Ireland is coming to terms with the shocking tragedy that occurred in the early hours of yesterday morning in Berkeley, California. Six young Irish citizens died when a balcony collapsed, and seven other people are seriously injured.
The tragedy has been covered in news outlets all over the world, the majority of which has been with the delicate nature it requires. However, the New York Times have picked a bad time to drag up some Irish stereotypes.
They come by the thousands — Irish students on work visas, many flocking to the West Coast to work in summer jobs by day and to enjoy the often raucous life in a college town at night. It was, for many, a rite of passage, one last summer to enjoy travel abroad before beginning a career.
But the work-visa program that allowed for the exchanges has in recent years become not just a source of aspiration, but also a source of embarrassment for Ireland, marked by a series of high-profile episodes involving drunken partying and the wrecking of apartments in places like San Francisco and Santa Barbara.
That is the lead passage from the New York Times' article entitled 'Six Deaths in Berkeley Cast Pall on Program'. Unsurprisingly, given the emotions involved in the tragedy, there has been quite of criticism of that introduction.
Wow, what a callous, biased and just plain tone deaf stunt from the @nytimes. Disgusting @Sulliview, please explain?
— Shane O Leary (@shaneoleary1) June 17, 2015
6 people die as a balcony collapses.
Just typical of those drunken, Irish J1ers, hey @nytimes? http://t.co/jKsWw1DFby— Adam Renardson (@ARenardson) June 17, 2015
This is awful from @nytimes - tone of victim blaming and unrelated content. #berkeley http://t.co/Mz65gWqDmM
— Sinéad O'Carroll (@SineadOCarroll) June 17, 2015
Some of the reporting in this @nytimes article is *very* insensitive http://t.co/WY0b99xH5r via @fionarhw pic.twitter.com/uZ94zAPMoL
— Aoife Barry (@sweetoblivion26) June 17, 2015
While the Times is often held up as a shining light of journalism across the world, they have certainly missed the mark on this one. To equate the collapse of a balcony to completely unrelated incidents is highly insensitive to say the least.
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