One of the pleasures of working in the media for the past decade has been the growing ease with which our readers can capture images or experiences and share them with us.
Reader submissions – facilitated by Contribly software – are now the mainstay of several of our weekly columns, and they increasingly inform our stories and investigations.
The solar eclipse: Last Wednesday, with the solar eclipse looming, we asked people to share their photos and memories of the event. We are grateful to those who did so. Some of their shots appear here.
First-time mothers: Another positive impact of technology on journalism is the real-time data that tells us what stories are being read by large numbers of people. One that clearly struck a chord in the past week was a column by Nadine O’Regan who discussed frankly her experience of first-time parenthood and a valued friendship she has forged with another mother.
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Its high readership suggested that many people identified with the situation Nadine described, so we invited people to share their own accounts. In the coming weeks, a journalist will contact some of those who got in touch, inviting them to participate in a follow-up article.
Eye on Nature: One weekly article that just wouldn’t happen without readers is the Eye on Nature column. Here, nature lovers and observers share their photos and queries with naturalist Éanna Ní Lamhna, who publishes a selection every week. Here’s one recent column from Éanna, featuring readers’ contributions. If you feel moved to share a photo of a bird, insect, mystery plant or natural phenomenon, you can do so here.
Personal problems: Our relationships columnist Roe McDermott also receives several queries a week, in confidence and using the same software. Her column appears every Saturday in The Irish Times Magazine, and on Sunday on our website and app. Each one contains a link to submit query, or you can do so here.
Tip-offs: Finally, this year we established the Irish Times Investigations Unit, to pursue the public-interest stories that private interests don’t want published. If you have a tip or story you think is worth investigating you can contact us by confidential email, phone or other secure channels, all detailed at this link.
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If the eclipse brought much of Europe to a standstill on Wednesday, an event earlier in the week was phenomenal in a different way.
Daniel Kinahan’s extradition and charging last week was a tense episode for the country, involving high security and a dramatic international journey. It’s a major achievement for the Garda. Their name-checking of other police forces over the past week shows how Ireland has become a key player in the international drug trade.
Daniel Kinahan has now been charged with directing a criminal organisation. He will return to court in October, and the trial is likely to extend into 2027. Until then, nothing has been proven against him.
Among our stories on the subject were Conor Lally’s look at what awaits Kinahan in prison and his assessment of the likely fate of other members of the Kinahan family and organisation.
Hugh Dooley chronicled Kinahan’s life so far: his time in prison in his 20s; his boxing business; his move to Spain after surviving the Regency Hotel shootings of 2016; and the US reward for information leading to his capture.
There was occasional comic relief, as some international media struggled to get up to speed with the story.
And what happened to that $5 million reward? We’ll never know, say the Americans.
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