If you’re on this email list, then you’ll know from yesterday that we’ve decided - reluctantly - to ask you all for some money to support us and help us grow.
So this week on the podcast, we wanted to explain why: Freedom of speech in Ireland, and Freedom of the Media, is under threat. Across the country, lots of people who are gravely dissatisfied with how things are going are getting their news almost exclusively from state-funded outlets who cower in the face of the government’s media regulation behemoth, Coimisiún na Meán.
This week, that organisation, with all its might, turned its guns on two local radio stations who have dared to step out of line.
And soon, and inevitably, the Coimisiún will come for the internet, and the likes of us.
How do we combat that? Well in several ways: But most prominently by becoming evangelists. Getting out on the road. Bypassing the usual media gatekeepers. Holding events. Talking to people.
That’s what we want to do, as well as advertising and all the rest - but you heard that yesterday.
Also in this week’s episode: A review of Simon Harris’s speech, and his effort at being what John calls “a left winger’s idea of how a right winger sounds”.
And a detailed, and thorough, debate over the Russell Brand stuff. Was he rightly or wrongly (perhaps a better choice is “safely or unsafely”) convicted? Is the world safe for young men, any more? Are rape trials going too much in the wrong direction? There’s no agreement on this point, but we think you will enjoy the chat.
As ever, thank you for listening. And thank you to the many of you who answered the call yesterday - we are most grateful.
Talk soon,
J&S
