State Censored Media

Well, it's official. We're a banana republic. No doubt everyone at this stage has seen the 'portraits' of Brian Cowen that were stealth-hung in the National Gallery and the Royal Hibernian Academy. They're mildly amusing and more than a little irreverent. Big whoop.

RTE ran a 96 second story on this news last night on the 9 o'clock news. The sort of mild amusement that we could all do with at the moment and after a brief chuckle I thought no more of it.

Now, apparently the story has been edited out of the RTE website, and Michael Kennedy TD, chief FF idiot for Dublin North, is calling it an "insult to the office of the Taoiseach." This guy here. The guy who Red Mum pointed out was outraged about 'Single parents with 10 kids getting free houses' while the FF/PD-led government took medical cards from the over 70's. He seems quite the keeper; censor the media and lock up the tarty single mothers.

Why is it that FF think it's ok to treat RTE the same way Berlusconi treats his own TV companies? Are they really that backward looking? Do they really think that RTE are out to get them or is this just another excuse to censor the stories we hear?

Thanks to Damien Mulley, whom I have shamelessly pinched this clip from via youtube, for saving this clip for posterity.

Update: RTE has apoligised for "any disrespect shown to the office of An Taoiseach by our broadcast." Have the lunatics taken charge of the asylum? Is mocking Brian Cowen really a threat to our democracy and the office of An Taoiseach, or is it merely a mockery of Brian Cowen? Where is the line drawn? I'd love to know where the boundaries of decency lie in Cowen's administration.