This is the latest part of an undercover investigation into the tacit and sometimes overt support for antifascist harassment among elements of the Irish media and political class. We advise you to listen to all leaked audio and read all leaked data in full before reading the below article. All audio can be found on our Youtube. Audio has been edited in parts for legal reasons, as well as to protect the names of third parties.
Storyful is a third party media organisation employed by media organisations for research assistance.
Owned as a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. and with clients as far afield as The New York Times to The Washington Post.
In Ireland one of its primary media clients is The Times of Ireland Edition, where over the course of the past year it has assisted on stories pertaining to Direct Provision centres as well as the potential influence the far right was having on local protests.
The monitoring of the imageboard 4chan for right wing activism has also been a persistent theme, with stories conducted on the site’s influence on free speech protests and islamophobic signs.
Over the course of our conversation with Storyful journalist Aoife Gallagher, The Burkean learnt of the monitoring techniques used against the right wing online. These included the use of specialized software in monitoring Facebook groups for activism against Direct Provision centres, as well as regular monitoring of the activity of the “éire/pol/’ thread on 4chan.
The conversation also revealed how left-leaning journalists spin stories against the Irish right. When asked for advice about how one could hide one’s bias when writing a story, Ms Gallagher described how she would avoid using terms such as ‘far-right’ so as to not appear biased. Instead, she suggested using terms like ‘conspiracy theorist’ to describe those on the right.
It should be stressed that unlike others covered in this investigation, Ms Gallagher did not break ethical boundaries and did her due diligence as a journalist.
What is of interest however are the surveillance techniques used by journalists, as well as how journalists spin stories to simultaneously appear unbiased while still working a political agenda.
At the time of publication Ms Gallagher has yet to respond to any request for comment.
Link to audio recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jD12Cn-OvoE
Obviously media nowadays is quite intricate with filters and algorithms etc, outside my comprehension. I do perceive however, that those with the most resources should probably have the most influence. Yet this is not the case. It is a roots up movement in nationalism and no media will stop something that is basically organic. The shoots have come out and will continue to grow. Liberalism and leftist is inorganic, unnatural, even in the animal kingdom, which is why it is bound to fall and wither as nationalism rises. As regards far right. There is no far right in Ireland. Just right so far.