Looking for the Celtic in Communications: the Irish in Media

Posted on Monday, March 29, 2010 at 05:15 PM

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You and I are both media experts. Here we are together on IrishCentral.com, we surf the web, have at least tried social media, and read newspapers, magazines, books (in print or online.) We ingest TV, radio, movies, music, photography, advertising, design, marketing messages, maybe computer games, consuming more media than anyone in history, though that’s a record we’ll break by tomorrow.

We used to read the local paper, listen to a local radio station, chose from maybe a few TV stations to watch. Now we can get it all--text, video, audio—from New York, Boston, Dublin, Belfast and beyond…on our cell phones. A phone call back to the old country used to be pricey, now you can Skype friends across the pond for free, complete with a video connection.

Yes, we are experts enough to have a sense of where the media is, but not so clever that we have a real clue as to where it’s all going.

While the media influences us, many among us are media influencers as well, influencers with Irish roots.

Ah, there there’s the Irish thing (that’s Irish writ large, including diaspora Irish)

How will a people renown as storytellers fare in an emerging media world that places such a premium on conversation? Pretty damn well we think. IrishMediaNation will give ink-or pixels-to the stories of Irish media movers and shakers: journalists, writers, social media pioneers, broadcasters, bloggers, thinkers and entrepreneurs.

I’ll get the conversation going here at IrishMediaNation, but I'll need other experts like you to chime in. Don’t be shy.

To converse a bit about me: I’ve maneuvered all over the expanding and contracting media landscape. I had a radio show in college, have written for newspapers and magazines, done PR and marketing, worked with top print and TV reporting talent, produced and hosted a TV program, served as corporate spokesperson in crisis communications situations, coordinated location shoots for major motion pictures and am active in social media.

And as to my Irish roots: all my grandparents came over on the boat. The only grandparent I knew, my mother’s mother, came from the town of Clara, hometown of the Taoiseach Brian Cowen. Another grandparent was a Kearney, which--that’s right!--makes me a cousin of Barack O’Bama (until proven otherwise and I really hope no one proves otherwise).

Now with all this throat clearing out of the way, IrishMediaNation will be back in a bit with a personal account of an Irishman’s recent 30 seconds of fame on CNN.

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culchiewoman | May 25, 2010, 10:43 AM EDT

I am originally from Cork, now in the U.S., and work as a technology and new media director for a civic engagement nonprofit. I've always felt that the left- and right-brain-edness (if that can be said/typed!) of me was an Irish peculiarity. It has enabled me to enjoy a successful career merging the best of the arts and writing with the best of technology. I hope to encourage and mentor more young emigres and Irish Americans to join the field. Great post!

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rryatt1 | Mar 30, 2010, 06:26 PM EDT

ádh mór ort I enjoyed this blog,,,I come from a long line of storytellers and at least two of them fared very well on radio and tv (in my little province, anyway). Storytellers will always fare well with words and ideas,,,"In all major socializing forces you will find an underlying movement to gain and maintain power through the use of words." ~Children of Dune... Thank you for the link. RRYATT...

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mcauliffeg | Mar 30, 2010, 11:29 AM EDT

Congratulations John on this new blog. As a Dublin, Ireland raised and educated woman, former network and cable TV news and radio writer producer and reporter, former director of communications at national and international human rights and environmental organizations and (finally ;-) now an international strategic communications specialist--your areas of focus and expertise are a perfect fit for me. Thank you for this blog. I look forward to following to following it!

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LauraMc | Mar 29, 2010, 06:59 PM EDT

Love the Irish slant (slainte) on media. About time!

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Niall O'Dowd | Mar 29, 2010, 04:55 PM EDT

welcome aboard John

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