DCU and Photo Call - Thursday

The morning was a sleep in time and a leisurely start.

The afternoon took us to DCU - Dublin City University - for a lecture by Dr. Roddy Flynn on the impact of the internet/Web on Irish media as well as a little more background on Irish TV.

We learned that indigenous TV didn't come to Ireland until 1961 - partly to help preserve Irish culture. RTE - the state owned/operated channels - is the most watched despite the addition of hundreds of other channels.

He summed up internet use and interest as "not much impact." Internet penetration in Dublin is only 65% and in the countryside it's about 50%. Personal experience here is that broadband connection is weak and spotty. Only in the last 2 years has broadband become more wide spread.

Newspapers here are mostly just the paper on the Web. Only the Irish Times has experimented with the power of the Web. Although few of their articles contain internal nks!

Next stop was Photocall......a news photo service and PR photography company. Eamon - the owner - is a terrific businessman and shared his business model with the students. He told of the start of the business with his brother. They were off to cover the Viet Nam war but never got farther than Northern Ireland where the protestant/catholic conflict was in high gear. They had difficulty covering it due to their southern accents and were often in grave danger. Two of his young staff photographers joined us to offer advice and share their experiences of working in Ireland. Mark - originally from Texas - told about his first photo shoot at a political event where the other photographers were asking the "subjects" to pose. This was a surprise as in the
US a news photographer would never ask such a thing.....since the "rule" is to not interrupt. They also showed a compilation of their work over the years.....most impressive.

Evening was spent dining with Helen and Bob at a charming hotel restaurant near Christ Church. Yummy lamb stew!