Yesterday was a jaw-droppingly awful day for the once noble institution of American democracy.
Watch @robertmooreitv's report from inside the Capitol building as the extraordinary events unfolded in Washington DChttps://t.co/krCQf1uQbx pic.twitter.com/SiWbzF5Nzs
— ITV News (@itvnews) January 6, 2021
For Irish people watching coverage on CNN through their fingers, there was some light relief in the fact that a certain Donie O'Sullivan was reporting from the scene of the crime. As his named would suggest, O'Sullivan comes from Kerry and has been working with CNN for five years.
O'Sullivan comes from Cahirciveen and studied at UCD and Queens in Belfast before heading to America to work in the media. He's been on the trail of the insurgent far right for awhile now, and actually was one of the best-placed journalists in the country to speak about how conspiracy theories and misinformation fueled yesterday's attempted coup. (For more background on O'Sullivan, listen to his interview with Jarlath Regan in October)
Given the historical moment taking place, and the sheer number of armed lunatics around him, O'Sullivan was quite composed when speaking with Wolf Blitzer from outside Capitol Hill.
.@donie, reporting from Capitol Hill: "In 2016 people tried to write off anything about social media, saying oh, it's only a few Facebook posts, what harm? Here's the harm. The harm of conspiracy theories, the harm of people living in these online and Trump media echo chambers." pic.twitter.com/kisSUSNRxb
— Tara Mulholland (@tara_mulholland) January 6, 2021
For Irish Twitter, it was the 'death spiral of democracy' version of spotting a Kerry jersey at the Masters
Well, everyone seems to know my big brother now. 😂 So proud of you Donie. 🇮🇪 Up Kerry! pic.twitter.com/VQArYk7tdY
— Sinéad O’Sullivan (@SineadOS4) January 6, 2021
It's Donie's Kingdom now!#donie #kerry #cnn pic.twitter.com/16hsJmJk1b
— Kevin O'Brien (@kevob777) January 7, 2021
CNN: “We’re now going to go to Donie O’Sullivan whose on the ground for us”
Irish Twitter: #WashingtonDC pic.twitter.com/Vc8ipa2SaK— Sinead Farrelly (@sinead_farrelly) January 6, 2021
It's all about one man tonight... @donie pic.twitter.com/arjrxiVStF
— Kevin Coleman (@kvn_clmn) January 6, 2021
Left back ... on the bench.
— Donie O'Sullivan (@donie) January 7, 2021
Considering the words 'Murder The Media' were found scrawled on walls inside the Capitol building yesterday, we'd just like to wish O'Sullivan health and safety in his reporting on this catastrophic time.
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