Tag: Northern Ireland

Book review: Reporting beyond the Problem (eds. Karen HOPKINSON and Nicole DAHMEN)

Post author By Allan LEONARD
Post date 9 September 2021
1 Comment on Book review: Reporting beyond the Problem (eds. Karen HOPKINSON and Nicole DAHMEN)

Book review: Reporting beyond the Problem (eds. Karen HOPKINSON and Nicole DAHMEN)
by Allan LEONARD
9 September 2021

While there is a historic tradition of journalism that strives towards a common, public good (however defined), this has occurred in a paradigm of a professionalisation of journalism and a business model where editors responded to a pressure to publish content — whether print, radio, or television — that attracted audiences and satisfied advertisers. Some may say these were halcyon days, when advertising revenue subsidised reportage that took time and effort, such as investigative journalism or in-depth coverage.

Tags book, book review, constructive journalism, journalism, Northern Ireland, peace journalism

@MrUlster @NorthernSlant

Exposure therapy: Natural Connections exhibition

Post author By Allan LEONARD
Post date 1 July 2021
1 Comment on Exposure therapy: Natural Connections exhibition

Image by Aaron McCRACKEN.

Exposure therapy: Natural Connections exhibition
by Allan LEONARD
17 June 2021

Belfast Exposed launched its exhibition, “Natural Connections”, which showcases 60 shortlisted images, from over 1,400 received. The competition ran earlier this year, asking people to submit images that represented connections with nature, which “sustained, surrounded, supported, and encouraged people and communities” during the pandemic.

Tags art, COVID-19, exhibition, nature, Northern Ireland, pandemic, photography

@SharedFuture @SluggerOToole

The media’s role in peacebuilding: none of its business?

Post author By Allan LEONARD
Post date 10 June 2021
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The media’s role in peacebuilding: none of its business?
by Allan LEONARD
9 June 2021

So is peacebuilding none of the media’s business? That was a conclusion that broadcaster and journalist, Declan Harvey, posed to a panel of fellow journalists and writers at an online webinar delivered through Belfast City Council’s PEACE IV Programme, which is funded through the EU and managed by the Special EU Programmes Body.

Tags journalism, Northern Ireland, peace journalism, peacebuilding, The Troubles

@NorthernSlant

Documenting natural connections through photography

Post author By Allan LEONARD
Post date 11 April 2021
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NHS key workers bling challenge. Newtownards, Northern Ireland. © Allan LEONARD @MrUlster

Documenting natural connections through photography
by Allan LEONARD
10 April 2021

Melanie Law, who has just joined the Eve Blair Show on BBC Radio Ulster, interviewed Christopher Barr and me for her inaugural feature (at 26:00). The discussion was on photography and a competition that Belfast Exposed is hosting, in conjunction with Translink and Arts & Business Northern Ireland. Christopher and I shared experiences as a teacher and student, respectively.

Tags COVID-19, Northern Ireland, pandemic, photography, radio

@SharedFuture

Appropriate and accessible storytelling in museums and heritage sites

Post author By Allan LEONARD
Post date 7 April 2021
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Appropriate and accessible storytelling in museums and heritage sites
by Allan LEONARD
26 March 2021

During an Imagine! Festival event, academics and practitioners shared their knowledge and experiences of the use of storytelling in museum and heritage site environments, as a means of evoking emotion in appropriate and accessible ways.

Tags @ImagineBelfast, community relations, museum, Northern Ireland, oral history, peacebuilding, prison, storytelling, Titanic

Essays Photography

Book review: Old Ireland in Colour (John BRESLIN & Sarah-Anne BUCKLEY)

Post author By Allan LEONARD
Post date 14 March 2021
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Book review: Old Ireland in Colour
by Allan LEONARD
14 March 2021

Old Ireland in Colour is an ongoing project of colourising black and white images by photographers in Ireland in the late 19th to early 20th century. The catalyst was John Breslin working on colourising some photos of his grandparents, when he discovered an automated system called DeOldify. He looked for more images to colourise, starting with old photographs of NUI Galway, then the Galway/Connemara area, and then of Ireland as a whole.

Tags book, book review, history, Ireland, Northern Ireland, photography

@NorthernSlant

Book review: A Pocket History of Northern Ireland (Richard KILLEEN)

Post author By Allan LEONARD
Post date 29 December 2020
1 Comment on Book review: A Pocket History of Northern Ireland (Richard KILLEEN)

Book review: A Pocket History of Northern Ireland (Richard KILLEEN)
by Allan LEONARD
29 December 2020

Occasionally I am approached for an image to be used in a book publication. Recently, this was for one that I made of a mural celebrating the television series, Derry Girls. Disclosure: I granted permission, with payment, for the image in A Pocket History of Northern Ireland, by Richard Killeen and published by Gill Books.

Tags book, book review, history, Ireland, Northern Ireland, politics

@FactCheckNI

Overcoming closed borders: opening up fact-checking solutions

Post author By Allan LEONARD
Post date 24 November 2020
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Giovanni ZAGNI. SOMA conference. National Science Museum, Milan, Italy. © Allan LEONARD @MrUlster

Overcoming closed borders: opening up fact-checking solutions
Interview with Giovanni ZAGNI (Director, Pagella Politica)
by Allan LEONARD
24 November 2020

“I haven’t seen some of my colleagues in six months,” remarked Giovanni Zagni, director of Pagella Politica, based in Milan. Conducting this interview via Zoom was a salutary reminder of unprecedented times in which we are living — never before have so many people globally have had to attempt to conduct their work, commerce, research, and collaboration remotely. Fact checkers may be more accustomed to applying their digital skills from anywhere — online access permitting — but remote camaraderie is a new phenomenon.

Tags EU, Europe, fact-checking, Italy, journalism, Northern Ireland

@SluggerOToole

A passion for social justice: Tribute to Anne MOORE

Post author By Allan LEONARD
Post date 8 August 2020
1 Comment on A passion for social justice: Tribute to Anne MOORE

Anne MOORE. NICVA exhibition stand. Alliance Party conference event. Dunadry Hotel. Dunadry, Northern Ireland. © Kevin COOPER

A passion for social justice: Tribute to Anne MOORE
by Allan LEONARD
8 August 2020

Anne Moore will be remembered for her passion for social justice. I met Anne during my employment as a policy officer for the Alliance Party as I sought out the views of a valued stakeholder, NICVA, where she served as public affairs officer. Anne and I had plenty of enjoyable conversations and discussions on official as well as unofficial business matters—we would frequently diverge to global and philosophical perspectives.

Tags Northern Ireland, obituary, politics, tribute

@NorthernSlant Photography Projects

Altered Context: A New Parameters project

Post author By Allan LEONARD
Post date 20 July 2020
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Altered Context: A New Parameters project
by Allan LEONARD
20 July 2020

New Parameters was an online engagement project, with participants creating images of their responses to the arrival and presence of the COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland. The Nerve Centre hosted collaboration, through video calls and the online platform, Slack. The following is my submission, named “Altered Context”. I am very thankful to the project’s organisers, for facilitating a forum for visual thinking and a place to make new acquaintances and friends.

Tags art, COVID19, Northern Ireland, photography, projects

@FactCheckNI

Telling stories with data

Post author By Allan LEONARD
Post date 7 July 2020
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Telling stories with data: FactCheckNI session at Global Fact 7
by Allan LEONARD
29 June 2020

As part of the annual summit of the International Fact-Checking Network, FactCheckNI hosted “Telling Stories with Data” at Global Fact 7, an online session that explored the use of data in news and information presented to the public. I moderated the conversation between John Campbell (Business and Economics Editor at BBC Northern Ireland) and Niall O’Neill (statistician at the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA)). The session aimed to impart an appreciation of the importance of the integrity of trustworthy official data sources and the benefits that this has for fact-checking organisations, through good working relationships with statistics agencies.

Tags data journalism, fact-checking, journalism, Northern Ireland, statistics

@FactCheckNI @SluggerOToole

It’s all about the test: Counting COVID-19 deaths

Post author By Allan LEONARD
Post date 15 April 2020
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Image by Alan MEBAN.

It’s all about the test: Counting COVID-19 deaths
by Allan LEONARD for FactCheckNI
14 April 2020

“The figures on deaths relate in almost all cases to patients who have died in hospital and who have tested positive for COVID-19. Slight differences in reporting in devolved administrations may mean that they include a small number of deaths outside hospital.” — Department of Health and Social Care (UK)

Tags coronavirus, COVID-19, data journalism, death, health, journalism, Northern Ireland, statistics