What would you do if an article you wrote led to Al Qaeda threatening to kill you? Yemeni citizen Hind Aleryani left the safety and security of a job with the UN to become a journalist and activist concentrating on the rights of women and children, but after criticising religious extremists she was forced to flee to Sweden - but the "humanitarian super-power" with the self-proclaimed feminist government has already turned its back on her and is threatening to deport her and her traumatised daugh...
Dec 18, 2018•36 min
An allegation that an Irish athlete raped a woman in a Dublin hotel has set tongues wagging, and though little is known about the case, plenty of people are sharing wild theories on social media as editors and reporters chase the details. I spoke to Noeline Blackwell, lawyer and chief executive of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, about how the media handles the cases that come before the courts, and what can be done to make a traumatic experience less damaging for those involved.
Dec 15, 2018•38 min
Most interviews with professional athletes these days are very guarded affairs. They spend almost as much time on media training as they do in the gym - but are journalists in part to blame for them being so boring? I talked to ex-Manchester United, Rangers, Red Star Belgrade and AIK midfielder Bojan Djordjic about his work on both sides of the microphone - first as a high-profile player in big clubs, and now as an analyst tasked with studying some of his former team-mates.
Dec 06, 2018•33 min
What would the coverage of the Belfast rape trial have looked like if we didn't know Paddy Jackson was involved? And was the public interest served, given that he was found not guilty? In Sweden, it's highly unlikely that Jackson's name would have been known before the trial, but I compare it to a recent court case around match-fixing in soccer to tease out some of the issues.
Nov 30, 2018•45 min
I spoke to American academic Whitney Phillips about how the media's attempts to do the right thing in reporting on the far right have backfired spectacularly - instead, it has ended up providing endless fuel for their fire. She outlines some of the ways in which they can be handled by journalists - not least by shifting the focus from the aggressors to their intended targets. You can read her full report here: https://datasociety.net/output/oxygen-of-amplification/
Nov 02, 2018•45 min
Middle Ireland recently got a jolt of what it is like when the far right stick their head above the parapet in the form of presidential candidate Peter Casey, but for journalists and women of colour like Clara Rose Thornton, they've always been there. I spoke to her about race, gender and how power is exerted over minorities by and through the media, and what can be done to change it - and the power of the spoken word comes out on top once again.
Nov 01, 2018•45 min
In the wake of a presidential campaign that saw a candidate go from one percent to 21 percent by attacking Travellers and welfare recipients, I spoke to actor, writer and director John Connors about being on the receiving end of racism as a political tactic.
Oct 27, 2018•21 min
Outside of Ireland, barrister, columnist and broadcaster Joe Brolly could walk down the street almost entirely unmolested - at least he could, until he wrote about how he wanted to see professional mixed martial arts banned. On social media at least, all hell broke loose. I was one of those who disagreed with him, so I asked him to talk to me about his journalism and the arguments he made in two articles that illustrated the power of certain columnists to tell us not what to think, but what to t...
Oct 26, 2018•1 hr 9 min
In this week's episode I speak to Johanna Franden about breaking into a male-dominated world, being a soccer pundit on the trail of Zlatan Ibrahimovic in Barcelona and Paris, and why a second language can be vital to a freelancer...
Oct 15, 2018•42 min
I talk to Niall McGrath in the middle of the maelstrom that is covering a Conor McGregor fight in the UFC.
Oct 05, 2018•21 min
I'm in Las Vegas for UFC 229, so here's a little bonus material to keep you going. A few years ago I went to a firing range to find out why America loves guns, and I had a clear idea in my mind about what I wanted to do. It didn't turn out that way. Instead, it turned into this mini-documentary which, for the most part, is a conversation with a man called Angus. Angus is warm and friendly with a booming laugh and a passionate desire to uphold the Second Amendment, so rather than argue with him, ...
Oct 04, 2018•25 min
What should you be getting paid for your work? What do you do if you don't get it? And is it ever wise to work for free? Ahead of a big week in Las Vegas for Conor McGregor's fight, I wrestle with some of the questions freelancers all over the world want answers to.
Sep 30, 2018•26 min
Eamon Dunphy is a former footballer and one of the most controversial figures in Irish life. His work as a journalist and broadcaster is sometimes derided as sensationalist and provocative, but his sharp intellect and insatiable hunger for knowledge and ideas have reshaped Irish media and caused others to raise their game considerably. I spoke to him about his four decades in the media industry, and how if he was starting out today, he reckons never would have made it...
Sep 26, 2018•44 min
You don't have to be Scottish to go to Brazil and tell them the story of one of their greatest football icons, but it helps... Andrew Downie is a journalist and author based in Sao Paolo who has written a brilliant biography about Socrates, the doctor-philosopher-footballer who shaped an era in one of the most-loved teams of all time. He also has extensive experience of reporting in conflict zones and works for the Committee to Protect Journalists - I asked him if being a Hibernian fan prepared ...
Sep 17, 2018•37 min
Judging by the international coverage, Sweden's election was a referendum on immigration - but while it was indeed a factor, much of the tunnel-vision journalism that was produced was amateurish, ill-informed and obscured the real driving forces behind how the ballots were cast.
Sep 10, 2018•15 min
Long before he gave us so the rib-shatteringly funny comedy that was Father Ted, Graham Linehan was an almost accidental journalist treading the dark, rainy streets of Dublin, reviewing gigs and albums and harbouring dreams of becoming being Woody Allen. I talked ot him about how he fell into journalism, what he learned about how to communicate from it, and what it's like to live your life in the public eye. (We spoke over Google Hangouts, which is among the top two crappiest pieces of technolog...
Sep 03, 2018•39 min
Journalists often find themselves having to cover subjects like disability, racism and LGBT rights. These are subjects in which they have no direct personal experience, and the language they use has the power to cause immense damage. Suzy Byrne is a well-known Irish campaigner for both disability and LGBT rights, and I talked to her about what journalists can do to improve how they frame their subjects and stories, how they should think about the language they use, and what can be done to make s...
Aug 27, 2018•42 min
With the Swedish election looming and Marine Le Pen denied a Portuguese platform, I spoke about free speech, the far right and how to cover politics properly with Stockholm University journalism professor Christian Christiansen.
Aug 20, 2018•44 min
Sulome Anderson's father Terry was bureau chief for Associated Press when he was kidnapped before she was born and held hostage for almost seven years - despite this, she still followed in his footsteps. Her book "The Hostage's Daughter" is part searing memoir, part journalistic blockbuster, and she told me about her work, the choices she has made and how the uncertainty of the media business has left her at a crossroads in her career.
Aug 13, 2018•38 min
An interview with Irish MMA journalist Petesy Carroll about how covering the rise of Conor McGregor led to him being able to create a career as a combat sports journalist.
Aug 06, 2018•40 min
