June 7th, 2006
Updates: The Innocents and Arts Council/RTE
I caught a screening of Thank you for Smoking in the IFI last night and after this post I’m delighted to see that they’re also showing The Innocents. However, it’s just one screening on June 30th at 7pm.
Hesitant Hack wonders if yesterday’s story about the Arts Council’s proposed meeting with RTE is pointless, a PR stunt or both.
She also makes an acutely observed point about the lack of dedicated arts correspondents, not just in the RTE newsroom, but in many of the broadsheet newspapers here:
I think it would be great to see an arts correspondent in RTÉ. But I also think it would be great to see an arts correspondent in The Irish Times. Or in any one of the broadsheet newspapers published in Ireland. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think that any of those publications have a dedicated arts correspondent. They have theatre critics, and they have literary correspondents, and visual arts correspondents, but believe me, each of those people have enough to do in covering their own beat without also having to write news and analysis on the other side of the arts . problems in the Arts Council, for example, should they arise, or at the Abbey or the Gate, not to mention at other arts venues in the country. ”
And while we’re still (tenuously) on the subject of Rattlebag, yesterday’s show is well worth a listen. It examines 30 years of punk. (I’ll post the link in a bit, but the website, in a Omen-esque turn of events, is not working for me at the moment)
June 7th, 2006 at 11:19 am
Hesitant Hack’s post makes some very good points - there is a need for the arts to be covered in a serious way just as u would cover any industry. i’m sure there are tons of stories in the, say, music industry which are not being covered because editors just want the interviews with the stars and the gossipy pieces. but will newspapers and media outlets hire people to do this? i dont think so. And with all respect to bloggers, i dont think many have the gravitas, contacts or all-round knowledge to report these unreported stories well
June 7th, 2006 at 12:58 pm
Whatever the outcome of the RTE Arts Council meeting it won’t be pointless to have it - RTE needs to be and be seen to be pulled up on this one. What would be pointless is just to roll over grumbling.
I do agree with Hesitant Hack on the notion of arts correspondents - we need coverage that goes beyond segregated reviewing to a strategic and holistic look at arts and culture in Ireland - what are the issues where are we going were could we be going. There are also many cultural endeavours that defy categorisation or belong to the misc bracket of ‘cross media’.
I for one am glad to see the arts council getting involved and feel they could involve themselves further with pushing change both in rte and developing a fertile ground for cultural coverage, commentary and debate in the media.
June 7th, 2006 at 4:30 pm
I take your point, Neva - I think there’s a lot to be said for RTE being forced to answer for itself in an official or public forum (though of course it will be a private meeting, so that’s not strictly true, either). And I don’t want to give the impression that I think the Arts Council is merely posturing on this one; I don’t. I just don’t think they can do much about the farce in RTE, and I imagine they know that. I guess they have to make noises about the axing of Rattlebag, and it’s good that they are plugged in enough to recognise that much. When I talk about the pointlessness of the meeting, I’m talking in terms of the likely outcome rather than the thinking behind it.
Thanks for your comments, and yours, Pilchard. I know we’re in a minority arguing for this sort of thing, and it’s good to know that that minority includes more than just one person…
June 8th, 2006 at 8:11 am
I agree with Hesitant Hack’s point that the overall arts scene needs to be probed deeply by arts correspondents whose brief would be to regard the overall condition of the forest rather than describe the features of individual arboreal specimens, and Neva’s supporting remarks. We sometimes have perceptive cinema and theatre criticism in newspapers, but, as stated, individual critics are working away in their limited cubbyholes. Could somebody organise a well-publicised blog discussion of this matter, with invited arts professionals contributing their carefully written comments, and a “panel” of respondents coming in at the end in a carefully moderated discussion?
June 8th, 2006 at 3:49 pm
Actually Gareth thats not a bad idea at all. What we need is a pervailing desire for competent and exciting cultural reporting, to organise a dicussion on this - the slashing of coveage of RTE and arts coverage in the media in general would bring this out in the open.What we need is to be given a public forum for such a discussion but unfortunately that leads us in a circle to the every media we are having this discussion on..perhaps as you say blog involving key figures could open this up..
June 8th, 2006 at 8:56 pm
The reason there is no arts correspndances is because few are interested in it. It does not pay the papers to cover these things. the population at large are more interested in madonnas lates fab diet then Brian Friel’s latest work.
The only way for it to be covered is by funding the coverage by taxation. And considering that this taxation comes via a licence fee that inpacts the lower income familes more then the upper income families it really is a regressive form of taxation.
While I quiet like Rattlebag I disagree with state broadcasting so *looks for smiley that indicates shrug of shoulders*
June 9th, 2006 at 2:49 am
I know too well that the media are businesses and pander to the celeb culture because it helps to sell airspace and papers, Simon. The dumbing down of newspapers contributes to the dumbing down of society, and the thinking minorities should care about this. That’s why we should raise our thoughtful voices and demand decent reporting of the arts in Ireland. Otherwise we passively assent to the assumed commercial ethos that celeb sex and money pursuits are the Meaning of Life. Individual newspaper editors can make moral-aesthetic choices. For example, the Sligo Champion has carried a well edited Arts Page for two decades, although the paper’s revenue from arts advertising is a blink in relation to its revenue from farming and commercial advertising.