Mary Ellen Synon
Encyclopedia
Mary Ellen Synon is an Irish-American journalist currently based in Brussels
. She is a columnist with the Mail on Sunday and a contributor to the Daily Mail
in Britain and the Irish Daily Mail
, as well as the Irish weekly, The Sunday Business Post
. She writes a blog - titled "Euroseptic" - for the Daily Mail's website. In addition she is a frequent contributor to Irish radio current affairs programmes.
. After university in Dublin, Synon worked briefly for the Daily News in Durban
, South Africa, and for publications in New York before joining the staff of The Daily Telegraph
in London as a reporter. While she was at the Telegraph
, she was a member of the Institute of Journalists, and served as a trade union
official and negotiator. She was also awarded a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship which allowed her to be based in Paris for nine months to study the European Economic Community
. When Irish journalist Susan O'Keeffe
was brought before the Beef Tribunal for
refusing to name her sources, an article Synon wrote about O'Keeffe caused a public outcry:
"Just before the appearance, Ms. Synon wrote in the Sunday Tribune
that she would be happy to see Ms. O'Keeffe in handcuffs, a remark Ms. O'Keeffe's counsel complained about in court".
In 1995 Synon made headlines in the British and Irish press over her affair with Rupert Pennant-Rea
, the deputy governor of the Bank of England
. Pennant-Rea subsequently resigned. Synon went to the press when he called time on the dalliance, with contradictory statements. According to the Sunday Tribune
, she said: 'Yes, I adored him. Yes, I was in love with him.' She told The Guardian
: 'I hate the bugger.' 'If you're going to dump, don't dump a financial journalist when you're Deputy Governor of the Bank of England. That's dumb.' She was nicknamed 'the Bonk of England' by tabloid newspapers after she disclosed that she and Pennant-Rea had had sex on the governor's dressing room floor at the Bank. The then governor Sir Eddie George
allegedly had the carpet cut up.
Synon then worked at the London bureau of the American television current affairs programme, 60 Minutes
, working first as a researcher and then as an associate producer for correspondent Morley Safer and producer John Tiffin. She worked on 60 Minutes programmes in various countries including Nigeria, South Africa, Swaziland
, Ireland, France, Denmark, Germany and Britain. Synon subsequently worked as Dublin correspondent, then Europe correspondent, and finally Britain correspondent for The Economist
. She has also been a columnist in Ireland for the Sunday Business Post and the Sunday Independent
, and has contributed to The Irish Times
, the Irish Independent
and the Irish edition of the Sunday Times.
, and was noted for her opinions on asylum seekers, travellers, education
and other controversial issues. After one such article an unsuccessful attempt was made by a Travellers Rights Group to initiate a prosecution under the Incitement to Hatred Act. She also attacked Reconstruction and defended Nathan Bedford Forrest
's actions during the period, in terms similar to the Neo-Confederate
movement. Her tenure culminated in an article penned in 2000 attacking the Paralympics for blind and disabled athletes in Sydney
.
In the article, she wrote: 'It is time to suggest that these so-called Paralympics . . . are - well, one hesitates to say "grotesque". One will only say "perverse"…Surely physical competition is about finding the best - the fastest, strongest, highest, all that. It is not about finding someone who can wobble his way around a track in a wheelchair, or who can swim from one end of a pool to the other by Braille
.' She advised the disabled and blind to 'play to your competitive advantage' and added: 'In other words, Stephen Hawking shows his wisdom by staying out of the three-legged race.'
The article, which was criticised by the National Union of Journalists
, was subsequently discussed in the Irish Senate
where Maurice Hayes
, a senator, director of Independent News & Media
, which owns the Sunday Independent, and acquaintance of the controlling shareholder, said it was indefensible, indecent and hurtful: 'It should not have been written and if written, it should not have been published. I know that my views are shared by my colleagues on the Independent board and in particular by the chairman.' The chairman, Tony O'Reilly
, and his son, Gavin O'Reilly
were both attributed opinions in the matter.
Among other people she has criticised are the two female presidents of Ireland: 'that other ambitious small-town lady lawyer', Mary Robinson
, who worked for the 'headquarters of moral corruption, the United Nations
'; and the 'arrogant Mrs McAleese
'. She has also criticized Nicolas Sarkozy
.
Synon has also expressed admiration for the American philosopher Ayn Rand
. During the 2008 Presidential Election
,
Synon repeatedly championed Sarah Palin
as the politician best suited to represent conservative values and
govern the US.
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
. She is a columnist with the Mail on Sunday and a contributor to the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
in Britain and the Irish Daily Mail
Irish Daily Mail
The Irish Daily Mail is a newspaper published in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland by Associated Newspapers. The paper was launched in February 2006 with a launch strategy that included giving away free copies on the first day of circulation and low pricing subsequently....
, as well as the Irish weekly, The Sunday Business Post
The Sunday Business Post
The Sunday Business Post is an Irish national Sunday newspaper published by Post Publications Limited. Post Publications is owned by Thomas Crosbie Holdings. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, Ireland, the average weekly circulation was 57,783 for the period January to June 2009. The...
. She writes a blog - titled "Euroseptic" - for the Daily Mail's website. In addition she is a frequent contributor to Irish radio current affairs programmes.
Career
Synon was born in VirginiaVirginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. After university in Dublin, Synon worked briefly for the Daily News in Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
, South Africa, and for publications in New York before joining the staff of The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
in London as a reporter. While she was at the Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, she was a member of the Institute of Journalists, and served as a trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
official and negotiator. She was also awarded a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship which allowed her to be based in Paris for nine months to study the European Economic Community
European Economic Community
The European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) The European Economic Community (EEC) (also known as the Common Market in the English-speaking world, renamed the European Community (EC) in 1993The information in this article primarily covers the EEC's time as an independent...
. When Irish journalist Susan O'Keeffe
Susan O'Keeffe
Susan O'Keeffe is an Irish Labour Party politician and journalist. She was elected to the 24th Seanad in April 2011 on the Agricultural Panel. She was an unsuccessful candidate at the 2011 general election for the Sligo–North Leitrim constituency, polling 4,553 first preference votes...
was brought before the Beef Tribunal for
refusing to name her sources, an article Synon wrote about O'Keeffe caused a public outcry:
"Just before the appearance, Ms. Synon wrote in the Sunday Tribune
Sunday Tribune
The Sunday Tribune was an Irish Sunday broadsheet newspaper published by Tribune Newspapers plc. It was edited in its final years by Nóirín Hegarty, who changed both the tone and the physical format of the newspaper from broadsheet to tabloid. Former editors include Conor Brady, Vincent Browne,...
that she would be happy to see Ms. O'Keeffe in handcuffs, a remark Ms. O'Keeffe's counsel complained about in court".
In 1995 Synon made headlines in the British and Irish press over her affair with Rupert Pennant-Rea
Rupert Pennant-Rea
Rupert Lascelles Pennant-Rea is a British businessman, journalist, and former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England. The son of Peter and Pauline Pennant-Rea, he was educated at the Peterhouse School, an Anglican church boarding school near Marandellas, Rhodesia , before attending Trinity...
, the deputy governor of the Bank of England
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...
. Pennant-Rea subsequently resigned. Synon went to the press when he called time on the dalliance, with contradictory statements. According to the Sunday Tribune
Sunday Tribune
The Sunday Tribune was an Irish Sunday broadsheet newspaper published by Tribune Newspapers plc. It was edited in its final years by Nóirín Hegarty, who changed both the tone and the physical format of the newspaper from broadsheet to tabloid. Former editors include Conor Brady, Vincent Browne,...
, she said: 'Yes, I adored him. Yes, I was in love with him.' She told The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
: 'I hate the bugger.' 'If you're going to dump, don't dump a financial journalist when you're Deputy Governor of the Bank of England. That's dumb.' She was nicknamed 'the Bonk of England' by tabloid newspapers after she disclosed that she and Pennant-Rea had had sex on the governor's dressing room floor at the Bank. The then governor Sir Eddie George
Edward George, Baron George
Edward Alan John George, Baron George, GBE, PC, DL , known as Eddie George, or "Steady Eddie", was Governor of the Bank of England from 1993 to 2003 and sat on the board of Rothschild.-Personal life:...
allegedly had the carpet cut up.
Synon then worked at the London bureau of the American television current affairs programme, 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
, working first as a researcher and then as an associate producer for correspondent Morley Safer and producer John Tiffin. She worked on 60 Minutes programmes in various countries including Nigeria, South Africa, Swaziland
Swaziland
Swaziland, officially the Kingdom of Swaziland , and sometimes called Ngwane or Swatini, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa, bordered to the north, south and west by South Africa, and to the east by Mozambique...
, Ireland, France, Denmark, Germany and Britain. Synon subsequently worked as Dublin correspondent, then Europe correspondent, and finally Britain correspondent for The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
. She has also been a columnist in Ireland for the Sunday Business Post and the Sunday Independent
Sunday Independent
The Sunday Independent is a broadsheet Sunday newspaper published in Ireland by Independent News and Media plc. The newspaper is edited by Aengus Fanning, and is the biggest selling Irish Sunday newspaper by a large margin ; average circulation of 291,323 between June 2004 and January 2005,...
, and has contributed to The Irish Times
The Irish Times
The Irish Times is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Kevin O'Sullivan who succeeded Geraldine Kennedy in 2011; the deputy editor is Paul O'Neill. The Irish Times is considered to be Ireland's newspaper of record, and is published every day except Sundays...
, the Irish Independent
Irish Independent
The Irish Independent is Ireland's largest-selling daily newspaper that is published in both compact and broadsheet formats. It is the flagship publication of Independent News & Media.-History:...
and the Irish edition of the Sunday Times.
Controversial writing
In the 1990s Synon became a regular freelance columnist for the Dublin-based Sunday IndependentSunday Independent
The Sunday Independent is a broadsheet Sunday newspaper published in Ireland by Independent News and Media plc. The newspaper is edited by Aengus Fanning, and is the biggest selling Irish Sunday newspaper by a large margin ; average circulation of 291,323 between June 2004 and January 2005,...
, and was noted for her opinions on asylum seekers, travellers, education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
and other controversial issues. After one such article an unsuccessful attempt was made by a Travellers Rights Group to initiate a prosecution under the Incitement to Hatred Act. She also attacked Reconstruction and defended Nathan Bedford Forrest
Nathan Bedford Forrest
Nathan Bedford Forrest was a lieutenant general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. He is remembered both as a self-educated, innovative cavalry leader during the war and as a leading southern advocate in the postwar years...
's actions during the period, in terms similar to the Neo-Confederate
Neo-confederate
Neo-Confederate is a term used by some academics and political activists to describe the views of various groups and individuals who have a positive belief system concerning the historical experience of the Confederate States of America, the Southern secession, and the Southern United...
movement. Her tenure culminated in an article penned in 2000 attacking the Paralympics for blind and disabled athletes in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
.
In the article, she wrote: 'It is time to suggest that these so-called Paralympics . . . are - well, one hesitates to say "grotesque". One will only say "perverse"…Surely physical competition is about finding the best - the fastest, strongest, highest, all that. It is not about finding someone who can wobble his way around a track in a wheelchair, or who can swim from one end of a pool to the other by Braille
Braille
The Braille system is a method that is widely used by blind people to read and write, and was the first digital form of writing.Braille was devised in 1825 by Louis Braille, a blind Frenchman. Each Braille character, or cell, is made up of six dot positions, arranged in a rectangle containing two...
.' She advised the disabled and blind to 'play to your competitive advantage' and added: 'In other words, Stephen Hawking shows his wisdom by staying out of the three-legged race.'
The article, which was criticised by the National Union of Journalists
National Union of Journalists
The National Union of Journalists is a trade union for journalists in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. It was founded in 1907 and has 38,000 members. It is a member of the International Federation of Journalists .-Structure:...
, was subsequently discussed in the Irish Senate
Seanad Éireann
Seanad Éireann is the upper house of the Oireachtas , which also comprises the President of Ireland and Dáil Éireann . It is commonly called the Seanad or Senate and its members Senators or Seanadóirí . Unlike Dáil Éireann, it is not directly elected but consists of a mixture of members chosen by...
where Maurice Hayes
Maurice Hayes
Maurice Hayes is an Irish politician and was an independent member of the 21st and 22nd Seanads, nominated as a senator by the Taoiseach.-Life:Maurice Hayes was born in County Down in Northern Ireland....
, a senator, director of Independent News & Media
Independent News & Media
Independent News & Media plc , is a media organisation based in Dublin, Ireland, with interests in 22 countries on 4 continents worldwide. The company owns over 200 print titles, more than 130 radio stations, over 100 commercial websites and many billboard locations, and is a leading press player...
, which owns the Sunday Independent, and acquaintance of the controlling shareholder, said it was indefensible, indecent and hurtful: 'It should not have been written and if written, it should not have been published. I know that my views are shared by my colleagues on the Independent board and in particular by the chairman.' The chairman, Tony O'Reilly
Tony O'Reilly
Sir Anthony Joseph Francis O'Reilly is an Irish businessman and former international rugby union player. He is known for his involvement the Independent News & Media Group, which he led from 1973 to 2009, and as former CEO and Chairman of the H.J. Heinz Company. He was the leading shareholder of...
, and his son, Gavin O'Reilly
Gavin O'Reilly
Gavin Karl O'Reilly is a Dublin-born businessman with Irish and Australian citizenship, the second son and fourth child of Irish media magnate Tony O'Reilly and Australian Susan Cameron...
were both attributed opinions in the matter.
Among other people she has criticised are the two female presidents of Ireland: 'that other ambitious small-town lady lawyer', Mary Robinson
Mary Robinson
Mary Therese Winifred Robinson served as the seventh, and first female, President of Ireland from 1990 to 1997, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, from 1997 to 2002. She first rose to prominence as an academic, barrister, campaigner and member of the Irish Senate...
, who worked for the 'headquarters of moral corruption, the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
'; and the 'arrogant Mrs McAleese
Mary McAleese
Mary Patricia McAleese served as the eighth President of Ireland from 1997 to 2011. She was the second female president and was first elected in 1997 succeeding Mary Robinson, making McAleese the world's first woman to succeed another as president. She was re-elected unopposed for a second term in...
'. She has also criticized Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....
.
Synon has also expressed admiration for the American philosopher Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism....
. During the 2008 Presidential Election
United States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
,
Synon repeatedly championed Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
as the politician best suited to represent conservative values and
govern the US.