Paul Clerkin gives his side or rather the actual facts about when the Irish Examiner acted the bollox and sensationalised a non-existant story. I know this is silly season but post something about funny shaped vegetables if that’s the case. Gutterpressing and twisting facts is not called for. To run the story is one thing but then to create a follow-up piece adding more mistruths is something else.
In total, of all the comments made apparently by users criticising the elderly, about 2 stand – one of which is definitely out of order, the other is a very general observation about objecting if a church was planned. The remaining quotes would seem to be either falsified, misrepresented and/or misquoted.
In a subsequent piece on Friday, 8 July, the Examiner ran a headline “Website pulls section over anti-elderly comments”. I have not pulled it, it like so many threads before it, has simply dropped off the front page.
Good fucking christ, can they teach them how to use a website before they mouth off about it?
They also stated today, that “A representative of the website was unavailable for comment yesterday”. I have not been contacted for comment at all.
Certainly a lesson to be learned here for those operating websites and blogs and the liberties journalists can take when reporting “facts”. Shame that the Examiner is stooping to this level. I wonder will an apology be published over this? perhaps with enough pressure?
Be handy for those in the irishblogs to point to this story and comment on it to keep people focused on it. Nobody can allow this kind of shite to happen again and again. How long before there’s an Irish Blogs union and an Irish Blogger’s Defense Fund?