Jim Cusack, the new Freddie Starr, ate my hamster

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Monday April 24, 2006 17:01

by Sindo Watch

Indymedia, The Village and Chekov Feeny all getting to the Sindo

Is Ciaran Byrne another nom de plume for Brendan O'Connor?

Jim Cusack, the new Freddie Starr, ate my hamster

VINCENT Browne has been joined at his Village Idiot HQ by Scott Millar, a journalist handed his P45 last year by the Sunday Times, and Chekov Feeney, a self-styled "anarchist" who helps run Indymedia.ie.

The site is a regular publisher of fanatical attacks on those who don't share its range of extreme left-wing opinions. Chekov has now brought his student union views on world affairs to Vincent's even barmier publication.

Indymedia and Village's current hate figure is our own Jim Cusack. Rather hilariously, Browne has given Feeney the job of reviewing the papers, while neglecting to disclose his (Feeney's) various links with assorted nutters and his one-eyed dislike of Cusack.

Browne has also asked Millar to "review" Cusack's work, in pieces then rewritten by Browne himself. Who cares, one might wonder, nobody reads it.

But a Sunday Independent reader points out that it's the Village Idiots who have now found themselves being lampooned on a new blog spot at www.indymediairelandwatch.blogspot.com.

Here's a flavour under the heading 'Jim Cusack ate my hamster': - "Kevin/Chekov (I know that annoys someone) Feeney, head honcho at Indymedia Ireland . . . is writing for Vincent Browne's ludicrous Village magazine - that piece of leftist, cretino-liberalist, pseudo-conscientious, vanity headwank tripe piling up on the shelves of Spar and students' union shops throughout Ireland. Village Idiot contributors include SWP newspaper editor and Trinners boy Rory Hearne worrying about deprivation in Knackaragua, motor-mouthed yank Harry 'former-Microsoft/former Irish Times/former Irish Anti-War Movement' Browne bellyaching about his former employers in D'Olier Street, John 'Where's My Batman Outfit?' Waters, and a bunch of other 'luvvies' from the same old tiresome Irish media celeb clique . . . helping out the opera-loving Vincenzo.

"The Village magazine looks like it was knocked together by Vincent Browne in the early hours of the morning and was proofread by Shane MacGowan (tip: spellchecking utilities will get confused by the similarity of 'heroine' and 'heroin' - you need to look at the screen). The average Irish student magazine would leave it in the half-penny place."

Chekov Feeney's column is called "Newspaper Watch". He castigates security correspondent Jim Cusack of the Sunday Independent over Cusack's "elaborate tale" about the Denis Donaldson murder, and the lack of proof therein. Similar swipes are taken at the Irish Times and the Irish Independent.

So let's take a look at what Feeney's own little operation, Indymedia.ie, had to say about the matter - with the Indymedia Ireland story, "Denis Donaldson shot dead": "The murder of Denis Donaldson demonstrates yet again that the criminal mafia of Sinn Fein/IRA has not gone away. Denis Donaldson was a piece of shit - the British would have had all the justification in the world to knock him off years ago - but they had greater justification to use him instead as an asset to disrupt the IRA's terror campaign.

"The dogs in the street know that Sinn Fein/IRA killed him in revenge for his collaboration."

The folks at www.indymediairelandwatch.blogspot.com say they are devoted to the "monitoring and analysis of the agitprop blustering of Ireland's wannabe radicals and 'activists': Indymedia Ireland, that 'coalition' of middle-class anarchists, altermundistas, jihadistas, hypocrites . . . and other 'concerned' buffoons".

We couldn't have put it better ourselves.

Ciaran Byrne

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Comments (8 of 8)

Lazy hack

by Rashers Tierney

Tue Apr 25, 2006 03:45

This article is just another example of journalistic laziness. Surf the web, find a site which fits your prejudice, then use it as the basis of an article. Am I to assume that the journalist does not see anything wrong with making a very serious allegation against the people who run this site, i.e. that they are "jihadists"? That is utterly irresponsible.
But then nothing better should be expected from the Indo, after all it was the paper of William Martin Murphy long before the bean baron got hold of it.

Things never change

by Indeed

Tue Apr 25, 2006 04:14

Some observations from 1998:

"Mainstream journalism is shot through with legions of tired, lazy hacks that can't report or write their way through a 500-word story. So all this talk of 'lower standards' for online and 'higher standards' for traditional journalism is a diversion."

http://www.mattwelch.com/OJRsave/OJRsave/OldvsNew.htm

by way of response

by ed - 1 of Indymedia Ireland Editorial Group

Tue Apr 25, 2006 11:51

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/75664

Ciaran Byrne

by MW

Tue Apr 25, 2006 12:10

If it is true it is a laugh as Ciaran was one of the writers of the infamous ' Lawlor killed in red-light district with teenage girl' story last October, cached at google
http://66.249.93.104/search?q=cache:WP_rf7XVNK0J:home.e...73261

The Sindo regularly publishes grudge articles and Ciaran seems to have forgotten to declare his interest in this one. He was one of the hacks who authored the idea that Sinn Fein were behind the Dublin riot
http://www.eirbiz.com/index-riot.html

Is the Sindo promoting their own anti-indymedia blog without admitting that one of their staff is the author? Interesting stuff.

All bluff no substance

by Jo

Tue Apr 25, 2006 13:15

Whats more interesting for me is the fact that none of the actual content of the Village magazine article on numerous cusack exclusives are challenged. Silence speaks louder than words. I can only assume that all the facts in the article are correct.

Judge for yourself

by reader

Tue Apr 25, 2006 13:36

Some Village articles which touch on Jim Cusack's pieces:

Chekov Feeney's "Newspaper Watch"
http://www.villagemagazine.ie/article.asp?sid=1&sud=36&...=1542
http://www.villagemagazine.ie/article.asp?sid=1&sud=36&...=1622

Scott Millar's "A hattrick of exclusives":
http://www.villagemagazine.ie/article.asp?sid=1&sud=36&...=1563

Scott Millar & Vincent Browne's "Cusack's Sunday Independent 'exclusives'"
http://www.villagemagazine.ie/article.asp?sid=1&sud=36&...=1602

Sindo; A broadsheet for bored, rich housewives

by Geoff

Tue Apr 25, 2006 19:42

It is not even a broadsheet, it is a tabloid masquerading as one. The only reason it is Ireland's biggest selling Sunday Broadsheet is because it is a tabloid. Its magazine section is worse; a litany of features about politician's daughters and c-list Irish celebs in London and who they are sleeping with.

The UK used to have a similar problem with lazy, reactinary tabloid masquerading as a broadsheet journalism; it was called The Daily Mail. It used to sell quite well.However, contrary to the pseudo Nietzchian elitist beliefs of the people who sell such papers, most people actually tire ofd being fed such rubbbish, and now The Daily Mail has it's own niche market. The Sindo will go this way too.

Sindo - Irelands real Daily Mail

by cool j

Tue Apr 25, 2006 22:52

Nothing suprises any more concerning the Rubbish the passes for reporting at the Sindo - It has continued to degenerate into a West-Brit, Unionest, PD ragsheet. Their tiresome headlines every Sunday which they try and pass-off as factual reporting consist of PD sound-bytes usually containing hysterical allegations against republicans and Nationalist which they deem to be behind everthing from Bank Robberies to bird Flu. Change the record Tony!!!!

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Jim Cusack, the new Freddie Starr, ate my hamster

Comments (8 of 8)