Many thanks to all of the MLI members who voted in the recent MLI Steering Group elections. The successful candidates, who will formally take up their seats in at the beginning of 2021, are:
- Kennedy O’Brien from Twitter
- Eileen Culloty, Independent academic
- Celine Clark from Age Action
- Susan Daly from the Journal Media
We would also like to sincerely thank the other candidates who put themselves forward for election – Jane McGarrigle, Isabelle Courtney, Neville Keery, Shane Creevy, Sorcha Hyland and Aine Meehan. We were very privileged to have ten nominees of such high-calibre and it bodes well for the future of MLI.
Last, but certainly not least, we would like to extend our sincere thanks on behalf of all at MLI for the excellent support and guidance offered from all of the current MLI Steering Group members, but in particular to the outgoing members of the Steering Group:
- Stephanie Anderson from Facebook
- Inez Bailey formerly of NALA
- Elaine King from NEAR TV
- Jean-Marie Cullen from the National Youth Council of Ireland
Following is the full list of MLI Steering Group members for 2021
Anna Maria Barry, Virgin Media Ireland representing the Commercial TV sector:
Her speciality is communications strategy. For 20 years, she has been leading teams into the coalface. Critical thinking? Check. Creative thinking? Check. Effective team management? Check. Her career ranges from advising executive leadership teams on messaging and crisis management, to controlling media interviews and appearances. Anna Maria is a fellow of the Public Relations Institute of Ireland. She is also a member of steering committees such education modellers P-Tech, children’s coding project OurKidsCode (with Trinity College Dublin) and urban enterprise promoters Prosper Cork.
Lisa Buckley, Newsbrands Ireland representing the news publisher sector:
Lisa Buckley is the Communications and Programmes Director for NewsBrands Ireland. Her role involves the promotion of Ireland’s news media to readers, policy makers, and advertisers. This is achieved through campaigns and initiatives including the annual Journalism Awards, Press Pass News Literacy and Student Journalism programme, Power of Press Media Planning competition, NewsBrands Ireland #JournalismMatters campaign, as well as ongoing lobbying and press freedom campaigns.
Since joining NewsBrands Ireland, Lisa has grown the Press Pass student journalism programme to greater involve news literacy teaching elements. Through working with teachers and news literacy experts, the programme now encompasses a wide range of teaching supports for educators. Over 10,000 TY students will complete the course this year.
Celine Clarke, Age Action representing the Community and Voluntary sector:
Celine Clarke is Head of Advocacy and Communications at Age Action where she oversees the strategic stakeholder engagement and public affairs work for the organisation.
Prior to joining Age Action, Celine was the Director of the Mary Robinson Foundation — Climate Justice. Celine joined the Mary Robinson Foundation from RTÉ where she spent 7 years as Manager of Corporate Events developing a portfolio of community based sponsorships and public events, much of which is still in existence today, promoting the value of Public Service Broadcasting.
Celine has over twenty years professional experience, including 15 years in the community and voluntary sector, developing and delivering effective communications and public affairs strategies founded in the principles of community development. She represents Age Action in a number of stakeholder forums in Ireland including the National Advisory Council for Online Safety, Community and Voluntary Pillar, the Community Platform and the Public Affairs Committee of the Alliance of Age Sector Organisations.
Dr Philip Cohen, Library Association of Ireland representing the Information Society sector:
Libraries cover all areas of Ireland, all sectors of society and all ages – from babies to older people and everything in between. They are trusted places, free to access, with a long tradition of delivering quality assured information and education resources. In particular, libraries are considered the ‘go-to’ places for literacies of all kinds: reading, numeracy, digital, information, health and now media literacy.
Libraries and library staff are key to the delivery of media literacy, both public awareness campaigns and skills training for all. Philip will continue to ensure a greater awareness and understanding of MLI amongst library staff, other professional groups and amongst the public at large.
Stephanie Comey, Broadcasting Authority of Ireland representing the regulatory sector:
Stephanie Comey is a Senior Manager with the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. She joined the Authority in 2003 and has since overseen a number of media policy development and regulatory areas.
Currently, she has responsibility for broadcasting policy development initiatives including Media Literacy, Diversity and Sectoral Development. She is also a Member of the BAI Compliance Committee.
She is a member of the Media Literacy Taskforce with EPRA (the European Platform of Regulatory Authorities), a member of the European Commission Expert Group on Media Literacy and a member of the Technical Advisory Committee for the Adult Literacy, Numeracy and Digital Literacy Strategy led by SOLAS.
Stephanie is Vice-Chair of the MLI Steering Group.
Eileen Culloty, Independent representing the Education and Youth sector:
Eileen is a researcher at the DCU Institute for Future Media and Journalism (FuJo) where she leads research on countering disinformation as part of the EU project Provenance.
She leads the ‘Voices for Vaccines’ (SFI) project, a collaboration with the HSE and Early Learning Initiative to understand parents’ concerns and information sources in areas where vaccine uptake is declining.
Separately, Eileen leads the Public Service Broadcasting during Covid-19 project (BAI), which is investigating how RTÉ served public needs during the pandemic and the diversity of programming. Working with colleagues in the FuJo Institute, she contributes to research and policy debates about digital media and changing patterns of media consumption. For example, the Institute leads the Irish research for the Oxford Reuters Digital News Report, the largest worldwide study of online news consumption, and undertakes research on how digital platforms are responding to disinformation.
Susan Daly, Journal Media representing the Journalism / News / Data sector:
Previously Editor of TheJournal.ie, Susan’s current role as Managing Editor of Journal Media is to lead the editorial direction and develop digital audience strategy for TheJournal.ie and its sister sites, sports publication The42.ie and investigative journalism platform Noteworthy.ie.
In 2016, she established TheJournal FactCheck project and steered it to membership of the International Fact-Checking Network. The unit was scaled up during the Covid19 crisis to fight misinformation circulating around social networks related to the pandemic and has become a participant in the Global CoronaVirusFacts Alliance.
Susan also sits on the advisory board of the FuJo (Future of Journalism) Institute in DCU and has been called to sit on the Ethics Committee on the Press Council, of which Journal Media is a member.
Irena Djak Cvetkovic, CRAOL representing the Community Media sector:
Irena is a manager of Athlone Community Radio and member of the CRAOL board. CRAOL primarily focuses on the support and development of community radio in Ireland. Every one of the 22 community radio stations in Ireland is primarily based on volunteers input and as a result can represent both the community and volunteer sector.
Irena is involved in Medial Literacy since 2009 when she wrote her M/A research ‘Media Literacy: Contribution of Irish Community Radio’ under mentoring of prof Brian O’Neil. Since then she has facilitated numerous workshops on Media Literacy at the CRAOL annual gathering and she has presented at two European Conferences on media literacy issues.
Teresa Hanratty – Learning Waves representing the Commercial Radio sector:
Teresa Hanratty is the Project Manager with Learning Waves, the training body for the Independent Commercial Radio Sector in Ireland. Teresa is responsible for the overall design and delivery of training programmes to meet the needs of the sector. In her role, Teresa has responsibility for securing funding for the network from Skillnet Ireland and the BAI and for the overall management of the network. Since 2004, Teresa has been responsible for overseeing the investment of €3.1million in the sector and the delivery of 20,895 training days to over 5,000 individuals across the sector. Teresa also oversees the design and development of training programmes aimed at graduates who wish to gain employment in the sector. As part of her role, Teresa is a member of the Choose Radio Group. She has been a judge for the PPI/IMRO Awards since 2007.
Teresa chairs the Skillnet Ireland Network Excellence Group, a group responsible for the training and networking of 66 Skillnet Ireland Network Managers across Ireland. Prior to joining Learning Waves, Teresa worked as a Training and Development Consultant overseeing the implementation of the Excellence through People programme in SME’s, a role she held for 3 years with AQS in Co. Louth.
Joseph Hoban, RTE representing the Public Service Media sector:
Joe Hoban is Head of Communications & Corporate Engagement Communications, Events and Corporate Engagement for RTÉ. He manages RTÉ’s central social media platforms, the successful RTÉ Supporting the Arts scheme, and RTÉ’s large corporate partnerships portfolio.
Joe is also chair of the Communications Directors Expert Group of the European Broadcasting Union and is a Member of the Board at the Celtic Media Festival, representing RTÉ alongside industry leaders from BBC Wales, BBC Scotland, BBC Northern Ireland, BBC Alba, TG4, S4C, and others.
Ross Keane, Irish Film Institute representing the Film sector:
Ross Keane has over 20 years’ experience working in leading cultural organisations in Ireland and abroad. He is Director/CEO of the Irish Film Institute and has played a key role delivering an extensive and diverse cultural programme, strengthening the IFI’s National and International cultural programmes; resourcing and enabling an ambitious nationwide education programme through IFI Education; and enabling the expansion of the IFI Irish Film Archive and access remit, resulting in the IFI Player launched in 2016, and a new IFI Irish Film Archive facility at Maynooth University which opened in early 2018.
Prior to joining the IFI, Ross was Director of Marketing and Development at the Dublin Theatre Festival (2002-2008) where he achieved a significant impact on audience development and profile of the Festival, and in his role at the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority in Australia, curated the St. Patrick’s Festival programme, and developed the organisation’s funding development strategies. Asides from IFI, Ross is former chairperson of Corn Exchange Theatre Company and a board member of Performance Corporation.
Daryl Moorhouse, Tinpot Productions representing the independent media sector:
Daryl represents the independent sector on the MLI Steering Group. As head of Tinpot Productions, he has overseen thousands of audio, video and digital projects for numerous sectors and services and his approach to audio and video training is characterized by an emphasis on interactivity and driven by a deep understanding of industry trends and norms.
He has created production training courses for educational institutions such as DIT, DCU, CIT, Gaiety School Of Acting, Digital Skills Academy and others. The TY Transmission radio training course delivers radio training to more than 2000 second level students per annum. The radio production techniques module of the TU MSc. Advertising course was created by Daryl and is delivered on an annual basis.
He is a former Chair of AIRPI (The Association of Independent Radio Producers).
Kennedy O’Brien, Twitter representing the Digital Media / Technology Platforms sector:
Kennedy O’Brien has been a member of Twitter’s Public Policy team in Dublin since 2018. Since joining Twitter, Kennedy has worked on a variety of projects across the EMEA region. These have included work on elections; developing the handbook Campaigning on Twitter: The Handbook for NGOs, Politics & Public Service; and training communications managers in these areas on Twitter best practice.
Media literacy initiatives have been one of Kennedy’s key areas of focus. He manages Twitter’s global partnership with UNESCO and coordinated campaigns for Global Media and Information Literacy Week.
In 2019, he drove the development and launch of the Teaching and Learning with Twitter handbook, produced in partnership with UNESCO.
Prof. Brian O’Neill, TUD, representing the Academic sector:
Professor Brian O’Neill is a Professor of Media and Communications and Director of Research at Technological University Dublin. His primary research areas are in young people’s use of digital technologies, online safety and policy for the digital environment.
He has undertaken research for the European Commission, UNICEF, the Council of Europe, the Ombudsman for Children’s Office and the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland on various topics associated with media literacy, child rights and information society technologies.
He is a member of the EU Kids Online research network and leads its work on policy. He is also a member of Ireland’s National Advisory Council for Online Safety and chaired the Irish government’s task force on Internet Content Governance.
Brian is Chair of the Media Literacy Ireland Steering Group.