See what Twitter is saying about picturegate
Damnit, I thought a snarky comment and the YouTube video would be enough but it’s not. I guess I can’t sleep until I write this down somewhere. What happened last night with RTE apologising and giving in to the bullshit from the Government and the statements from those fucktards in Fianna Fáil show how bad things are.
Last night part of the freedom of the press was murdered in front of our eyes, in prime time hours. We should be crying at that apology. Hope is quickly diminishing in Ireland and more of it went tonight. The country is going to hell in a handcart and now they’re attacking satire in a most brutal way. RTE News has been shut down. RTE cannot report news anymore without having to secondguess themselves and the reaction from Government press officers.
This is not the time for just a Facebook Group. I think this is time to attend clinics and say what we can say to Fianna Fáil before they stop that too. Because they will. Nob Nation was killed and we pay for that, not Eamon Ryan, not Brian Cowen, now our news that we pay for is censored. Did we vote for this? Did those that voted for the Green Party vote for those and of those who said they should go into Government? Did members of Fianna Fáil vote for this?
There is a meme starting on the Internet where Irish people are posting naked pictures of Brian Cowen on their blogs and Facebook profiles. Not enough. Let’s gather together with A1, A2 posters of these and protest outside the offices of the Taoiseach. At every public event we need to track Brian Cowen and his staff and display these posters. Brian Cowen’s office needs to apologise over this. RTE need to apologise to us over this. There needs to be more done though. There should be transparency when it comes to contacts from the Goverment on the direction of a state broadcaster.
On one point I agree with Fianna Fáil. The RTE DG needs to go but not for Fianna Fáil to be happy but to get someone else in instead:
Fianna Fáil TD Michael Kennedy last night called on RTÉ director general Cathal Goan to consider his position. The report “represented a gross insult to the position of An Taoiseach, not to mention a personal affront to the dignity of the man himself”, Mr Kennedy said in a statement
Let’s set a date and start a protest, let’s bring all the world’s press together and have them record caricatures of a naked man from the sticks. Let’s keep the momentum going. Let’s send naked pics of Cowen via MMS to each other and wave our phones, let’s encourage the opposition parties to wave these phones in the Dáil. Have them wear t-shirts under their shirts/blouses. Let’s walk up and down outside RTE news broadcasts. Please please please don’t roll over on this because next time we won’t know what else the news is hiding from us.
[…] For context, you could do better than looking here, here and here. […]
[…] Damien Mulley brian cowen budget picturegate rte […]
This whole debacle is just waiting for an FOI. 🙂 Interested to see if Karlin raises it.
400 people wearing the t-shirt, all decide to visit the national gallery at the same time. I’d pay good money to see that / participate in that.
like fuck lillington will raise it.
Any chance we can get hi-res images of the original paintings?
I’d like to see them on every billboard to teach the jackbooted thugs a lesson.
P.S. Hello from a fellow Pres-head.
[…] Damien Mulley was enraged: Last night part of the freedom of the press was murdered in front of our eyes, in prime time hours. We should be crying at that apology. Hope is quickly diminishing in Ireland and more of it went tonight. The country is going to hell in a handcart and now they’re attacking satire in a most brutal way. RTE News has been shut down. RTE cannot report news anymore without having to secondguess themselves and the reaction from Government press officers. […]
I would also like to get hi-res images of the orignal paintings? Does anybody know of any actual move to protest anywhere regarding this ridiculous censorship of the press and political satire?
[…] Chartophylax | Creative Ireland | Culch.ie | Cupid Stunt | Daithai C | Damien Mulley here, here and here | Doubtful Egg | Drive-by blogging | Evening Herald here here and here | Fear and Loathing in North […]
Outraged!
http://thesexypedestrian.blogspot.com/2009/03/cowengate.html
[…] got around to throwing my oar in on the Cowen portraits saga (or #picturegate, as it’s become […]
[…] Mulley […]
Great idea re t-shirts in National Gallery. Be on for that.
Also do your bit for unemployment, sell shirts to Fina Gale etc.
[…] Today FM (gasp!), and already dubbed ‘Portraitgate’ (Or ‘Picturegate’, as Damien Mulley had it: cue groan). However Vincent Browne begs to […]
[…] Daithai C | Damien Mulley here, here and here | Dec’s Rambling | Deaglán de Bréadún | Doubtful Egg | Draw Breath | Drive-by […]
To be honest, if that was me who had been publicly humiliated, I would have found the fucktard who did it and nailed the picture to his forehead.
[…] sample of related blog and media coverage: Eoin O’Dell, Suzy Byrne, Tuppenceworth, Bock, Damien Mulley, Alexia Golez, Twenty Major, Caricatures Ireland, Irish Times, The Tribune, The Guardian, The […]
[…] that RTÉ news piece about the Brian Cowan paintings. It’s been written about here, here, here, here, and here, to name but a few. I have nothing to add to what’s been said, other […]
[…] I disagree that Casby’s paintings could be construed as satire. I fail to see the satire in Casby’s paintings. In my opinion, both of them exhibit crudeness […]
Hi Damien
I discovered the banned RTE report is still online at RTE’s site:
http://markhumphrys.com/picturegate.rte.html
Mark Humphrys
[…] demanding an apology RHA Gallery did not complain to Gardai Allan Cavanagh on censorship and satire Damien Mulley calls for protest Some other coverage of it The Times (uk) on it And on and on and […]
[…] own meaning out of it! ( I will just explain that a bit of background on slide 10 can be found here, slide 14 is the Egypt student who tweeted as he was arrested, slide 18 is the ‘Phoenix […]