Ireland is the 51st state

An alien would be forgiven for thinking Ireland is a state of the US. Watching our national, TV news they would see happy-clappy, feel-good stories about our leader, Barack Obama, and his policies. They would barely know of our near-neighbours, the UK, and even of Europe.

Why all the news from the US, a country 3,000 miles? Why no stories about David Cameron’s new dog/cat/budgie? Funny little things that happened while the leader of nearby France was speaking? Or some enterprise the spouse of the leader of Germany started? Or what the wife of the leader of Japan wore? Who decides what’s important and why do all the rest of the media here follow you like sheep?

Eamon Reilly