Off Message

In Off Message #21, the fifth of five special media-curious podcasts in conjunction with Jolt (see joltetn.eu), a project coordinated by the FuJo Institute at Dublin City University funded by the EU's Horizon 2020 programme, Sara Creta discusses with broadcaster and DCU graduate Pat O'Mahony her very personal Jolt research into communities living in exile using digital media to advance transitional justice.

In Off Message #20, the fourth of five special media-curious podcasts in conjunction with Jolt (see joltetn.eu), a project coordinated by the FuJo Institute at Dublin City University funded by the EU's Horizon 2020 programme, Lucia Mesquita discusses with broadcaster and DCU graduate Pat O'Mahony her fascinating Jolt research into the often counter-intuitive role of collaboration in journalism.

In Off Message #19, the third of five special media-curious podcasts in conjunction with Jolt (see joltetn.eu), a project coordinated by the FuJo Institute at Dublin City University funded by the EU's Horizon 2020 programme, Sophie Chauvet discusses with broadcaster and DCU graduate Pat O'Mahony her revealing Jolt research into the often untrustworthy world of audience analytics in journalism.

In Off Message #18, the second of five special media-curious podcasts in conjunction with Jolt (see joltetn.eu), a project coordinated by the FuJo Institute at Dublin City University funded by the EU's Horizon 2020 programme, Elina Makri discusses with broadcaster and DCU graduate Pat O'Mahony her fascinating Jolt research into how human cognition can perhaps explain irrationality, biases, the strong role of emotions and the preference for storytelling (instead of data and numbers) in journalism.

In Off Message #17, the first of five special media-curious podcasts in conjunction with Jolt (see joltetn.eu), a project coordinated by the FuJo Institute at Dublin City University funded by the EU's Horizon 2020 programme, Dimitri Bettoni discusses with broadcaster and DCU graduate Pat O'Mahony his eye-opening Jolt research into journalism, security and surveillance.

In Off Message #16 Jon Williams, Managing Director of RTÉ News & Current Affairs, discusses over the internet with broadcaster Pat O'Mahony the massive changes RTÉ have implemented in the face of the Covid19 crisis, the lengths they've gone to to deal with any mental health issues their employees might now have, the unprecedented financial hit RTÉ and all other media organisations are currently taking, his own fascinating pre-RTÉ career, and loads more.

In Off Message #15 Ian Kehoe and Tom Lyons, the pair behind the new Irish business-news website, The Currency, discuss with Pat O'Mahony the ethos of their new venture and their plans for its long term future, the need for more diversity in the media, why being banned by Communicorp's radio stations was such a big deal, and loads more.

Has the media lost our trust? If so, what can it do to regain it? More importantly, should we ever actually fully trust our media? On the night of the pivotal Ireland-Denmark Euro 2020 qualifier down the road in the Aviva Stadium, a quartet of the good and the great of Irish media gathered in Whelan's on Dublin's Wexford St as part of the Dublin Podcast Festival to discuss and debate with Off Message's Pat O'Mahony perhaps the most important issue of a business they would all see as vital to the well-being of society yet one which has long been in a state of turmoil, explaining why trust in the Fourth Estate is currently at an all time low, exploring the very real impacts this lack of trust in our media is having on everything from politics to climate change to vaccinations uptake, suggesting ways in which that trust might be restored, and arguing the toss about whether we should even trust the mainstream media in the first place. The panel: - Mark Little, CEO and co-founder of Kinzen, formerly managing director of Twitter in Ireland, CEO and founder of Storyful and RTÉ Prime Time co-presenter - Jane Suiter, Director of the Institute for Future Media and Journalism (FuJo) and Associate Professor at the School of Communications, DCU, formerly Economics Editor at the Irish Times - Gillian Fitzpatrick, Chief Commercial Officer at Maximum Media (home of JOE, her, Sports JOE and Her Family), formerly Features Editor at the Irish Daily Mail - Gavan Reilly, Political correspondent with Virgin Media News, host of On The Record on Newstalk FM and columnist with the Meath Chronicle, formerly political correspondent at Newstalk and Today FM and journalist at TheJournal.ie

The thirteenth - lucky for us - Off Message podcast is with Baz Ashmawy, of '50 Ways To Kill Your Mammy' fame. In his central Dublin office he revealed the exact moment he knew a suit-wearing career in recruitment was not for him, the shock of being shut out of RTÉ, how subsequently not getting a radio gig was more than likely a blessing in disguise, knowing when an idea's time is up, and loads more.

Off Message #12 features political writer, Lise Hand, soon to be ex- of the Times Ireland edition parish. In Buswells Hotel, across the road from her major work haunt of Leinster House in Dublin, and in many ways over the years her office away from her office, she came clean on the life of the political hack, the impact of social media on the world she covers, the downside of the closure of local newspapers, why the Times Ireland is closing and how she's dealing with it, and much much more.

For the 11th media-curious Off Message podcast I dropped into the NUJ's Irish HQ in Dublin to talk all things media with the Irish Secretary of the journalists' trade union, Seamus Dooley, including the recent shooting dead of freelancer Lyra McKee in Derry, the lack of genuine media ownership diversity, their ongoing campaigns, fixing trust in journalism, why he thinks all journalists should join the NUJ, and loads more.

On a flying visit to his native Dublin, freelance journalist Philip O'Connor, the man behind his own media blog and podcast, the wonderfully titled Our Man In Stockholm, dropped by for the tenth media-savvy Off Message podcast. We chewed the fat on his attempt to crowdfund much of his journalism income, how he uses social media to generate work, his often outspoken tone online, his unique and unusual route into journalism, and loads more.

As the Press Council of Ireland nears the end of its tenth year in operation, Press Ombudsman, Peter Feeney chats with Pat O'Mahony about the vagaries of dealing with complaints for both online and print publications, his previous lengthy career in RTE making programmes and overseeing their Freedom of Information activity, his love of local newspapers, his predictions for the future of the press and public service broadcasting, and more.

Just a year into her most high-profile radio job to date, the eighth media-curious Off Message podcast features Newstalk's Lunchtime Live presenter Ciara Kelly. During our 50-odd minute chat we chewed the media fat on debating extremists, social media bullying and detoxing, developing a media career without having to hustle, taking over a big show after an equally big controversy, and loads more.

The seventh media-friendly Off Message podcast - Off Message #50 overall...hurrah! - is with Nadine O'Regan, Books and Arts Editor and current (no relation) Off Message columnist with the Sunday Business Post. During our chat, Nadine discussed how it felt to recently have her long-running Today FM show, Songs In The Key Of Life, rather unceremoniously dropped by the station; her own not insignificant role in the globally successful West Cork podcast; growing up in a household steeped in print journalism; her own very peculiar roundabout route into the business, and much more.

The sixth media circus that is the Off Message podcast is with Michael O'Keeffe, CEO at the regulator of all Irish broadcasting - though thankfully not podcasts...not yet, anyway - the BAI, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. During our chat Michael revealed the BAI's origins in Ireland's murky pirate radio past and its planned next move into regulating parts of the online media wild west; the type of complaints they regularly get about programmes; where they get their funding and how some would rather not pay up; their wooing of London's international broadcasters pre-Brexit; the growing Irish appetite for podcasts - *applauds*; their take on diversity and plurality in Ireland's broadcast media; and more.

The fifth media-curious Off Message podcast is with Deirdre O'Shaughnessy of Cork's 96fm. Editor of and regular fill-in presenter on their morning chat show, The Opinion Line with PJ Coogan, I was particularly interested to explore their different approach dealing with a local rather than a national audience and what kind of items work best for them. During our yabber Deirdre also revealed why she's in no rush to work in Dublin, how when she arrived the station successfully replaced a big name presenter in the same slot and why a morning talk show works so well in an otherwise all-music radio format.

The fourth media-mad Off Message podcast is with the ubiquitous Norah Casey who has worked both here in Ireland and in the UK across all sectors in the media. She's run and owned numerous publishing ventures, she's presented her own radio and television programmes, she's managed a handful of online businesses and written a book of her hectic life to date. In it the podcast Norah reveals the tortuous stories behind her hugely emotional live Late Late Show and Marian Finucane appearances in which she first told the highly charged stories of her second husband's death and the domestic abuse she suffered for nine years at the hands of her first; her recently-discovered insatiable love of podcasts; her real fear that she's now become a news junkie; the trauma of selling most of her cherished magazine titles late last year; her love-hate relationship with social media; and lots more.

The third Off Message media-mad podcast features Mark Little, a man who made his name in RTÉ in the 1990s before leaving to start the news-verifying Storyful in 2009 which he subsequently sold to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. During our chat he explained his latest venture, the news delivery app, Neva Labs, as well as revealing his own ever changing personal media consumption patterns, why he thinks RTÉ's funding model needs to change, and much much more.

Episode 2 of the media-curious Off Message podcast features Susan Daly, editor of TheJournal.ie, and over the course of our chat we debated, discussed and dissected the impact of fake news, the existence of media bias, the role of an online news editor, sexual discrimination and harassment in the media, whether TheJournal.ie would ever charge for news, and loads more.

The debut Off Message podcast, featuring the media-related wit and wisdom of RTÉ 2fm's music-and-movie-mad Dave Fanning. Over the course of our chat Dave reminisces about his almost completely accidental career journey; he reveals how his RTÉ career hasn't exactly gone to plan and whether he'd ever ask U2 the hard questions; and he divulges his unconventional advice for succeeding in the media world, and at a typical Fanning rate of knots, much, much more.