First off, a big hat tip to @robertburke84 on Twitter for noticing yet more bias in the Irish Media ahead of the upcoming referendum when he kindly screenshot an article published by one of Maximum Media's website's "her.ie" today, May 1st 2018:
The article argues that "Will repealing the eighth mean abortion will become legal up until six months gestation? In short, no." which is very dismissal of the fact that abortion, will in fact, be legal for vague reasons up to six months (viability) as outlined by the fourth head of the proposed legislation should the Irish people vote to repeal the 8th Amendment of the Irish Constitution.I just came across this sponsored @Herdotie article on Facebook claiming "In short, no" there will not be abortion up until 6 months.@rtenews @thejournal_ie Where are your articles calling out fake news from pro-repeal publications? I won't hold my breath. #Savethe8th #VoteNO pic.twitter.com/o63HlesjJd— Robert Burke (@robertburke84) May 1, 2018
The fourth head reads: 4. (1) It shall be lawful to carry out a termination of pregnancy in accordance with this Head where 2 medical practitioners certify that, in their reasonable opinion formed in good faith -
(a) there is a risk to the life of, or of serious harm to the health of, the pregnant
woman,
(b) the foetus has not reached viability, and
(c) it is appropriate to carry out the termination of pregnancy in order to avert that
risk
Condition (b) above sets out that it is legally permissible to carry out an abortion until the unborn has reached viability which is generally agreed as being 6 months in the medical profession - although some cases of viability from earlier than this have been occurring in recent years owing to advances in medical care.
Although the her.ie article was posted four days ago - Burke was quick to point out that this article was "sponsored content" on Facebook where he spotted the article. With the referendum just a mere twenty five days away, it begs the question of why are media outlets sponsoring articles with blatant inaccuracies on the Facebook platform?
It is important also to highlight that her.ie has almost a half of a million followers on Facebook and with the vast majority of these in Ireland being potential voters in the referendum it has massive potential to sway the result resulting from false information.
It is a sad state of affairs, so LoneHurler took a little snoop around the net to find out more about Maximum Media and to gain an insight as to why a company would do something like this and it sure didn't take long to see why after a little trip over to Twitter and GlassDoor.
Maximum Media is owned by Niall McGarry who is married to Sarah according to his Twitter bio. Although Niall McGarry has pretty much scrubbed his Twitter profile of direct tweets (bar one) about the upcoming referendum and the 8th Amendment (probably in attempt to portray himself as "impartial") he actively retweets or likes tweets by others who show support for #RepealTheEighth.
Sarah on the other hand does not hide her agenda, in her bio she states that she supports Repeal and a view of her tweets would suggest that she is an active campaigner. Sarah also boasts that she has control over the content on her.ie - see below where she threatens to fire staff for not following her directions:
This would suggest to many that Maximum Media would appear to be run by people who seem to have lost the run of themselves in their lust for agenda-setting and this usually comes with a strong bang of power-hungry attitudes to drive the narrative. Behold such a sight was confirmed when LoneHurler looked behind the "GlassDoor" of Maximum Media. The following quotes from current and former employees would open your eyes:
"There’s a boys club/old school ties vibe, not ideal if you happen to be a woman (or if you happen to be a man who isn't in the 'loop')."
- Sounds like a place that values "women's choices" alright.
Intense, overworked staff, no strategy, bullying, underpayment.
- Bullying, underpayment and overworking of staff. I wonder what the gender pay gap is?
Anyone with half a brain would challenge Niall and that is NOT what he wants. He runs a fake woke advertising company that pretends to do journalism. The staff turnover is ridiculous and morale is awful.
- Pretends to do Journalism - I'd agree!
The office is not fit for purpose with cables laid across the floors and cold working conditions.
Staff churn rate is through the roof and it is widely known that most people are looking for new roles.
- Perhaps the HSA could take a visit here. Cold working conditions are horrible for women let alone cables running wildly across the floor.
Niall is a threatening figure in the office, like when you have a free class in school and suddenly the principal walks in.
- Why am I not surprised, but then again his ego is probably well massaged from that time he got his mug on The Late Late Show (notice how the Irish Media sticks together when there's an agenda to be pushed?)
So ladies and gentlemen, before you go about your vote on May 25th in what is probably the most vital referendum this country will ever take remember who is paying to change your mind while they treat staff like vermin to do it:
