How the US media covered Obama's Irish stopover

THE president and his pint: this was the image of Barack Obama's brief Irish stopover that captured the imagination of most American media outlets.

The image was used to illustrate articles on most US news websites, and broadcast on all the news networks, who reported on Obama reconnecting with his Celtic roots.

"When at a pub in Ireland, it would surely be deemed sacrilegious to deny yourself a pint of Guinness, especially if you're the president of the United States reconnecting with your distant Irish relatives," wrote Kelly Chernekoff, on the Fox News White House blog.

"So when visiting his great, great, great grandfather's hometown of Moneygall, the president was determined to not only drink a pint, but do it justice."

The visit has attracted considerable media attention, with the primary focus on Moneygall.

Mark Landler of the 'New York Times' wrote that: "President Obama may not be related to everybody in this postage-stamp Irish hamlet of 300 that claims him as its native son. But on Monday, Mr Obama appeared determined to hug, kiss or shake hands with every last one of them."

Jubilant

The paper described the visit as "jubilant" and the crowds who greeted him as "quite possibly the most loquacious rope line he has ever worked".

On TV, all the main networks previewed the visit with stories about Moneygall, including a report on NBC's top-rated morning show 'Today'.

Both MSNBC and CNN carried Mr Obama's speech at College Green in Dublin live in full.

CNN went to the scene early enough to hear Enda Kenny's impassioned plea to Irish Americans to follow their president home to Ireland.

Some outlets took a more sober take on events.

The 'LA Times', conscious of the ongoing controversy over Mr Obama's speech on Israel last week, carried his words of tribute to the Northern peace process as a model for other conflicts.

Bloomberg concentrated on Mr Obama's pledge of support for Ireland's efforts at economic recovery after the bailout.

The main news story of the day in the US was a massive tornado which killed at least 119 people in the city of Joplin, Missouri.

Most outlets carried reports from officials that Mr Obama was receiving regular updates on the damage as he made his way around Ireland.

This article appeared in the Irish Independent May 24 2011

Celebrations at Ground Zero as Bin Laden Killed by US Forces

As news broke that the world's most wanted terrorist had been killed by US forces in Pakistan, spontaneous celebrations erupted in Washington and New York.

At Ground Zero, site of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center's twin towers, thousands cheered.

I went down to the site to speak to some of those involved, and you can hear my a vox-pop of revellers, and my report on RTE Radio 1's John Murray Show at the following link.

http://www.rte.ie/radio1/thejohnmurrayshow/

(scroll down to the bottom of the page to the May 01st section)

Tourism Minister defends Paddy's Day junkets

Minister Mary Hanafin pictured with Eugene Downes, Culture Ireland, actor Gabriel Byrne, author Colum McCann and New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn at the launch of Imagine Ireland on Friday

The Minister for Tourism Mary Hanafin has confirmed that preparations are proceeding for members of the government to travel overseas for St Patrick’s Day, despite the likelihood that it could be in the final days of a general election campaign.

Speaking in NewYork on Friday, the Minister accused Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny of being “far too cynical about the importance of St Patrick’s Day”. The Opposition leader had argued that trips by ministers would be viewed as a “cynical swansong” by the public, and claimed some foreign leaders might not wish to meet lame-duck ministers, who could be out of office just weeks later.

“We should be all out there taking this opportunity to promote Ireland,” Minister Hanafin said, “St Patrick’s Day is our opportunity – any other country in the world would kill for it.”

“If the leader of the Opposition wants to go as well, I don’t see any difficulty,” she added.

She denied that photographs of Taoiseach Brian Cowen with US President Barack Obama in the White House, would sprinkle a little stardust on the closing stages of a Fianna Fail campaign. She said that photos of Mr Cowen with Barack Obama had been seen before and would be nothing new for the public. 

“The St Patrick’s Day message this year will be about investment, it will about the strong reputation of Ireland.”

Asked if it would not be better to hold the election before St Patrick’s Day, and allow the foreign trips to be the first big event for a new administration, she said “the message is the same”.

“The message is about Ireland. The message is not about Mary Hanafin. It’s not about Brian Cowen. It’s about Ireland as a place to invest. It’s about Ireland as a place to visit. It doesn’t matter really who the messenger is, it’s the message that is important for St Patrick’s Day.”

She said planning was already underway for the visits, because regardless of who goes, the programs in the host cities are pretty much set. “So for example I’ve attended in New York for a couple of years,” she said, “And there is the program of the Mayor’s breakfast, the Governor’s breakfast, meeting all the political leaders and a huge round of media opportunities.”

She said London was particularly important this year from the point of tourism and she hoped as Minister for Tourism to promote Ireland in the market there. “The planning goes ahead, the programming goes ahead,” she said, “The only thing that has to be slotted in is the individual.”

She said the election date was a matter for the Taoiseach to decide. “But the one thing that should not happen, it should not be on Patrick’s weekend,” she said, “Because we don’t want it to interfere with that.”

The Daily Show with John Stewart

Whether you are visiting New York or living here, a trip to see the master of political satire John Stewart record his Daily Show is a fun and free way to spend an afternoon - if you are lucky enough to get tickets, writes Vincent Murphy.

We’re missing out on Justin Timberlake by one day, but no-one in the queue seems to mind. Not the Jersey teenager who came with his dad, not the young bank worker, who came straight from work in his suit, and not the retired helicopter pilot from Canada who is here with his wife.

And certainly not yours truly.

The pop star is due to appear on the Daily Show tomorrow night to promote his new movie – tonight we have some unknown author of some unknown book. In other words, zero celebrity factor. But those of us queuing on a damp autumn day outside a relatively shabby-looking building on the west side of Manhattan don’t really care. Because, the only person fans of the Daily Show really care about seeing is its sharp-witted presenter John Stewart.

Some claim that more people in the US get their news from John Stewart than anywhere else. That may be stretching the truth a little. Stewart’s satire can only work, for the most part, if his audience is already aware of and clued-in to the news stories and personalities at which he takes aim. But even if they are not getting their news from him, he is the moral compass for many. Stewart commands a vitally important place in the political discourse in the most powerful country in the world. His nightly show on Comedy Central not only targets political hypocrisy, it also punctures the hype of an, at times, incredibly-partisan media. He highlights inconsistencies, hyperbole and stands up for simple common sense.

At the end of this month, Mr Stewart, and Stephen Colbert, (another hilarious political satirist whose spin-off show follows Stewart’s on Comedy Central) will hold a rally in Washington DC - Stewart is calling it the “Rally to Restore Sanity”. He says it’s for the “busy majority” – those who are too busy to go to rallies, who actually have lives and families and jobs, or who are looking for jobs. It’s clearly a counter-culture statement to the right-wing Tea Party favourite and Fox news contributor Glenn Beck, who held a rally in August attended by around 80,000 people. And thousands are expected to attend.

He is undoubtedly a figurehead for left-leaning politically aware young people. But he is also hugely respected, even among those on the right, as being intelligent, fair and above all – funny. That’s why tickets to recordings of The Daily Show are among the hottest in town each day. They are totally free – but timing and luck have to be on your side to get them.

Tickets are available only through the show’s website, and are often snapped up within minutes of going online. Others are released just days before the filming, so while it can be tough to get your hands on them, it’s not impossible. If you are hoping to catch a taping while you are on holiday in New York, then you will need to keep a regular eye on the website from about two weeks before the desired date. I’m told Friday night is an especially good time to try for tickets – but there are no guarantees.

In fact, even if you are lucky enough to reserve tickets to the show, that still does not guarantee you entry. The show’s producers deliberately oversubscribe every show, to ensure that all seats are full even if some ticket holders don’t turn up. That’s why people start queuing outside the building - which is located just around the corner from the Irish Arts Centre -  from about 2.30pm onwards – even though the taping itself does not take place until a time closer to 5.30pm.

But the atmosphere in the queue is fun and friendly, and time does pass relatively quickly. I arrived at 3.20pm and met a friend who had already taken a place in line. There were already around 200 people in line, and it looked like many who did not arrive until after 3.45pm were not lucky enough to make it inside. The good news is that up until 4.30pm, you are allowed to hold a place in line for your friends. Most people, come in groups of four, as that is the maximum number of tickets you can apply for online. So when the two others in our company joined us at around 4.15, there was no issue with them skipping the queue and joining us at our place in the line.

At about 4.30pm, the producers distribute tickets – to those who have their online confirmations printed out, and ID to prove they match the name on them. Tickets are first-come, first-served with those who arrive early getting the best seats, and those who arrive running the risk of being told there are no more left. It’s after 5.15pm by the time we enter the building, through a security check that includes a metal detector similar to what you would find at an airport.

Once inside the studio, the crowd sits excitedly taking in the atmosphere. Many who have never been inside a television studio before notice that the set looks smaller in person that it does on the screen. Within minutes a warm-up comedian is trying to lift our mood. I guess, given that we had been standing in line for over two hours, this can take a bit of work. He chats to a number of audience members.

A middle-aged Jewish couple in the front row provide particular entertainment. The husband says he’d been interviewed for the show on some issue years previously. The wife is knitting a jumper, even as the warm-up comedian does his shtick. “You won’t be able to do that when the recording begins,” he informs her. Even though the audience is never shown on the programme, it would be too much of a distraction to have her knitting one, and purling one right in the front row.

"Stewart questions from the audience for about five minutes – which considering this is a daily show and he has been doing it for more than 11 years is quite extraordinary"

He chats to another man who has almost lost his voice through illness – he turns out to be a former Repo man who had once repossessed Donald Trump’s yacht. This lifted everyone’s mood like nothing else. And so it was time to meet the man himself. 

John Stewart is shorter in person than he looks on TV, although he jokes about it on his show so regularly you are prepared for this. He takes questions from the audience for about five minutes – which considering this is a daily show and he has been doing it for more than 11 years is an quite extraordinary demonstration of patience. During this ad-libbed few minutes, his quick wit, and political awareness are wonderfully demonstrated.

“Who would you rather punch in the face – Glenn Beck or Sarah Palin?”one audience member wanted to know. Stewart wasn’t about to rise to that one. “Oh neither,” he said, “I would never punch someone. I don’t want to hit these people. I want to understand them. I want to find out how they come to the opinions that they have...Besides, have you seen Glenn Beck? He’s over six foot tall...” And then once everybody who wanted to ask a question had been given the chance, it was time for the show itself.

The recording was smooth and professional. It’s pretty much identical to what we see at home, with no breaks or interruptions except for commercials. There were no fluffed lines (and no need for second takes) as Stewart mercilessly ripped into a campaign speech delivered by Obama the previous day. He tackled the media for its obsession with whether or not Sarah Palin had been booed during an appearance on Dancing with the Stars (a Strictly-style reality show on which her daughter Bristol is competing). And he excoriated the Democrats for the TV ads they were running for the mid-terms, some of which distanced the candidates from their achievements over the past two years, and others which quoted a Republican opponent completely out of context, while branding him Taliban Dan. It was all sharp, cutting, and very very funny.

The guest, Linda Polman, was author of The Crisis Caravan: What is Wrong with Humanitarian Aid who spoke about corruption in international charities. It was worthy, if in truth, a little dull. And then the mood was made even more sombre as Stewart announced at the end of the programme that his Comedy Central Colleague, comedians Greg Giraldo had died following an overdose. Not the most uplifting end to the show – but a fitting one. Giraldo would have been familiar to many young American comedy fans and Stewart’s tribute was perfect in its tone. The recording lasted just over 30 minutes – and then it was back out into the Manhattan evening.

What?

The Daily Show with John Stewart

Where?

It’s studio on 11 Ave, btw W51st and W52st

How much?

Tickets are free. Available only from Daily Show website. Ticket does not guarantee entry.

Tips

Be prepared to queue for a few hours. Arrive in time. You won’t be able to take pictures once inside the studio, so take photos of the outside awning before you go in.

Conclusion:

Worth the wait to see Stewart in action.