Maith thú, Steven McCaffrey

If you said to someone “Do you read the Irish Independent?”, they might say they do and tell you what a magnificent organ it is, on a level with The Irish News, or they might say they don’t and tell you what a ghastly rag it is, on a level with The Irish News. But regardless of their view, they’d know what you were talking about. If you said to someone “Do you read The Detail?”, chances are they’d ask you “What detail?” Which is a pity because that online newspaper allows access to what is happening, particularly in Ireland, with a clarity and even-handedness you’ll not find other places.

Take yesterday. There’s an extensive article by Steven McCaffrey headed  “LH2 – Sinn Féin’s new place in Irish politics” about the fortunes of Sinn Féin, particularly in the south. It’s interspersed with short video interviews that add a note of spontaneity and immediacy that the written word can’t match. It talks about Gerry Adams’s move to southern politics,  Martin McGuinness’s run for the presidency, Sinn Féin’s insistence on a border poll – most of the big issues that Sinn Féin have been involved with.

It was published online yesterday, so doesn’t examine the latest opinion polls which show that Sinn Féin are the second-biggest party in the state and that Gerry Adams is one of the most popular leaders. Unlike The Sunday Independent,  which publishes the poll findings but immediately attempts to swallow them up in a story from 1980 involving the IRA. Which makes as much sense as someone discussing an Irish politician in 1956 by tying it tightly to some incident from the civil war.

Most journalists, I suppose, know about The Detail.  Most members of the public don’t. Which is a pity, because it’s like coming out of a smoke-filled room and breathing clean, unpolluted air. Maith thú,  Steven McCaffrey.

Here’s his article:  http://www.thedetail.tv/issues/174/gerry-adams/lh2-sinn-f%C3%A9in%E2%80%99s-new-place-in-irish-politics