This is an offshoot of my journalism thesis. I'm interested in the transition of media from traditional (tv, radio) to non-traditional media (Internet).
Ok, ok, before you YAWN! and move to the next diary, just hear me out.
My thesis proposal outlined my ambition to provide an independent news source on any given story, using multi-media content (photos, text, video).
Turns out I chose my story pretty well :-), Judge Mahon's Tribunal of Inquiry into Certain Planning and Payments into allegations of corruption in the Irish land planning system has exposed a host of politicians on the take.
I chose a non-traditional blog format to tell the story of shenanigans going on up at Dublin Castle.
Please check it out :-)
http://citizenjon2008dublincastle.wo...
Dear Citizen,
What is the nature of a democracy?
Is it really by the people, of the people, for the people?
I can recall my childish belief that public representation was a valiant ideal. Remembering a black & white photograph of John F. Kennedy above the mantelpiece in my grandmother’s kitchen.
This passed, as life did, before the light of experience.
Experience and popular culture taught me to distrust politicians and lawyers and eventually any individual who sought power over others. But wisdom concluded – it is in our nature.
Darwin indicated that to flourish genetic variations must be faster, stronger, better – and millennia proved our evolution well, as our species became powerful beyond the ken of other forms.
Democracy by necessity bequeaths the power of the people to an individual, who acts on behalf of his electors. A contract, not unlike Rousseau’s, is thus agreed. It is upon this premise that a democratically elected government relies.
And therein lies the rub.
No Constitution’s ink nor chiseled stone commands the kingdom of the human heart - a thousand shocks instead compel its will to power.
And power corrupts.
Couched within the paradigms of our democratic system instinct dwells, like a faulty nut on a Ferris wheel.
Democracy’s faults lay prone to all the weaknesses that flesh is heir to – the raging of warriors, the avarice of merchants, the jealousy of naves or the pride of kings – all human life is there.
Tradition tells of our State’s division into three Estates, of Executive, Legislative and Judiciary – each balanced and check’d by the other. Yet what use, these man-made institutions, if the powers they command are not applied in equal measure to every citizen – be they pauper or Prime Minister.
If a politician is found to have enriched himself during his service to the state, there should be just sanction as proscribed in law. If he subsequently denies the misdeed, within a court, or any state tribunal, he must be held accountable, lest the credibility of that organ be undermined.
In Dublin Castle such a conflict there abounds that pits Estate upon Estate, as our Leader – the democratically elected head of the Executive branch of government calls for the abolition of a State Inquiry into corruption.
Irish Leader calls for tribunals to be scrapped
The Taoiseach told Sunday Independent editor Aengus Fanning, it was time to abolish the law instating Tribunals of Inquiry:
"I think the time has come to scrap them (tribunals) and the 1921 Act. It is an Act from the British time, it is an Act from a time when there was no fairness or justice for the small people. So it is my belief that the 1921 Act should be scrapped."
Mr. Ahern noted: "The reality of the situation is that 100 years ago it was Parnell, 10 years ago it was Clinton, today it's me and tomorrow it will be somebody else."
He said: "In my view the time has come for a review, and I hope my successor in government will do that at an earliest time."
Tanaiste Brian Cowen told the Sunday Independent he saw "a lot of merit" in the Irish Leader's suggestion.
Read more
http://citizenjon2008dublincastle.wo...