A short time ago Cian Ginty of Blurred Keys very kindly sent me, amongst other bloggers, an invitation to go along to one of the Cleraun Media Forum sessions. These are monthly get-togethers where media professionals and anyone else “working / teaching / studying / interested in media” can meet to discuss some aspect of the profession.
The Paper Round has made me very aware of the question of where stories come from and as it is unusual to have an opportunity to see journalists gathered together to discuss their work in public I was very tempted to go along. The topic this month was “Blogging and traditional media: do the same standards of professional integrity apply?” which is an interesting topic, albeit one which I think contains a fallacy.
Nonetheless there are two reasons why I wasn’t to be found in the Cleraun University Centre, just outside UCD’s campus. The first, and primary one, is that Bathtime waits for no man.
The other is that the Cleraun Media Forum, like its big brother the annual Cleraun Media Conference strikes me as having all the characteristics of a honeytrap. It gives people working or interested in the media a space for them to indulge their interests. Indulging your interests is always a very attractive activity. I think that there is an important place for that kind of space in Ireland- which traditionally has been unreflective about its messengers and their messages.
Nonetheless, free lunches are still absent from this life. The price of participation is to lend credibility and credence to the Cleraun centre and its policy of sex segregation of third level students. Male students are encouraged in its brochure to think of the centre as “More Than Just A University Residence”. And certainly, when I was in UCD, it offered such a complete cocoon from the hurly-burly of college life that it could isolate uncertain souls from difficult and complicated pieces of growing up. Specifically, how to talk to and relate to women as full human beings.
In addition, Opus Dei, to whom the “Spiritual and doctrinal activities at Cleraun are entrusted”, believes in the power of the media as opinion makers. It would be attractive, therefore, to build up links through hosting these sessions with a media which is frequently hostile to it as an organisation.
So I’m afraid that, Bathtime aside, Clearan University Centre will have to struggle on, as it has since 1982, without the implicit endorsement which my presence would provide. Happily for both of us, I’m sure it will never know what it’s missing.
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Well put. However, aside from the fact that I think that Opus Dei are evil brain-washing cultists, my problem with the forums and the conferences is that they all seem to be talking about a parallel universe with a media which bears no relation to the media that we know here.
For example my answer to the question “Blogging and traditional media: do the same standards of professional integrity apply???? would start with something like: “No, most bloggers have some integrity, or have at least some familiarity with the concept…”
The other fallacy being that bloggers don’t get paid.
And what would the rappers say to that?
“The other fallacy being that bloggers don’t get paid”
Not always true, thus a fallacy its self.
So is Opus Dei active behind the scenes? How influential is it? How can I check out whether a bit of networking is serupticiously being sponsored by Opus Dei?
You make me think? And for someone relatively new to Ireland, returning after emigrating and re-migrating, that’s a good thing.
ps I’m not looking for a detailed answer to my questions. But if there is a good article on this, I’d love to know.
“How can I check out whether a bit of networking is serupticiously being sponsored by Opus Dei?”
Normally they say so on leaflets, posters etc.
Omaniblog, Auds-
It’s not entirely true to say that the sponsorship by Opus Dei is clearly marked in the Cleraun literature. They’re certainly referred to, but as pastoral carers, rather than the sponsoring body.
Nonetheless, I think it is fair to say that they’re not hiding their involvement. Which makes the decision for people deciding whether to go along a bit easier.