Minister Síle de Valera,launched a series of six books on Broadcasting and Irish Society on Tuesday (5 February)in the National Library.
'2RN and the origins of Irish Radio' by Richard Pine, is
the first book in the six book series, which RTÉ is
publishing with Four Courts Press. The series was
commissioned by RTÉ to commemorate 75 years of Radio and
40 years of Television.
According to Richard Pine, general editor of the series,
the project serves two purposes: "The six book series
provides an account of how RTÉ, from its inception,
served Irish society in the first 50 years of nation
building. And secondly it provides a forum for examining
the ways in which broadcasting as an integral part of
Irish society and culture both influences and is
influenced by the changes in Ireland which are
perceptible, particularly since the 1960's and which are
continuing to take place."
The five other books in the series will be published in
2002 and 2003:
- Dr Helena Sheehan Irish Television Drama: A Society and
its Stories*
- Dr Muiris MacConghail The Second Television Channel*
- Professor John Horgan News and Current Affairs*
- Richard Pine Music and RTÉ*
- Dr Iarfhlaith Watson Irish Language Broadcasting*
* Working Titles
RTÉ is also planning to publish an illustrated history
of RTÉ by Brian Lynch. Townhouse Publishers will publish
this book.
Some Information about Richard Pine
Richard Pine is a writer, broadcaster and Director of
the Durrell School of Corfu. He worked in RTÉ's Music
and Public Affairs divisions from 1974 to 1999 and is a
former Chairman of the Media Association of Ireland;
Secretary of the Irish Writers' Union; co-editor of the
Irish Literary Supplement and deputy music critic of The
Irish Times. He was the editor of the Thomas Davis
Lecture series 'Music in Ireland 1848-1998' on RTÉ Radio
1 in 1998.
He has lectured in many European and American
universities and has written and edited twelve books,
including the definitive studies of Brian Friel and
Lawrence Durrell, the histories of the Dublin Gate
Theatre and of the Royal Irish Academy of Music, of
which he is a Governor and an honorary Fellow.
He is currently writing a second volume in the
'Broadcasting and Irish Society' series, on RTÉ's role
in Irish musical life since 1926.
Dr Helena Sheehan
Dr. Helena Sheehan is a senior lecturer in the School of
Communications at Dublin City University where she
teaches a course on social history and television drama.
At core she is a philosopher and has published widely in
the fields of history of ideas, politics and media
studies.
The first edition of Irish Television Drama: A Society
and Its Stories has been much cited in academic works as
well as being used as a text for university students and
a reference source for media professionals and critics.
She is also the author of Marxism and the Philosophy of
Science: A Critical History.
Dr Muiris Mac Conghail
Dr Muiris Mac Conghail is a journalist, broadcaster and
filmmaker. He teaches in the School of Media at Dublin
Institute of Technology (DIT). He writes and broadcasts
on issues of Irish broadcasting policy for The Irish
Times, InProduction, The Irish Communications Review and
broadcasts on these issues for RTÉ and Raidió na
Gaeltachta. Mac Conghail delivered a Thomas Davis
Lecture in 2001 to mark the 75th anniversary of Radio
Éireann -'Politics by Wireless'.
He served as Controller of Programmes, Television at
RTÉ; Editor of Current Affairs [7-Days] at RTÉ and vice
president of the Programme Committee, Television in the
EBU.
He was the Founding Chair of the Association for Film
and Television in the Celtic Countries. He works also on
aspects of the culture and literature of the Blasket
islands and on the transmission of the heroic tale in
Greek and Irish oral traditions. Member, National Union
of Journalists. Educated at the National University of
Ireland; Trinity College, Dublin; The Kings' Inns and
University of Edinburgh.
Professor John Horgan
John Horgan was born in 1940 in Tralee, Co. Kerry. He
was educated at Glenstal Abbey, UCD and UCC. He was
awarded a BA in 1961 and a PhD in 1995.
Horgan worked as a journalist on the Evening Press,
Catholic Herald and Irish Times
1962-73; he was editor of The Education Times 1973-76.
He was elected a member of Seanad Eireann in 1969 and
again in 1973; elected to Dáil Eireann 1977, and
nominated to European Parliament in 1981. He was
appointed Lecturer in Journalism at the National
Institute for Higher Education, Dublin (now DCU) in
1983; subsequently Senior Lecturer and is now Professor
of Journalism.
He is the author of biographies of Sean Lemass, Noel
Browne and Mary Robinson, and of "Irish Media: A
Critical History Since 1922".
Dr Iarfhlaith Watson
Dr Iarfhlaith Watson is a lecturer in the Department of
Sociology, UCD. He is very active in sociology in
Ireland and in visual sociology internationally - he is
a member of the Boards of the Sociological Association
of Ireland and of the International Visual Sociology
Association. He has a number of publications on Irish
language broadcasting in Irish and English, in Ireland
and elsewhere.
