Dublin - Event Notice
Thursday January 01 1970

Shell 2 Sea protest outside Independent News Papers

Tuesday November 28, 2006 15:18

by Labour Youth

A protest has been called by Labour Youth for 1 pm outside Independent News Papers in protest at their biased and skewed coverage of the Shell to Sea Campaign. Independent NewsPapers head office are located on Middle Abbey Street just off O Connell Street.

The protest takes place in advance of a Shell 2 Sea protest outside Shell HQ on Leeson Street that starts at 2 pm.

Don’t believe everything you read in the papers – Indo lies for Shell!

Last Thursday’s RedC/Irish Independent poll concerning the Shell to Sea campaign shows inexcusable bias from Tony O’Reilly’s newspaper.

1. The poll questions reported in the paper were not the same questions that respondents were asked. While the Independent reported a 51% positive response rate to a question “Do you think the project should go ahead as planned?”, the actual question that was asked was “If there was no other option, should the project go ahead as planned?” This was confirmed by RTE on Primetime. As there ARE other options that could be taken (just ones that Shell refuse to take), asking the question in this way is pointless and a deliberate attempt to ensure a positive response. Asking “Would you eat live rats?” and “Would you eat live rats if there was no other food left on the planet?” are similarly, two very different things.

2. The Irish Independent completely left out the results of one question, when the results they got did not suit their anti-Shell to Sea agenda. When asked about their preferred development model for the Corrib gas project , 44% supported an off-shore processing of the gas; 29% supported a processing at Bellanaboy; and 17% wanted the project abandoned. This shows; according to the Independent’s own results, that more people in the area want an off-shore processing plant (also Shell to Sea’s main demand) than any other option. But as this didn’t suit the Independent’s agenda, it wasn’t published at all.

3. The Independent report highlights that 8% of respondents say that Shell to Sea speak for all of the local community but fails to emphasise that an additional 35% say that the campaign speaks for a majority of local residents. Asking if Shell to Sea speak for ALL of the local community is a question deliberately designed to generate a negative response, and is biased in the same way that asking if Shell to Sea spoke for NONE of the local community would be. That the Independent chose to highlight the results of this ridiculous question shows their bias in a clear light.

4. The following is a summary of the Independent poll results, using the same date, but presenting the information in a different way.

- Of those who expressed an opinion nearly 2:1 felt protests should go ahead.
- Over 50% of those who expressed an opinion said the protesters speak for a majority or all of the local community
- Of those who expressed an opinion, an overwhelming 67% either wanted the gas to be refined at sea (Shell to Sea’s demand) or for the project to be abandoned altogether.
- Well over half (59%) of respondents said that if they were in the position of the protesters, they would be doing exactly the same thing.

So why do the Independent choose to present the data in such a different way?
Could it be something to do with the fact that Tony O’Reilly has stakes in
Marathon (one of the partners in the Corrib gas project)?
Or that Shell have paid for full page colour ads in the same publication on more than one occasion already this year?
Or that the way they present the data is consistent with the anti-Shell to Sea line that the newspaper has taken to date, and to present it otherwise as above (but equally legitimately, according to the data) would not support this line?

The Irish Independent is not INDEPENDENT media. Make up your own mind.

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Comments (8 of 8)

lies, damn lies and statistics

by katiem - none

Tue Nov 28, 2006 15:46

Dear labour youth,
I think the problem with these type of opinion polls is the spin that can so easily be put on the answers, depending on who is asking the questions. I take your point re locating the terminal at sea but you cannot offer people an offshore facility as an option, if the reality is that it is not a viable option. That is like offering a child the choice between a bike and a time machine. What we would like and what we are likely to get are usually very different.
I think the reality is that quite a few people outside the immediate Rossport area would be quite happy to have the terminal in Bellanaboy, on the basis that all the safety conditions are being adhered to. I know you will probably disagree with me, but I think there is a sizeable majority who are in favour of the project as it stands, and dont go out of their way to make themselves heard. On a day to day basis, I hear more people in favour of the project than against, and that to me is more telling than any opinion poll.

Not in Abbey St

by me

Tue Nov 28, 2006 17:22

Independent Newspapers moved out of Abbey Street over a year ago. Their offices are now on Talbot St. - down towards Connolly Station

talbot street

by Talbot street - next to BOIGM

Tue Nov 28, 2006 17:24

Geez, some organisational skills in labour thats for shure!!

they cant even get the address correct!!!

Talbot Street

Tue Nov 28, 2006 17:38

Yep the protest will take place outside their offices at 27 - 32 Talbot Street

Thanks for that :)

Indo's deception

by mucky

Tue Nov 28, 2006 17:54

Well katiem, I'd have to agree that polls can be spun in any way, but the manipulation of the poll result by the Independent was, in effect, a lie. You could argue that technically they weren't lying but only in the way Bill Clinton wasn't lying when he made his statement about 'that woman'. I'm sure the poll respondents won't be too happy about their answers, given freely and honestly, being used in this way.
The Indo had the power to ask the questions in the way they saw fit, and still didn't get the results they wanted, so they lied.

Reply to katiem

by J - LY

Tue Nov 28, 2006 18:38

"Not viable" for whom? Shell? It isn't "not viable", they just don't want it. Different things.

In the same strain, the current site is "not viable" for many Rossport residents, but of course nobody would never dream of not giving that option.

Options in polls like these shouldn't be limited to just what Shell dictate are possible outcomes. Then what would be the point of the opinion poll at all? Sure you might as well just have one answer then, "an outcome that Shell agree to." Covers everything really, doesn't it?

Fair Play

by max

Tue Nov 28, 2006 19:14

Great activism from Labour Youth. keep up the good work, you guys need to keep putting preasure on the Labour Party and make sure some of the TD's get down to the protest.

You never know it might win you guys a few votes :)

by *16

Tue Nov 28, 2006 22:40

"As part of our 5th birthday celebrations, Indymedia Ireland is organising an open meeting, in conjunction with Revolt Video, to be held on Saturday December 2nd at 2pm in Seomra Spraoi, 6 Lower Ormonde Quay, Dublin. "

I'd like to get to borth to be honest, so I might show my face down there quicky. fair play L.Y, both L.Y and indeed O.S.F, along with other youth groups (S.P, A.Y and christ knows who else,sorry :( ) have been ex. active on this one. revolutionary youth, against indecisive wishy-washy TDs.

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Shell 2 Sea protest outside Independent News Papers

Comments (8 of 8)