Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Day 4

This morning we met Rosita Boland, Irish Times feature writer, for breakfast. She answered many of our questions about her career and gave us an inside perspective on the inner workings of the Irish newspaper. She told us the most important quality a journalist can possess is curiosity. No writer will get far without the ability to do investigative work. She was very well spoken and gave good concise answers to all of our questions.

Next we went to the U.S. Embassy to meet with Ambassador Rooney. The security was very tough, but the building was beautiful. Before Mr. Rooney came to talk to us, Karyn Posner-Mullen, the Director of Public Affairs, told us all bout her job at the Embassy. She said that the Ambassador was on the phone with the Irish President, so he would be a little late—if there was any reason to be late, that reason was a great excuse. Then Mr. Rooney came down and talked to us very briefly. He seemed very much down to earth and cared about us being there. After he left John Murphy, the Press Assistant, answered our questions about the Embassy.

Then we went to Dublin City University to meet with Professor Helena Sheehan. She lectured us about Irish TV drama. She said that, unlike in the U.S., Ireland plays their soap operas during prime time instead of during the day hours. I found this to be pretty interesting, because Americans do not think of those types of show as being important. Ireland also seems to be more open with controversial subjects being aired on TV. Although Helena said that the one thing that is lacking being shown on Irish TV is the left wing—the liberal side of politics in Ireland.

Tonight we are planning to go out on the town. The story is soon to follow. If the luck of the Irish is with us, hopefully we will get to meet some locals!

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