Shell and the Garda in Mayo: How the Papers reported it.

mayo | arts and media | opinion/analysis Friday October 06, 2006 19:08 by Terry - Shell to Sea

Rossport Solidarity Camp have asked for people to monitor how the news media is reporting on Shell, Mayo and the Garda. Here is some commentary on how the papers reported Tuesday’s events.
Please add to this, particularly for TV and radio.

The papers on Wednesday October the 4th

Why were the Garda there? Protecting Workers or Attacking Picket?

There was “heavy Garda protection” for construction workers according to The Star.
According to the Mirror they “stormed the blockade”.
The Evening Herald reported: “A strong Garda presence was again deployed in north Mayo to enable construction workers to enter the controversial Shell terminal for the Corrib Gas pipeline”
The Mail concentrated on the Garda blocking off roads and lifting and penning objectors - highlighted text was ‘I was manhandled into a corral’.
The Irish Independent claimed they were there to “ensure construction workers can enter the controversial Shell terminal for the Corrib Gas pipeline.”
The Irish Times had it that they were to “escort Shell staff”.
The Examiner headline was “gardai confront Shell protesters”.

Mention of Injured Protesters:

None in The Star. Considerable in The Mirror and The Mail, including a photograph.
Brief mention in the Irish Independent. Not the main focus in the Irish Times, but it is factually reported with a decent amount of space.

Space:

One full page in The Mail, 36 x 19 cm in The Mirror (virtually a full page), 8 by 22 cm in The Star.
Prominent enough in the Irish Times. Best part of half a page in the Examiner, very small piece in the Herald.

Mention of Heckling and Jeering Protesters:

None in the Star or Mirror some in the Mail.
One sentence out of four in the Evening Herald refers to this.
The Irish Independent reads: “They had to run the gauntlet of cheers and jeers from the protesters who shouted "scab" and "may ye die roaring" at them.”
Mention of “jeers and shouts” in the Times.

General:

The Mail has equal quotes to Shell and to Shell to Sea, but is very much framed around Shell to Sea not going anywhere - article starts with the word ‘defiant villagers’ and the headline is ‘We will not be moved’, sub-heading is ‘Gas pipeline protesters will continue despite Garda “overkill”’.

The Star’s “Gardai shift shell protest” headline would on the other hand give the impression of powerlessness. The Star also wrongly claims that protesters have only been there since last Tuesday, when in fact the picket began in the first week of July 2005.

The Mirror’s editorial reads Shell are “not the people that a state police force should be protecting from a civilised protest” lambastes their international record and refers to them as a “greedy oil firm”.
(obviously they are the people the police force is there to protect, but that is for another day).

The Star makes no mention of the political context or issues of the protest.

The Irish Times carries a half page add from Shell (though no Shell logo to indicate that it is their advertisement) as a response to the Shell to Sea campaign, but its bulk of quotations or citations are from Shell to Sea. A similar ad was full page in the tabloid version of the Independent.

Comment:

A marked difference can be seen in the news coverage between papers owned by Tony O’Reilly (The Star, Herald, Independent) and the rest. In terms of framing - ie seeing Garda presence as attack on picket or as protecting/enabling/escorting of workers, with the Mail, Examiner and Mirror following the first line, and the Star, Herald, Independent and Times following the second.
A small difference in one sense (either option can be said to be true) in another sense it frames Tuesday’s events in totally different way.
O’Reilly’s rags give less space to reporting on the protests, and of that, generally speaking, has more space and emphasis on jeering protesters than the rest. The Times occupies a kind of middle ground of facts, but with more Shell to Sea quotes, its headline though is along the lines of the O’Reilly press.
As previously covered on indymedia.ie the O’Reilly empire includes an oil and gas exploration company, Providence Resources, which operates in Ireland and Nigeria. In Ireland particularly in a joint venture with Exxon Mobil (aka Esso).

The Papers on Thursday October 5th:

A switch around in the Mirror as we now have “angry protesters” yelling “may ye die” and the Garda “holding them back”, this was a small piece on page two.
Can’t find Thursday Indo reporting on their website, but gave it a keep glance over in the newsagents - enough to confirm it is carrying on its anti-Shell to Sea line.
The Examiner is the only paper to cover protests outside of Mayo with a headline ‘Anti-Shell Protesters Win Nationwide Support’, and a small but comprehensive covering of actions in Mayo, Dublin and Cork (with a photo from Cork).
The Times carried an Afri statement referring to Nigeria, balanced with a Fianna Fail statement on “negative attitudes of some parties in the dispute” which is “preventing much needed gas from coming ashore” it went on to ask for the withdrawal of individuals or parties “prohibiting a successful resolution to the problems in Bellanaboy”. One would wonder where the residents of Kilcommon should withdraw to, not everyone has the friends that Bertie has to give special deals on new homes.
The statement went on to say that these ‘negative parties’ only serve to “further damage the north Mayo region as an attractive location for investment now and in the future.”
During the 1970s Mayo Fianna Fail lobbied for the construction of a nuclear power plant in Erris.

Other Dates:
In addition the Sunday World ran a Paul Williams smear story on Shell to Sea last Sunday, see: http://www.indymedia.ie/article/78773 and also that week Kevin Myers called for baton attacks on Shell to Sea demonstrators in the Irish Independent (both O’Reilly owned).