Travel – Clare Bonnyman

Face 2 Face Allan Thompson

Originally published by the Face2Face Project May 14, 2015.

Completed as a submission from Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communications.

Some photography

My flickr is proving to be difficult these days, so I figured I’d throw up some of the photos I’ve been taking on my off-time from the CBC here in Thunder Bay.

All of the above photos were taken and edited by myself, from mid to late April in Northwestern Ontario.

For more, and full quality, you can check out my Flickr page (eventually).

** This is a long-form journalism feature that I completed as a part of my multimedia collection produced for the Armagh Project 2014 and ieiMedia. I studied in Northern Ireland for a month and produced audio, visual and print work about the craft beer revolution and the rise of microbreweries.

LISBURN, Northern Ireland – It’s the most beautiful day Northern Ireland has seen in months, but Lisa Maltman has no time for that.

She is in charge of global sales and marketing for the Hilden Brewing Company, Ireland’s oldest independent brewery, established in 1981.

Being a small brewery in Northern Ireland is a struggle, with a large percentage of the market controlled by multi-national companies like Diageo and InBev – which run Guinness and Stella Artois, respectively.

Maltman’s office, much like the rest of Hilden Brewing, is a constant flurry of activity to keep the company’s product on the market and in the game. Her desk is covered in Post-it notes, graphs, business cards and bottles. In the midst of a craft-beer revolution in Northern Ireland, Hilden is using every opportunity to grow.

“We brew every day, and we are at peak capacity at the minute,” says Maltman.

“I’ve just remembered about seven different things I have to do,” she says, typing away furiously.

***

In recent years craft beer production and microbreweries have taken off internationally. Government-licensed alcohol vendors and bars across the world are serving more and more microbrews and craft beers, usually locally sourced.

In North America in particular, the craft beer market has boomed. In 2012 in Canada craft beer sales grew by over 30 percent, in contrast to relatively flat sales of wines and spirits.

This of course pales in comparison to the growth of microbreweries in England, where the microbrewery movement began in the 1970s. That was when a new generation of small, focused breweries started to produce cask-conditioned beer, also called “real ale.” From 2002 to 2012 the number of microbreweries in England doubled, making one brewery for every 50 pubs. There are well over 1,000 microbreweries in England today, and the number is growing by hundreds each year across the U.K. mainland.

But as of the summer of 2014, only 14 microbreweries are active in Northern Ireland. There are a number of reasons why.

Being in the U.K., it’s not hard for Northern Ireland to import a variety of microbrews to add some craft-style diversity. There are also very few bottling plants in Northern Ireland to service new microbreweries. This of course doesn’t even go into the politics that make it difficult to start a brewery in Northern Ireland.

The modern craft beer revolution has reached a crucial point for Northern Ireland, as more microbreweries pop up and fight to survive.

Continue reading “The Battle of the Brews”

BBC News and Biased Views in Belfast.

In Belfast one of the more memorable experiences I had was visiting the BBC Northern Ireland headquarters and visiting with Claire Savage, Mark Devenport and Martina Purdy.

It is always an incredible opportunity to be able to learn about the journalism industry from individuals who have worked first hand in it, but I found it fascinating to learn about the news system in Northern Ireland, and how it differs from the rest of the world.

In a country where religion transcends almost everything, and one’s faith influences political ideologies, moral beliefs, historical understandings and more, it is only natural that the same ideological separation exists in how one consumes the news.

Claire was telling us how she published a ‘neutral’ newspaper at one point during her career. The attempt was to create a single news source that everyone in Northern Ireland could read, regardless of religion or ideological/political beliefs. While staying away from religion and politics, it would serve the community as a whole.

When she first mentioned it I must admit that the idea struck me as ingenious. In a world where religion is seeming to have less of a visible influence over youth and the general population, it only seemed natural that the transition to a ‘neutral’ news source would come in time as it has seemed to in other countries.

In Canada, no blatantly religious newspapers are widely distributed. Apart from the Anglican Journal or other church-published newsletters there is little religious bias or focus in the journalism industry. Political bias absolutely, but that is held apart (mostly) from religion.

In Northern Ireland the political climate is unique. The religious beliefs of the Catholics and Protestants are tightly bound to the beliefs of the Nationalists and Unionists, respectively. And so where in North America we have clearly Conservative or Liberal newspapers (Republican or Democrat in the United States), Northern Ireland has Catholic or Protestant.

(For more information here is BBC UK’s ‘Brief History of the Troubles, to explain the divide).

Claire’s newspaper unfortunately didn’t make it past six weeks, which only stands to demonstrate the work that is still to be done in Northern Ireland, but also shows the current climate in the international journalism scene as well. Print is going out of style, and it is becoming harder and harder for new print publications to exist. The web is taking over, and only those pre-established newspapers are finding any readership; and even that is declining.

As printed newspapers are “phasing out” it will be interesting to see how these biases and ideologies choose to present, produce, and distribute their news, whether it be to continue printing the papers, or to amalgamate into one large journalism mass, or maintain their bias in an online presence. As the climate in Northern Ireland shifts towards a more unified people it will also be interesting to see the influence on the NI journalism business. Will these biased papers drop off the earth, or will the religious and political knots eventually untangle themselves and settle into their respective corners?

Certain Belfastians are optimistic about this separation of church, state and community as a whole. A gentlemen named Tom, who led me and my peers on an incredible Black Taxi tour around the city over the weekend, believes that the young people of Belfast are setting the stage for a new era of history. By putting aside religious segregation and biases, he believes the Peace Walls will be down by 2023, and a new Belfast will be ushered in led by a non-partisan youth.

As for me, I certainly hope he’s right, and that newspapers like Claire’s can exist and thrive in a bright community that reflects on it’s past while still marching forward.

#HBDDublin

Well, we have officially spent a day in Dublin and I am in love.
It is such a busy, bustling, winding city that it never seems to sit still, and yet it has this incredible and rich history behind it. A few stolen moments in the garden of Dublin Castle, in Sweny’s Chemist (an establishment untouched since the 1920’s that now deals in readings of James Joyce’s work), Trinity College and the Abbey Theatre helped to reaffirm the incredible offerings of this city.
Much different than the quiet Northern city of Armagh, Dublin’s history is unique and the POV is just as independent. The people of the Republic of Ireland are very much Irishmen, and refuse to be referred to as anything else. The identity is that much different, and at the same time just as complicated as that of NI.
I look forward to seeing more of what this thousand-and-something year old city has in store for me over the next couple of days.

An Almost Irish Man-Hunt

A potential story idea that kept crossing my path is the story of Martin Corey, an IRA-volunteer in 1973 who was arrested, then released in 1992, and arrested again in recent years. Unfortunately for many reasons, this was not to be. (I do recommend a quick google though, you won’t be disappointed).

And so I find myself circling around an original idea that seems like more of an existential quest:

What does it mean to be Irish today?

It should be noted that I’m asking this question at an interesting point in history, given the looming Scottish vote for Independence. Due to come in September, there are a number of articles arguing the potential effects of the Independence vote on Northern Ireland. Most of these articles are coming from large cities and political centres- Belfast, London, the BBC etc. I’m interested to see what the people of Armagh think of such an issue. Will the Scottish Independence vote change the feelings of the inhabitants of Armagh? Does it make them feel any more or less tied to the United Kingdom? And what does it really mean to be an inhabitant of Northern Ireland today?

There are specialists and scholars crying for a “crisis in unionism“, saying that an independent Scotland would kickstart the transition “from Great Britain to little Britain“. But I’m curious, does small-town Northern Ireland truly feel those close ties to the U.K? Or would Scotland’s independence just mean a smaller United Kingdom?

10 Things I’ve Learned about (Northern) Ireland So Far:

1. Airports are confusing.
Despite my best efforts, my plane still landed in Terminal 1. Dublin Airport isn’t that confusing, but hauling gigantic bags up escalators on 2 hours of airplane sleep isn’t easy. Granted, with only 2 terminals I was bound to land in the wrong one. I live my life according to Murphy’s law.

2. The Irish are friendly.
The Irish are some of the friendliest people I have had the pleasure of meeting overseas. It probably helps that in a smaller town like Armagh my own accent makes me stick out like a sore thumb and I can’t help but notice. But more than a couple of people stop and say hi, asking me where I’m from, what I’m doing, ask if I’d like any help and are just in general lovely.

3. Irish Netflix is a thing.
Somewhat unfortunately, my Canadian Netflix did not travel with me, but Princess Diaries 2 is still online so every is A-okay here.

4. The constant association of Ireland with green makes a lot of sense.
Everything here is green, and in the most beautiful way. It is so lush, with beautiful gardens, trees, and parks. There are plants and flowers sprouting out of every brick wall and sidewalk, much to my nature loving delight.

5. Converters may set off intruder alarms in the hostel you are staying in. Be warned.
(This one is pretty self-explanatory).

6. History is everywhere.
Everywhere you step, and almost every person you see has experienced some incredible history. There are so many stories I’ve heard and already my mind is bursting. Some of these buildings are older than my own country, and everywhere I turn I am confronted with another mind-blowing fact. Did you know that Armagh is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland? And that it was an ancient pagan ritual site? Mind. Blown. And that’s just the beginning.

7. Dairy tastes better.
Before my departure from the Great White North, I looked up a number of facts about Ireland, and this is a legitimate thing. The dairy here is brilliant because of the way the cows are fed. Based on Ireland’s climate and soil (wet and rainy, and not so fertile respectively) the crop that is most easily grown in abundance as feed is grass. North American feed (usually corn or soy) doesn’t really grow well here. Cows, being ‘ruminant‘ organisms have a unique four-chambered stomach and are happiest when fed grass. Thus, in Ireland, all the grass means happy cows, delicious cheese, and a very happy Clare.

8. My accent (and yours, probably) is funny.
After an incident ordering Fish’n’Chips on my first evening in Ireland, I can confirm that yes, I sound funny. And “we’re not Irish” is not the proper response to any question, especially not “Salt and Vinegar on your chips?” so don’t be surprised when the gentleman behind the counter laughs too hard to repeat himself.

9. Crossing streets is complicated.
There are very few street lights or cross walks. I may be brave when it comes to crossing streets back home, but Armagh is a whole different ball game. Everything is reverse road-wise. Let’s hope I figure it out or I may become Irish road-kill.

10. I belong here.
Maybe it’s the cheese, or the fact that I’m not the only one drinking tea constantly, or eating Scotch eggs, or maybe it’s even the abundance of green, but I have a huge crush on Northern Ireland, and I’m hoping they feel the same.