John Waters (columnist)

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John Waters (born Castlerea, Co.Roscommon, Rep. of Ireland in 1949) is a columnist with The Irish Times and former editor of Magill. His career began with the political/music magazine Hot Press. Waters has vociferously campaigned on fathers' rights in Ireland.^[1]

Waters is the father of a daughter named Roisin with singer Sinéad O'Connor.

1 Politics
2 Eurovision song
3 Blogging controversy
4 References
5 External Link

[edit] Politics

Waters criticised Amnesty International's campaign against domestic violence^[2] - because of its lack of gender balance - which led to a response ^[3] by the head of its Irish branch.

He has referred to himself as a "neo-Luddite" ^[4] or later as a "luddite"^[5] and at one stage refused to use email. A believer in the "clash of civilisations", he has supported the invasion of Iraq. He was at one stage fired ^[6] during a dispute between him and the current editor of the Irish Times, but was reinstated.

[edit] Eurovision song

In 2006, Waters entered a song, The Words That Never Wear Out, for the Irish selection for the Eurovision Song Contest. The song wasn't accepted for the selection final, however. Waters publicly criticised the fact that the selected singer, Brian Kennedy, had been allowed to enter his own composition, Every Song is a Cry for Love, in the final and alleged favouritism towards Kennedy. He referred to people who had publicly criticised his song as "corner boys" in a column in Village magazine.

In 2007 the entry that he co-wrote with Tommy Moran, They Can't Stop The Spring was shortlisted for Ireland's entry to the 2007 contest.^[7] On February 16, 2007 They Can't Stop The Spring was selected on RTÉ's Late Late Show to represent Ireland in that year's final held in Helsinki. After a telephone vote of Late Late Show viewers, They Can't Stop The Spring won the selection. The song finished last in the competition, receiving only 5 points.^[8]

[edit] Blogging controversy

During a newspaper review on talk radio station Newstalk 106 Waters declared blogs and bloggers to be 'stupid' ^[9]. He then repeated those claims ^[10] the following week, sparking controversy amongst Irish bloggers^[11] who took exception to his views. In the same interview Waters claimed that "...sixty to seventy percent of the internet is pornography".^[12]