Some of you may remember the internet presence of one of Indymedia's most ferocious trolls. Going under the title of Indymedia Ireland Watch (IIW) and registered on the Blogspot hosting site, they used a snide satirical tone to highlight the supposed flaws attached to various Indymedia 'personalities.' Those that put their head over the parapet and stepped beyond online anonymity to be published in the mainstream media, or even exerted more time on Indy editorial duty were viciously lampooned and castigated. The blog also offered financial rewards for the names and addresses of activists appearing in photos on the site. The IIW site under went a sudden and dramatic closure last April but later that month a new site opened up calling itself the Vincenzo Monologues.

This new blog styles itself as the 'comical antidote to Vincent Browne's knee-high to me media empire.' Like the previous effort at undermining this site, it seeks to ridicule both contributers to the Village and their audience. Those of you who have connected the dots so far will not be surprised to find that the writing style echoes the earlier IIW effort in a sniping 'wouldn't you know' manner that attacks Browne's publication, but remains more firmly concerned with the magazine's relationship with Indymedia and the left more generally. Describing Browne as the Maureen Potter of Irish journalism it accuses him of "bufoonery" in appealing to the "anarchist yoof" crowd of "Idiotmedia" through Village Magazine. Somebody seriously has some issues with anti-establishment media in this country, as you can see for yourself.

Labels: Indymedia, Media