RTÉ presenter Joanne Cantwell talks to thecity.ie about her experience of being a female sports presenter in today’s climate. With the new 20×20 campaign shaping a new narrative for women in sports, is sexism still prevailing in an industry predominantly run by men?
Tag: Television
-
Opinion: Scotty T admits paying for Irish girls abortion
By Chelsea Tyler McNeill
Wikimedia Geordie Shore stars are known for being extremely controversial and sexually provocative. It is also a known fact that the men of Geordie Shore like to stop off at every port for a one night stand while they do ‘press tours’ – so it was no surprise that Scotty T revealed he has slept with over 1,000 women.
That is utterly stomach turning, in my opinion. I wouldn’t even want to go on a date with someone with a record that high, let alone sleep with them – but not all Irish women would agree. One of the 1000 women he slept with was a northern Irish girl, who happened to get pregnant.
Self proclaimed ‘playboy’ Scotty T is certainly not the ideal man to settle down and have a child with, which was probably a factor in the Irish woman’s decision to abort the baby.
The reality star admits, in his book ‘Scotty T: A Shore thing’, that it was just a one night stand and when she fell pregnant, she told him because she felt he had a right to know. You have to give her credit for that, telling a ‘celeb’ who has slept with over 1,000 women that you are pregnant with his child, because it must have been intimidating and his reaction was exactly what we would expect.
“Forgive me for saying it, but the sudden relief I experienced when she said that she wasn’t planning on keeping the baby was overwhelming, because I knew for sure that I wasn’t ready to be a dad.” he told the Irish Sun.
Obviously this situation is a much bigger deal in Ireland with abortion being illegal and the Repeal the 8th Campaign getting louder. She clearly felt that it was her choice to abort the baby if that wasn’t what she wanted, but I suppose she should have thought about that before having unprotected sex.
Not to say that I don’t believe women should have a choice, they should, but I don’t believe that abortion should be used as contraception. I think putting a condom on should be the first option rather than having unprotected sex and ‘getting rid of the baby’.
Admittedly, we don’t know the full circumstance or anything about this girls life so it would be wrong to condemn her, but a man who has had that many one night stands should know to wrap it up.
The Geordie Shore star supported the Irish woman all the way, he flew her over to Newcastle for the abortion, funded the whole thing and went with her. It seems that in the UK the media is glorifying him for such a chivalrous act, but should a man paying for an abortion after he slept with a woman without protection be applauded?
“To be honest it was the only occasion this had happened. But I dealt with it properly and respectfully, as should anyone else in that situation. If there was a chance that she was carrying my baby I was never going to leave this poor girl struggling on her own, that’s not right.”, he claims.
Of course it’s not right – they both had sex and they both created a baby so excuse me if I don’t jump to give Scotty T a pat on the back. Would I have expected him to just say ‘good luck’ and walk away? Yes, but that just means that he is less of a sleaze than I expected, not the biggest gentleman alive.
-
Falling out of Love/Hate
When it ended just before Christmas last year, Love/Hate season three had provided Irish viewers with some of the best television ever produced by the national broadcaster.
Stuart Carolan had struck gold with his gritty crime drama set on the streets of Dublin. Drawing in viewers in the hundreds of thousands each week, Love/Hate had the perfect formula.
Carolan and his team of writers showed no loyalty to characters and were willing to wield the proverbial axe over any star on the show.
This past Sunday saw the conclusion of season four in the hit drama, and viewers across the country are feeling more than slightly disappointed.
After the colossal conclusion to season three, fans were expecting another major bombshell this time around. Unfortunately, this bombshell never came.
The final episode, as well as the season as whole, is best described as a let-down. The fourth season followed crime boss Nidge, portrayed brilliantly by Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, as he tries to import a major drug shipment through Dublin port.
Throughout the six episodes, audiences watched as the Garda drug squad monitored Nidge and his crew. The stage was set in the final episode for either a major drugs bust which would see Nidge and his “associates” arrested. When the moment came though, the Gardai, lead by Detective Mick Moynihan (Brian F O’Byrne) made their move to early, and could not pin anything to Nidge.
Much of the series is based around the importing of drugs through Dublin Port. Image by William Murphy on flickr Many characters throughout the season, who had major roles in the previous season, were brought back simply to play bit parts culminating in them being killed off. I’m speaking of course of Dano, played by Jason Barry, and Debbie, played by Susan Loughnane.
In sporting terms, the writers behind season four of Love/Hate bottled it. They had the potential to create something fantastic, but the series went so slowly, and in such an elongated manner, it suggests that it was written just to set up season five.
While Carolan and his writers failed to kill off any major characters, the season finale saw two minor characters meet their maker. Young gun for hire Wayne Cardiff was gunned down by a former friend, while dentist Andrew played by Peter O’Meara was suffocated by Fran (Peter Coonan).
The deaths of these characters almost make much of the season’s events pointless. Wayne (Barry Keoghan) spent the majority of the series attempting to hunt down Nidge in order to kill him. However, almost miraculously, all was forgiven and forgotten between the two after a minor run in with the Gardaí.
O’Meara also had the potential to play a massive role in the outcome of the series, after he agreed to help Moynihan and his drugs squad before being killed by Fran, without the latter even knowing of the dentist’s involvement with Gardaí.
While the final episode did help to increase the mounting tension between Fran and Nidge, the series never reached the anticipated heights it was believed to be capable of.
-
Eircom releases ‘eVision’ to rival UPC and Sky TV services
Eircom has launched its new television service ‘eVision’ to its 450,000 fibre-powered broadband users.
The new television service has been introduced by the company to rival that of UPC and Sky. The introduction of Eircom to the television market makes the company the first in Ireland to be a ‘quad play’ (television, phone, broadband, mobile) supplier.
Speaking after a visit to Eircom headquarters where he saw a demonstration of the new eVision service Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte said,
“I am delighted to see Eircom continue to roll out telecommunications fibre around the country.
“The new television service the company is launching today is a good illustration of the benefits that this investment can bring. This innovation should provide more choice for TV consumers, more competition driving down prices and a boost in demand for broadband services that are becoming available”.
The basic package offers 34 channels (8 terrestrial) for €10. Consumers can increase their subscription services with the addition of 20 extra channels for €6.
Sports packages are available for customers, with one pack consisting of Sky Sports 1 and 2 for an add-on fee of €29, while the Setanta/BT Sports package will cost an additional €19. Sky Movies is available for €24 and ‘eVision’ also offers a HD package for €5, with either 5 or ten high definition channels being offered depending on the existing subscription.
However a shortcoming of Eircom’s ‘eVision’ service is that it is only available via their fibre-powered broadband, therefore it must be purchased in conjunction with a broadband package, or by an existing broadband subscriber.
“This model doesn’t surprise me all that much,” said business consultant Adam Steadman, in relation to customers having to be a broadband subscriber to avail of ‘eVision’.
“Most of the companies in that market offer all of the three – TV, internet, phone. UPC change an excess on their internet if you don’t have their phone or TV, so I assume Eircom are using this ploy to encourage people to move their internet and TV in one”.
Some other shortcomings in the ‘eVision’ service is the exclusion of ITV/UTV from its channels, as well as there being no on demand tv, no catch-up service, no integrated iplayers, and no integrated box sets, all of which are included in UPC or Sky digital services.
UPC customer Gwen Clack-Goodall said that her current service is “Ok” but that she still would not switch to Eircom’s ‘eVision’.
“The price is good, but with no catch-up service or on-demand I see no point changing. The catch-up and on-demand services are a brilliant idea. I wouldn’t watch half the amount of TV I do without them.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.