Jude Collins

Thursday 13 October 2011

Is Miriam O'Callaghan the worst interviewer RTÉ has ever produced? Excluding Charlie Bird, of course


At one point it began to sound more like a theological discourse or a poor cousin of the Inquisition. Miriam O'Callaghan prodded Martin McGuinness with her ruler: "Do you go to confession?" Michael D Higgins got "Do you believe in God?" David Norris was all set to talk about receiving Communion on Sundays but she drew the line before that.

Mind you, the theological bits were among the livelier in the debate, even if they were largely irrelevant. McGuinness  told her yes,  he did go to confession (he should have said 'Do you?'),  Higgins  cast a fairy spell of words and murmured about being spiritual and agin imposing his beliefs on others you see and don't you know, which certainly was a relief.  Other notable features were the fact that Higgins has given up on his make-me-big box,  Gallagher has taken to wearing what looks like lipstick and Mitchell has the air of a man who's just been told  that on  27 October he'll be privately disembowelled and on 28 October his innards will be held up to the public gaze.

Who did badly? Mitchell certainly, likewise Gallagher. Gallagher got stuck with an unpaid bill for €1,000 and having been a FF activist all his adult life.  He's now in serious danger of having his glorious balloon pricked.   Mitchell didn't so much say anything damaging (although boring/repetitive can be trying) but his big problem is that he just looks like a defeated man.   Norris, surprisingly,  was quite impressive at points - a cheerful willingness to accept and debate, mini-tributes to opponents - but in his final one-minute summary he went a bit mad, rambling on about something called the Romeo and Juliet case. Come on, David - I've no job and you want to tell me about Romeo and Juliet? Dana's performance was effective enough  if a little muted throughout. Until near the end, that is, when she lobbed in the 'vile accusations' thing which woke up everyone, even Higgins. Nobody knew what she was talking about but they all got the message: I am a brown-eyed faun and these people are sticking long sharp spears into me.  Twelve hours later we still don't know what she was talking about but she  got our attention and, I suspect, some further sympathy. McGuinness was peppered with questions about Pte Kelly and other sad cases but he survived them largely intact and came out with a few short uppercuts himself.  "That's a disgraceful question", "That's a stupid remark to make" he told Miriam. He did manage to squeeze in his truly impressive achievements at Stormont,  but of course Miriam, much less his opponents, didn't want to know about that.  No questions for Higgins about his willingness to serve in a party headed by a former Stickie, naturally, much less a request to read aloud one of his published poems (look, we all need a laugh from time to time).

So, to sum up,  Dana, Mitchell, Norris and Davis (shows the impact she made when I'm remembering her only now) did nothing to change their position propping up the table as they say. Gallagher looked damaged and may well slide down the polls as quickly as he went up; McGuinness was more assertive in response to yet-again IRA questions;  the image of a strong man being harried by pygmies may do him some good. Higgins both literally and metaphorically kept his head down (no box, just platform shoes) and emerged - atheism apart - undamaged. So it'll probably be as-you-were, with the exception of Gallagher.

But there I go again, as old Ronnie Regan liked to say, predicting. The truth is, anything could happen over the remaining two weeks.  But if  McGuinness is planning a memoir of the campaign, I have a title for him: call it  Stormont: the Forgotten Seventeen Years. 

23 comments:

  1. she loves the sound of her own gob.sack the bitch

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  2. It was a shambles of a show from start to finish. From Miriam's sneer, to the way some of the contestants, sorry, candidates were almost standing with their backs to her, to Dana's abduction by aliens at the end.

    The worst part though for me was Miriam's teeing up of the others to have a pop at McGuinness's validity as a candidate "Who here objects to Martin McGuinness standing" I think was the phrase used. Perhaps more interesting would be the question "Who here thinks Miriam needs a very long commercial break during which she can ponder the necessity of impartiality to an interviewer.

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  3. Martina Devlin tells it like it is.

    http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/martina-devlin/martina-devlin-north-moved-on-but-we-didnt-take-leap-of-faith-2904442.html

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  4. Rigorous questioning is one thing but pillorying one candidate amongst seven is extraordinary bias.
    More Spanish Inquisition than journalism.

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  5. "McGuinness Áras bid betrays pathology of southern anti-republicanism" - http://anpucarbuile.blogspot.com/

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  6. It will be worth quiet a few votes to McGuinness all the same, certainly in transfers. A lot of sympathy out there for him today. The segment that will never vote for him are still not going to but it will have struck a chord with enough people, engendered sympathy and taken the veil off the eyes of how bent and partizan the media here really is.

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  7. I remember an interview Miriam held with Martin Mc Guinness some years ago when she also asked some preposterous question, Martin called her a twit on that occasion. He was right.

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  8. Are you sure that's the word he used, Anon 20: 02??

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  9. She was big time out of line.
    She was a bully.

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  10. More than 100 complaints to RTE about Miriam's behaviour during debate according to Irish Times.

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  11. This is a brilliant sum up!

    I'm a Donegal woman aged 28 & I'll be voting Martin McGuinness No 1

    :-)

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  12. grma, Anon 06:19 - you are a young woman of real good taste...But what are you doing up at the ungodly hour of 6 a m ?????

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  13. I don't watch a lot of politics prgs on RTE but I have been trying to follow the election and I'm taken aback by the poor standard of journalism. It is second rate compared to what is produced in the north & GB. RTE is like Fox news wall to wall complete with blond air head.

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  14. Miriam simply has the guts to say what the rest of us are thinking. Miriam for president!!! :)

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    1. Miriam O'Callaghan is a really rough piece of work - an RTE bully, with her pseudo D4 appalling accent (flat Dublin)and her vacuous self-important pontificating - a real pig in a china shop. Her interview with Praveen Halappanavar was her supreme ignoramus performance - the woman is a disgrace to her country. HOW DARE THIS COW SPEAK ON BEHALF OF "THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND"!!! Not for thousands of us, you are not speaking, O'Callaghan. Total absence of sensitivity and sincerity. HE SHOULD HAVE CHOKED THE BITCH WITH HER INSULTS.

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  15. Miriam will always have her knockers.

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  16. 30% pay cuts at RTE for all the top earners no one is safe according to the Director-General. They will have to take the medicine or ship out.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2011/oct/18/television-ireland?newsfeed=true

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  17. miriam is a member of that sticky club like the majority of rte personnel

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  18. http://t.co/TQ0OXEx5

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  19. I used the word "bitch" in a throwaway remark, referring to Miriam and her interview with McGuiness, and was barred from a blog ... your thoughts on the matter would be greatly appreciated…. http://thefreepensivequill.blogspot.com/

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  20. http://dublinopinion.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/charlie-bird-clenched-fist-520-x-284.jpg

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  21. one of the main problems with miriam ocallaghan(
    like ryan tuberdy) is that her saturday show is essentially show biz and she aint show biz...would the bbc ask jeremy paxman to host a tap dancing show!
    her general presenting style drips with shmalz.
    So i assume that, that that appeals to the female
    sensitivity for tears. Otherwise she remains a cultural blind spot fo me.....others might enlighten me!

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  22. miriam is a stupid bitch,, stuck up her own arse,,

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