Its standard of journalism was poor, its fact-checking almost non-existent.
I featured in it a few times. It might have one correct line but drown the rest is falsehoods and bile. It trotted out its owner's prejudices as facts. One of the most laughable ones was hinting I was the grandson of Éoin O Duffy.
1. O'Duffy never married and never had children, so how could I be his grandson?
All they had to do was ask and I could have told them, but fact checking was an inconvenience with it.
It also wrote that my father was a "major landowner in Meath". Lol He had thirty acres. It was that size because my real great grandfather, Patrick Duffy, inherited his first cousin's next door farm that first cousin was unmarried and the McDonagh family had all died unmarried so the farm was inherited by his closest living relative, his next door neighbour. Arthur McDonagh's mother, Mary Duffy, was the sister of Patrick's father, Thomas. By no stretch is a thirty acre farm major.
They also used the story to trot out the falsehood that O'Duffy led the Blueshirts to fight for Franco. He went to Spain in 1936. The Blueshirts had been disbanded in 1934. O'Duffy led the Greenshirts, the paramilitary wing of his National Corporate Party, to fight for Franco. The rag couldn't even get basic history correct.
I stopped reading The Phoenix when I realised it was a poisonous unreliable rag. About the only thing I will miss is its front pages. They were often funny, much funnier than the front pages of Private Eye.
One front page embarrassed a friend of mine. He had been chubby and had dieted and lost a lot of weight. He was proud of his new thin figure - only to find a picture of his chubby self appearing on the front page of the magazine as he was in a photo beside a politician. He was furious at seeing his old self on the shelves of all newsagents.
It might have a kernel of truth somewhere but would drown it in biases and the prejudices of its owner and writers.
I featured in it a few times. It might have one correct line but drown the rest is falsehoods and bile. It trotted out its owner's prejudices as facts. One of the most laughable ones was hinting I was the grandson of Éoin O Duffy.
1. O'Duffy never married and never had children, so how could I be his grandson?
2. As was known in the circles the people in the publication moved in, Éoin O Duffy was gay. One of his lovers was Micheal MacLiammoir, a fact Micheal was open about.
3. There was a clue in the name. He had an O in his name. I don't.
4. He was from Monaghan. I have no relations born in Monaghan.
3. There was a clue in the name. He had an O in his name. I don't.
4. He was from Monaghan. I have no relations born in Monaghan.
All they had to do was ask and I could have told them, but fact checking was an inconvenience with it.
It also wrote that my father was a "major landowner in Meath". Lol He had thirty acres. It was that size because my real great grandfather, Patrick Duffy, inherited his first cousin's next door farm that first cousin was unmarried and the McDonagh family had all died unmarried so the farm was inherited by his closest living relative, his next door neighbour. Arthur McDonagh's mother, Mary Duffy, was the sister of Patrick's father, Thomas. By no stretch is a thirty acre farm major.
They also used the story to trot out the falsehood that O'Duffy led the Blueshirts to fight for Franco. He went to Spain in 1936. The Blueshirts had been disbanded in 1934. O'Duffy led the Greenshirts, the paramilitary wing of his National Corporate Party, to fight for Franco. The rag couldn't even get basic history correct.
I stopped reading The Phoenix when I realised it was a poisonous unreliable rag. About the only thing I will miss is its front pages. They were often funny, much funnier than the front pages of Private Eye.
One front page embarrassed a friend of mine. He had been chubby and had dieted and lost a lot of weight. He was proud of his new thin figure - only to find a picture of his chubby self appearing on the front page of the magazine as he was in a photo beside a politician. He was furious at seeing his old self on the shelves of all newsagents.
⏩ Jim Duffy is a writer-historian.
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