My Media: Dave O'Connell, editor, Connacht Tribune
17 March 09
Newspapers
From a work point of view I read the Irish Times, and the Irish Independent. I like John Waters as a columnist, he always motivates me. Sometimes he says things that annoy me, but that's what columnists should do. For the quality of the writing I buy The Guardian. It's excellent and it runs right across the paper. I'm a big fan of The Observer at the weekends. I should be more supportive of Irish newspapers, but I really don't find an awful lot in the Irish Sundays or feel that I miss much if I don't get one because I think they go to bed about Thursday.
Magazines
The supplement is one of the big strengths of a paper like The Observer. The Sports Monthly is fantastic, even Food Monthly and I am not a foodie, but their magazines are just so accessible. I hoard the Times tv supplement. My wife works at RTÉ and we always get a free RTÉ Guide, but I prefer the Times one.
I'm not a big magazine reader, I'm happy enough with what I get free with the dailies and Sundays. If I was looking for something to read I'd pick up Phoenix and I occasionally buy football magazines, such as Four Four Two. For music I'd buy Uncut, because it appeals to, and is written by, people who are in my age category.
Books
I always have a couple of books on the go. I'm currently in the middle of John Connolly's book The Reapers. I have a biography of Tom Waits, it's called Lowside Of The Road, and I'm reading the life story of Billy Liddle by a guy called John Keith, who is a good soccer authority. I'm a Liverpool fan and he was one of the great players back in the 1950s. I always have audio books, particularly for journeys in the car on my own, it's ultra-escapism. I love the Inspector Rebus series of detective novels by the Scottish writer Ian Rankin. They have to be straightforward narratives, because if they're overly complex you're going to either lose concentration on the road or lose the story. I have an eleven year old son, who has reinvigorated my love of football. I've read Phil Thompson's book recently, and Ian Rush's.
TV
I'd never miss the news but that's partly due to commitment rather than anything else. I absolutley love Boston Legal. It was on at an ungodly hour on Network Two, but it suited me because I worked late on Tuesdays. I also love Rebus on television and Morse when it was on. I loved Wallander on BBC recently, with Kenneth Brannagh as the Swedish detective Kurt Wallander. I'm a big fan of RTÉ's Monday night soccer programme MNS.
I'm like Pavlov's dog at six o'clock and nine o'clock, when the television automatically switches to the Six One and Nine O'Clock News. If I'm at home, I would also watch BBC's News at Ten, but predominantly I'm happy enough with RTÉ's bulletins. If I'm at work, I'll watch the Six One online.
Radio
It's Pavlov's response again at one o'clock when I automatically switch on Radio 1 for Seán O'Rourke on the news. I used to work in dailies, and he is the only one left in any news organisation who can still set a news agenda for the week. I think most of the television news like RTÉ and TV3 is reactive, there's very little that I don't know already. I can remember going back twenty or so years when radio set more of the agendas for the newspapers. I always listen to Morning Ireland, because the car is stuck on Radio 1 and I listen to Mary Wilson's Drivetime on the way home. I love John Murray's Business programme for much the same reason, he makes things acessible that don't normally interest me. For sport at the weekends, I listen to Today FM's live football on Saturday afternoon, though Michael McMullen's voice drives me spare.
Ads
It's a terrible thing for someone who works in newspapers, because advertising pays my salary but we have SkyPlus and if I can move quickly through the ads, then I do. It's heresy, but to be honest they don't stop me and make me want to buy something. Occasionally when I see a Guinness ad, I subliminally think I should go out. I also love the Cadbury's ads, particularly the first one with the gorilla, and the current one with two kids is hilarious.
New Media
Blogging is an area I know nothing about, Facebook and Bebo is a foreign language to me. I'm constantly looking at newspaper websites, and the BBC website. One of the first things I do when I come in to work is to look at the football gossip. RTÉ's website is a point of reference all through the day though not necessarily for work. Geographically, we're quite insular so we should already know about the stories on RTÉ that refer to Galway. I'd look at the Liverpool website on an occasional basis as well.
