong>-10.2%<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>The highest-emitting sector, agriculture, is predicted to increase its share to almost forty-per-cent of the total by 2030, while emissions from transport flatline. There is no evidence that the government\u2019s Plan will alter these trajectories.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Climate Opportunism<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In fact, climate change is being sold as an opportunity to roll out a fleet of electric cars, especially once the implementation of Bus Connects \u2013 really a road-widening exercise \u2013 ensures Dublin becomes even more of a U.S.-style motor-city.<\/p>\n<p>Foreign manufacture of electric vehicles externalises environmental and human impacts, including the mining of cobalt in Congo for lithium batteries.<a href=\"#_edn14\" name=\"_ednref14\">[xiv]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Considering the success of the Luas, light rail seems a superior option to develop in our urban areas than noisy, uncomfortable and polluting buses. With a comparable population to Dublin, Prague has an extensive tram network offering a rapid, regular and comfortable service.<\/p>\n<p>A sensible climate action plan for urban areas could offer scope for a new generation of electric vehicles, including electric bikes, scooters and vehicles for the elderly \u2013 perhaps even involving state assistance to manufacturing enterprises. The motor car, as currently conceived, is not simply a major polluter, it is also unnecessarily large and poses serious dangers to other road users, as well as leading to social atomisation.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, as long as fossil fuels generate electric power (under the Plan coal-burning Moneypoint power station is to be phased out in 2025,<a href=\"#_edn15\" name=\"_ednref15\">[xv]<\/a> conveniently beyond the lifespan of this or the next government), electric vehicles could actually generate higher emissions than diesel equivalents, as one German study shows.<a href=\"#_edn16\" name=\"_ednref16\">[xvi]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Another lacuna to the Plan is a failure to discuss reducing air travel between Dublin-London, accounting for 15,000 flights per annum, making it the busiest air corridor in Europe.<a href=\"#_edn17\" name=\"_ednref17\">[xvii]<\/a> This might involve improving ferry services out of Dublin and, at the very least, providing a rail service from the Dublin city centre to the Port. It could even involve cooperating with the U.K. government to achieve improvements in the rail service out of Holyhead, potentially making sail-rail journey times competitive with air travel alternative.<a href=\"#_edn18\" name=\"_ednref18\">[xviii]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, the tired argument about maintaining the status quo in agriculture, the worst-offending sector, to the benefit of a narrowing elite, and underpinned by billions in subsidies, is based on a common misconception that Irish livestock \u2018production\u2019 diminishes impacts from livestock agriculture occurring elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>This is the \u2018our coal smokes less than their coal\u2019 argument. In fact, recent analysis by <em>An Taisce<\/em> of U.N. figures<a href=\"#_edn19\" name=\"_ednref19\">[xix]<\/a> shows Irish agricultural products to be responsible for among the highest emissions in Europe. Any plan purporting to diminish Ireland\u2019s contribution to climate change is a waste of paper without proposals for radical reform of Irish agriculture. Emphasis, and subsidies, should shift to the cultivation of fruit and vegetables for the home market thereby reducing fossil fuel dependency, increasing employment and potentially raising the nation\u2019s health.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>The so-called \u2018Paper of Record\u2019<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The <em>Irish Times<\/em> should not be considered a \u2018paper of record\u2019, or an unbiased conduit of \u2018facts\u2019, as it advertises itself. Although managed as a trust, a significant salary overhang and investments extraneous to news-gathering and commentary, including www.myhome.ie, have seen it develop into what is an overwhelmingly commercial concern. This approach may be a necessity for the survival of a medium-sized newspaper in the digital era, but it has important, generally unacknowledged, consequences for Irish democracy.<\/p>\n<p>It should be emphasised that many <em>Irish Times<\/em> journalists display diligence and integrity, and stories are still broken, but since Paul O\u2019Neill became editor in 2017, the paper has become noticeably more business-friendly, and deferential to the current government.<\/p>\n<p>One leading columnist, Stephen Collins, is particularly partisan in his support for the dominant economic consensus of steady growth and rising rents administered by a political duopoly.<a href=\"#_edn20\" name=\"_ednref20\">[xx]<\/a> Left-wing analysis of Irish politics and society is only given an intermittent platform, especially since Vincent Brown\u2019s retirement, and with Fintan O\u2019Toole mainly devoted to international commentary.<\/p>\n<p>Notably, Dan Flinter, chairman of the Irish Times Trust since 2013, holds a range of external directorships, where potential conflicts of interest could arise. For example, he is a non-executive director of Dairygold Co-Op, and chairman of its Remuneration Committee and a member of the Acquisitions and Investments Committee.<a href=\"#_edn21\" name=\"_ednref21\">[xxi]<\/a> Ongoing expansion of the dairy sector since the lifting of EU milk quotas in 2015 has been the leading cause of the agricultural sector\u2019s (and the country\u2019s) rising emissions.<\/p>\n<p>A worldwide environmental crisis is upon us, and many, particularly young, Irish people are focused on the country\u2019s global responsibilities. Meaningfully addressing the gathering storm \u2013 in Ireland\u2019s case by shifting agricultural priorities (and subsidies) away from livestock production and phasing out the motor car in urban areas \u2013 would work, however, to the detriment of vested interests that advertise heavily in Irish media.<a href=\"#_edn22\" name=\"_ednref22\">[xxii]<\/a> Such an approach would also be anathema to the dominant paradigm of economic growth-without-end, oblivious to environmental impact.<\/p>\n<p>The government\u2019s Climate Action Plan seems to have been designed to assuage the justifiable fears, and desire for real action, among wide sections of the population, but it is really a greenwashing exercise, as the responses of leading environmental NGOs show.<\/p>\n<p>Unforgivably, the <em>Irish Times <\/em>misrepresented the Plan as a \u2018radical\u2019 document, despite its obvious deficiencies. This is a betrayal of a loyal readership, and honourable journalists working there. Irish democracy is being undermined by an institution which many of us grew up believing was one of its cornerstones, on an issue of crucial global importance.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref1\" name=\"_edn1\">[i]<\/a> Kevin Doyle, \u2018Varadkar orders review of Project Ireland \u20ac1.5m publicity campaign amid controversy\u2019, Irish Independent, March 1st, 2018. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.ie\/irish-news\/politics\/varadkar-orders-review-of-project-ireland-1-5m-publicity-campaign-amid-controversy-36660463.html\">https:\/\/www.independent.ie\/irish-news\/politics\/varadkar-orders-review-of-project-ireland-1-5m-publicity-campaign-amid-controversy-36660463.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref2\" name=\"_edn2\">[ii]<\/a> Press Release. \u2018New Gov\u2019t Climate Plan offers much improved rhetoric: but An Taisce cautions that \u201cwinning slowly will be the same as losing\u201d\u2019 June 18<sup>th<\/sup>, 2019, <em>An Taisce \u2013 The National Trust for Ireland<\/em>. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.antaisce.org\/articles\/new-gov%E2%80%99t-climate-plan-offers-much-improved-rhetoric-but-an-taisce-cautions-that-%E2%80%9Cwinning\">http:\/\/www.antaisce.org\/articles\/new-gov%E2%80%99t-climate-plan-offers-much-improved-rhetoric-but-an-taisce-cautions-that-%E2%80%9Cwinning<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref3\" name=\"_edn3\">[iii]<\/a> Press Release, \u2018Promised mechanisms to ensure delivery and oversight are biggest innovation in Government climate plan\u2019, <em>Friends of the Earth Ireland<\/em>, 17<sup>th<\/sup> of June, 2019,\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foe.ie\/news\/2019\/06\/17\/promised-mechanisms-to-ensure-delivery-and-oversight-are-biggest-innovation-in-government-climate-plan\/\">https:\/\/www.foe.ie\/news\/2019\/06\/17\/promised-mechanisms-to-ensure-delivery-and-oversight-are-biggest-innovation-in-government-climate-plan\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref4\" name=\"_edn4\">[iv]<\/a> Press Release, \u2018All-of-Gov Climate Plan falls far short on biodiversity measures\u2019, <em>Environmental Pillar<\/em>, 17<sup>th<\/sup> of June, 2019, <a href=\"https:\/\/environmentalpillar.ie\/all-of-gov-climate-plan-falls-far-short-on-biodiversity-measures\/\">https:\/\/environmentalpillar.ie\/all-of-gov-climate-plan-falls-far-short-on-biodiversity-measures\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref5\" name=\"_edn5\">[v]<\/a> \u2018PRESS RELEASE: Nature largely missing from the government Climate Action Plan\u2019, <em>Irish Wildlife Trust<\/em>, 18<sup>th<\/sup> of June, 2019, <a href=\"https:\/\/iwt.ie\/press-release-nature-largely-missing-from-the-government-climate-action-plan\/\">https:\/\/iwt.ie\/press-release-nature-largely-missing-from-the-government-climate-action-plan\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref6\" name=\"_edn6\">[vi]<\/a> Conall \u00d3 F\u00e1tharta \u2018Ireland\u2019s Emissions the Third Highest in the EU\u2019, November 23<sup>rd<\/sup>, 2016 <em>Irish Examiner<\/em>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishexaminer.com\/ireland\/irelands-co2-emissions-third-highest-in-eu-431895.html\">https:\/\/www.irishexaminer.com\/ireland\/irelands-co2-emissions-third-highest-in-eu-431895.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref7\" name=\"_edn7\">[vii]<\/a> Untitled, \u2018End of Term Climate Report: &#8216;Little Leo is falling in with the wrong crowd&#8217;, <em>Friends of the Earth<\/em>, 9<sup>th<\/sup> of July, 2019, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foe.ie\/news\/2019\/07\/09\/end-of-term-climate-report-little-leo-is-falling-in-with-the-wrong-crowd\/\">https:\/\/www.foe.ie\/news\/2019\/07\/09\/end-of-term-climate-report-little-leo-is-falling-in-with-the-wrong-crowd\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref8\" name=\"_edn8\">[viii]<\/a> Broadsheet.ie offers a summary of the newspapers headlines the following day: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.broadsheet.ie\/2019\/06\/17\/de-tuesday-papers-321\/\">https:\/\/www.broadsheet.ie\/2019\/06\/17\/de-tuesday-papers-321\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref9\" name=\"_edn9\">[ix]<\/a> Untitled, \u2018Irish Times view on the Climate Action Plan: activity must match ambition\u2019, June 18<sup>th<\/sup>, 2019, <em>Irish Times<\/em>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/opinion\/editorial\/irish-times-view-on-the-climate-action-plan-activity-must-match-ambition-1.3928552\">https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/opinion\/editorial\/irish-times-view-on-the-climate-action-plan-activity-must-match-ambition-1.3928552<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref10\" name=\"_edn10\">[x]<\/a> Miriam Lord, \u2018Miriam Lord: From emission agnostics to climate apostles\u2019, June 17<sup>th<\/sup>, 2019, <em>Irish Times<\/em>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/news\/politics\/miriam-lord-from-emission-agnostics-to-climate-apostles-1.3930031?mode=sample&amp;auth-failed=1&amp;pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fnews%2Fpolitics%2Fmiriam-lord-from-emission-agnostics-to-climate-apostles-1.3930031\">https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/news\/politics\/miriam-lord-from-emission-agnostics-to-climate-apostles-1.3930031?mode=sample&amp;auth-failed=1&amp;pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fnews%2Fpolitics%2Fmiriam-lord-from-emission-agnostics-to-climate-apostles-1.3930031<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref11\" name=\"_edn11\">[xi]<\/a> Juno McEnroe, \u2018Only 13 of 6,700 State vehicles are electric\u2019, July 1<sup>st<\/sup>, <em>Irish Examiner<\/em>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishexaminer.com\/breakingnews\/ireland\/only-13of-6700-state-vehicles-are-electric-933924.html\">https:\/\/www.irishexaminer.com\/breakingnews\/ireland\/only-13of-6700-state-vehicles-are-electric-933924.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref12\" name=\"_edn12\">[xii]<\/a> Cormac Fitzgerald, \u2018Levels of dangerous air pollutant NO2 possibly exceeding limits on M50 and on Dublin street\u2019, <em>thejournal.ie<\/em>, July 9<sup>th<\/sup>, 2019, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thejournal.ie\/pollution-traffic-4715146-Jul2019\/\">https:\/\/www.thejournal.ie\/pollution-traffic-4715146-Jul2019\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref13\" name=\"_edn13\">[xiii]<\/a> \u2018EPA\u2019S GREENHOUSE GAS PROJECTIONS SHOW THAT IRELAND HAS MORE TO DO TO MEET ITS 2030 TARGETS\u2019, Environmental Protection Agency, June 6th, 2019. https:\/\/www.epa.ie\/mobile\/news\/name,66072,en.html?fbclid=IwAR3cGLpPKV9k4fTIVE8EMCJ_DPqG4bK_Ked5xWObMD5pzt_j63_wGQK7R24 accessed 9\/6\/19.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref14\" name=\"_edn14\">[xiv]<\/a> Untitled, \u2018CBS News finds children mining cobalt for batteries in the Congo\u2019, March 5<sup>th<\/sup>, 2018, <em>CBS News<\/em>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/cobalt-children-mining-democratic-republic-congo-cbs-news-investigation\/?fbclid=IwAR1uNxopb2YEdfPIUyQvoTtfBVWn-o7OKTvAHuPH_IgV4HfVnmAeSzFE9_Q\">https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/cobalt-children-mining-democratic-republic-congo-cbs-news-investigation\/?fbclid=IwAR1uNxopb2YEdfPIUyQvoTtfBVWn-o7OKTvAHuPH_IgV4HfVnmAeSzFE9_Q<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref15\" name=\"_edn15\">[xv]<\/a> Government of Ireland, \u2018Climate Action Plan \u2013 To Tackle Climate Breakdown\u2019, June 16<sup>th<\/sup>, 2019, p.23. <a href=\"https:\/\/dccae.gov.ie\/documents\/Climate%20Action%20Plan%202019.pdf\">https:\/\/dccae.gov.ie\/documents\/Climate%20Action%20Plan%202019.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref16\" name=\"_edn16\">[xvi]<\/a> Commentary, \u2018Electric Vehicles in Germany Emit More Carbon Dioxide Than Diesel Vehicles\u2019, June 10<sup>th<\/sup>, 2019, Institute for Energy Research, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instituteforenergyresearch.org\/international-issues\/electric-vehicles-in-germany-emit-more-carbon-dioxide-than-diesel-vehicles\/?fbclid=IwAR3PGVCkKRWjp12WtvqFMCgqKpOYhh4f001QxrRt6OEeUJ7S0eLQI5DkLys\">https:\/\/www.instituteforenergyresearch.org\/international-issues\/electric-vehicles-in-germany-emit-more-carbon-dioxide-than-diesel-vehicles\/?fbclid=IwAR3PGVCkKRWjp12WtvqFMCgqKpOYhh4f001QxrRt6OEeUJ7S0eLQI5DkLys<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref17\" name=\"_edn17\">[xvii]<\/a> Untitled, \u2018Dublin-Heathrow Busiest International Route In Europe\u2019, 21st of January, 2019, <em>Roots Online<\/em>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.routesonline.com\/airports\/2412\/dublin-airport\/news\/276780\/dublin-heathrow-busiest-international-route-in-europe\/\">https:\/\/www.routesonline.com\/airports\/2412\/dublin-airport\/news\/276780\/dublin-heathrow-busiest-international-route-in-europe\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref18\" name=\"_edn18\">[xviii]<\/a> Ruadhan Mac Eoin, \u2018A User\u2019s Guide to \u2018Sail-Rail\u2019 with Bicycle and Opportunities on the Dublin-London Route\u2019, April 30<sup>th<\/sup> 2019, <em>Cassandra Voices<\/em>, <a href=\"http:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/environment\/off-the-rails-sail-rail-with-bicycle-from-dublin-to-london-with-some-observations-on-opportunities-for-improvement\/\">http:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/environment\/off-the-rails-sail-rail-with-bicycle-from-dublin-to-london-with-some-observations-on-opportunities-for-improvement\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref19\" name=\"_edn19\">[xix]<\/a> Press Release, \u2018Bombshell for Irish Beef\u2019, <em>An Taisce \u2013 The National Trust for Ireland<\/em>, February 10<sup>th<\/sup>, 2019, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.antaisce.org\/articles\/bombshell-for-irish-beef\">http:\/\/www.antaisce.org\/articles\/bombshell-for-irish-beef<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref20\" name=\"_edn20\">[xx]<\/a> For example: Stephen Collins, \u2018Politics of centre ground has served Ireland well\u2019, May 2<sup>nd<\/sup>, 2019, <em>Irish Times, <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/opinion\/stephen-collins-politics-of-centre-ground-has-served-ireland-well-1.3877455\">https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/opinion\/stephen-collins-politics-of-centre-ground-has-served-ireland-well-1.3877455<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref21\" name=\"_edn21\">[xxi]<\/a> Dairygold Annual Report, 2018. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dairygold.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Dairygold-Annual-Report-2018.pdf\">https:\/\/www.dairygold.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Dairygold-Annual-Report-2018.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref22\" name=\"_edn22\">[xxii]<\/a> As regards the motor car industry, see Stephen Court, \u2018Drivetime\u2019, <em>Cassandra Voices<\/em>, 31<sup>st<\/sup> of May, 2018. \u2018http:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/environment\/drive-time-the-irish-medias-message\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Following a global trend since the arrival of the Internet, mainstream Irish media, including the so-called \u2018paper of record\u2019 the Irish Times, is increasingly required to sell itself. The days of someone reading a daily newspapers cover-to-cover are fading into nostalgic memories. Now editors feel obliged to dangle click-bait, and even fake news, often through [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4551,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,1],"tags":[204,1159,1221,1757,2983,4371,4512,6034,6230,9689],"class_list":["post-4379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment","category-uncategorized","tag-2019july","tag-brings","tag-business","tag-climate","tag-environment","tag-inaction","tag-irish","tag-medias","tag-model","tag-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4379","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}