Media

Boycott Hungary?

January 14, 2011
By Stephen
Boycott Hungary?

An interesting possibility has arisen from ALDE MEP’s. They want to move a meeting of the EU-African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Joint Parliamentary Assembly to Brussels according to Euractiv (original in French and English) thereby boycotting Hunagary. This is seen as a democratic protest against the recent media law in Hungary. This law has met with opposition from within and without Hungary. The idea of this boycott came after Belgian MEP Louis Michel, co-chair of the EU-ACP assembly, called...

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Hungarian Media Law Translated

January 5, 2011
By Stephen
Hungarian Media Law Translated

Image via Wikipedia The National Media and Infocommunications Authority Hungary (Nmhh) have published the Act on Media Services and Mass Media on their website in PDF format. It is nearly 200 pages long and is a tough read. Article 187 is what sets out the fines which has a lot of people worried (3) The Media Council and the Agency — with due heed to paragraph (7) — shall have the right to impose the following legal consequences: a)...

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Presidency won’t hold back the Commission

January 4, 2011
By Stephen
Presidency won’t hold back the Commission

Image via Wikipedia EUBusiness is reporting that the fact that Hungary is the current holder of the rotating EU Presidency will not hold them back from launching proceedings if the new media law is found to be in breach of Community Law. “If there’s an infringement of community law, the Commission will launch proceedings and the fact Hungary presides the European Union will have no bearing,” Commission spokesman Olivier Bailly said. … Bailly said EU legal experts would scrutinise...

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YFG Conference Coverage – Irish Indo

November 15, 2010
By Stephen
YFG Conference Coverage – Irish Indo

Continuing my search through the papers from yesterday for coverage of the YFG Conference at the weekend, the only paper with articles about the conference is the Irish Independent and they have two articles. The first article is on Simon Coveney’s speech and his promise to give up his ministerial car if he is appointed a Minister. “If I become a minister, I will not accept a state car. I’m telling you that now. You can quote me on...

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Should Bloggers get Accreditation to EU Institutions?

June 10, 2010
By Stephen
Should Bloggers get Accreditation to EU Institutions?

M van den Broeke on Twitter asked this question, Should serious EU bloggers get some sort of accreditation to EU institutions? But on what criteria? Firstly I say fair play to her for bringing up the question. Its one that should be asked more, and not just by the EU. I must say Irish political parties have been good at facilitating bloggers, so maybe other institutions should start soon? But back to the question at hand. As pointed out...

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Should Politicians Use Twitter?

December 15, 2009
By Stephen
Should Politicians Use Twitter?

Image by VitiligoCover via Flickr Two recent events should be highlighted to any politician thinking of using twitter to further their electoral prospects. These two stories do serve as maybe a warning, before the commit. Case 1: Dale v McCarthy. This case surrounds allegations made by the Hon. Kerry McCarthy, MP for  Bristol East, about the political magazine Total Politics, which is run by tory supporting blogger Iain Dale. I shall leave it to each of them to tell their story. Iain...

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“The Government took the finger off the pulse by managing treatment rather than risk”

December 1, 2009
By Stephen
“The Government took the finger off the pulse by managing treatment rather than risk”

The above is a quite from Dr Fiona Mulcahy, consultant at St James’s department of genito-urinary medicine and infectious diseases. It is her view on how the Government is tackling the HIV/AIDS issue in Ireland. This year will see Ireland’s rate of infection increase by 20%. This is all reported in the Irish Times. Dublin’s St James’s Hospital has reported the highest number of new HIV cases in one year since records began, with a 20 per cent increase...

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Cabinet Meetings: Under Water and on top of Mountains

November 2, 2009
By Stephen

A post from the Thinkaboutit.eu Blog! Last month the Maldives Government held a Cabinet meeting under waterto highlight the threat of global warming to the island nation. This month Nepal’s Government will hold a Cabinet meeting at the Mount Everest base-camp to highlight the threat to glaciers. While both of these events are being reported around the world, will they do anything in the lead up to the talks in Copenhagen? While both events can be used to place moral...

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Jan Moir

October 16, 2009
By Stephen
Jan Moir

I wasn’t actually going to blog about that Jan Moir article in the UK Daily Mail (they had more sense not to publish in the Irish version) but a statement released by Jan Moir claims that we are all over reacting and there is a ‘heavily orchestrated internet campaign‘ against her. (Link via @Glinner) It is amazing that someone with views like that are allowed print them. It is crazy and it is offensive. To be honest, I wasn’t...

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