RTÉ's handling of the Sunday Times story that Ireland could apply to the IMF for a loan in the event of a No vote in the Fiscal Treaty was both timorous and unprofessional. By Vincent Browne.

On Sunday last the Sunday Times carried a story by journalist Mark Paul stating: “the IMF . . . has told the Sunday Times there is ‘no reason’ why Ireland could not ask it for another loan when the current bailout programme ends in 2013.

“Any IMF member country can make an application to us for a loan,” said Bill Murray, its director of external relations. Asked if there was anything to stop Ireland from doing so, he said “no . . . The only countries from which we would not accept an application are non-members or those not in good standing of the previous IMF loans.”

Was Denis O'Brien's support for the boardroom move against Gavin O'Reilly fuelled, at least in part, by a 2010 row over the Irish Independent's coverage of the Moriarty Tribunal? By Vincent Browne.

Last Thursday evening, at the launch of a new book, Michael McDowell advised the large and well-heeled audience to visit the website Broadsheet.ie and search its archives. The search is worthwhile.

On the site, there are posted memos by Gavin O'Reilly of conversations he had with Leslie Buckley, one of Denis O'Brien's then directors on the board of Independent News & Media (INM). The first of them records a phone conversation on 29 October 2010.

The mere fear that they will not get other work keeps many Irish journalists in line and silences dissent, whether in print or on air. By Philip O'Connor.

"I'm a freelancer, I can't afford to get involved in this discussion" - journalist Sinéad Ryan on Tonight with Vincent Browne.

Monday's Tonight... show dealt with, among other things, the subject of media ownership in Ireland and how it affects the public discourse. The elephant in Ireland's (news) room in this regard is of course Denis O'Brien, and once his name was mentioned, it got very quiet. Sinéad Ryan headed straight for the emergency exit of the debate, saying "I'm a freelancer, I can't afford to get involved in this discussion," prompting me to tweet that "this, ladies and gentlemen, is what is wrong with Irish media."

“The media…is by far the most powerful agency in shaping people’s perspectives on social and political issues” [Vincent Browne, Irish Times, 18/04/12]

Discussing the highly concentrated ownership of Irish media on the eve of Gavin O’Reilly’s departure from Independent News & Media, Vincent Browne makes a statement his former editor Geraldine Kennedy would be proud of. Yet gone are the days when the Irish Times could credibly boast to be ‘leaders’ or ‘shapers’ of public opinion, save for a small subset of influential south Dubliners.

Successive campaign failures over the last few years, including the Lisbon Treaty and more recently the household charge, have shown the limitations of the media’s agency to sway public perspective. On the other hand, the media’s ability to influence or at least reinforce government thinking on certain important policy issues has not been undermined. Successful campaign wishes for austerity budgets since 2008 have been granted, with politicians responding to the media “call to arms” by throwing caution to the wind, “sticking to their guns” and delivering the required “tough medicine” over and over.

Following a meeting between Tony O'Reilly and Bertie Ahern in 2007 the Sunday Independent changed its attitude to Ahern completely - and yet we're asked to believe that "editorial was independent". By Vincent Browne.

Anne Harris, the editor of the Sunday Independent, had a cheesy piece in that newspaper on Sunday extolling the scrupulousness of the O’Reillys in maintaining a strict demarcation between their corporate interests and the editorial independence of editors.

The article began with an account of a lavish party at the O’Reilly Kildare mansion: “The invitation list was that eclectic mix that made a social gathering sing – pop stars, legal eagles, chat show hosts, editors, DJs, foreign presidents, finance mandarins, taoisigh past and present”. There was “a Gatsby glimmer”, she gushed.

There was both cruelty and irony in the ending of the O'Reilly reign at INM last week. By Vincent Browne.

There was a cruelty in the shafting of Gavin O'Reilly as chief executive of Independent News and Media (INM) last Thursday afternoon. The statement issued afterwards said his departure followed a "compromise agreement", approved "unanimously" by the board - though this announcement was later amended, as apparently two O'Brien representatives had not agreed with the O'Reilly departure package.

The cruel words "amicable" and "mutual" followed. O'Reilly had been forced out in advance of an AGM at which he would have been voted out.

Should corporate oligarchies, including RTÉ, retain such enormous power to frame the agenda for public debate? By Vincent Browne.

It hardly matters which of the two oligarchs get control of Independent News and Media, for neither should be allowed to. Not because of any moral turpitude on the part of the oligarchy represented by Denis O’Brien or that represented by the O’Reilly family.

First, Independent News and Media is far too large, and the power it gives to whoever controls it is oppressive. On this island INM owns the Irish Independent, the Sunday Independent, the Sunday World, the Evening Herald, the Irish Daily Star, the Belfast Telegraph and Sunday Life. It owns 13 local newspapers and also one of the largest newspaper and magazine distribution agencies, Newspread, plus several of the largest print works on the island. It has a strong presence on the internet with independent.ie.

RTÉ was bound to lose the run of itself - and it did. By Vincent Browne.

There might have been an inevitability about the crisis at RTÉ. There has been no external director general at the station since 1968, when Kevin McCourt quit, having been hand-picked by Sean Lemass in 1963.

Not since the late 1960s had there been any critical appraisal of journalistic standards, practices and output at the station. The damage done by the censorship imposed by Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act over almost a quarter of a century was never repaired.

Then, with the advent of commercial broadcasting in this state, there was an intensification of a ratings culture, which further undermined editorial standards.