Hugh Linehan

6 days ago | irishtimes.com | Hugh Linehan

Some say there’s no such thing as wokeness. Others accept there might be such a thing but it’s just an abusive right-wing jibe at those who have a sincere commitment to social justice. Others again say wokeness does exist and that it’s a rigidly moralising form of left-wing identity politics. And there are those who believe that the word accurately describes everything irritating in modern life, from cycle lanes to health warnings on wine bottles.

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Hugh Linehan

In late 1919 US president Woodrow Wilson suffered a stroke that would physically and mentally incapacitate him for many months, but which was concealed from the American people by his inner circle. In the 1930s Franklin Roosevelt’s inability to walk was similarly hushed up, as were Dwight Eisenhower’s two heart attacks in office in the 1950s, John F Kennedy’s crippling back pain in the 1960s, and Ronald Reagan‘s symptoms of dementia in the mid-1980s.

2 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Hugh Linehan

Last week, as usual, Irish media dutifully reported on the latest quarterly results from the Joint National Listenership Survey, better known as the JNLRs, which measure the popularity of every radio programme and every radio station in the State on a regular basis. You will be familiar with the drill: Headshots of well-known presenters. Boldface numbers indicating the thousands of listeners each one has gained or lost since the last survey.

3 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Hugh Linehan

The international film and TV industry emitted a collective groan at the news last week that Donald Trump had turned his attention towards it. “WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!”, the US president posted in trademark all-caps, telling Truth Social followers that the US film industry was experiencing a “very fast death” because of the incentives offered by other countries to entice film-makers to their shores.

1 month ago | irishtimes.com | Hugh Linehan

What do we mean when we talk about “media” these days? Apologies for the existential question, so early in my tenancy of this weekly media column. I accept it’s a little soon for a crisis of meaning. But it was prompted by an intriguing article in Semafor last week that set me thinking about how we still conceptualise the subject in ways that may not be very useful any more.