Shell 2 Sea protest outside Independent News Papers

dublin | arts and media | event notice 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.