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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   1067 thread views

Transnational Thursday for September 25, 2025

Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.

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Small observation, struck me as interesting. I’m in Ireland. In the car this morning, radio on. The top of the hour news came on (public radio, state-funded). Top three stories:

  1. Gaza situation, MSF and WHO statements
  2. Iran nuclear situation, new sanctions
  3. Denmark drones situation, new sightings over military bases

There’s plenty happening in Ireland (presidential election campaign, housing crisis, Budget 2026 to be announced next few weeks)

Two competing thoughts:

  1. We (and maybe many EU countries?) have a very broad perspective on the world, and this is generally a good thing for Ireland’s place in a globalised/interconnected world.
  2. Our state broadcaster is sourcing its news agenda from international wire services, probably with many political biases intact and unquestioned, and doesn’t fund enough of its own journalism and newsroom anymore, and this is generally a very bad thing for everyone in Ireland over any time horizon.

3. They're deliberately distracting people from the issues at home

Didn't cross your mind? It especially makes sense when it's a public broadcaster.

Of course it’s a possibility, and I’m sure it happens. I don’t believe it to be pervasive (here, anyway) because that would require a degree of coordination that honestly I don’t give them the credit for. It’s a small country and “everyone knows everyone” is a cliche, but there is some truth to it. There are very few leaps from me to editorial team in state broadcaster newsroom. Comes to mind: “Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.”

I'm not sure why coordination would be required for this, rather than a desire for the current government to stay in power / whoever would foreseeably take over to stay out of it.

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