bloggorah.com, also known as blogorrah, was a
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
-based
Irish website owned by the publishing "empire" of
John Ryan. The site was edited by
Derek O'Connor in New York. It was known for satirising well-known social figures in Irish life such as politicians, models, actors and the media. Blogorrah regularly featured in Irish national newspapers and received radio coverage, with the ''
Sunday Independent'' referring to it as "frankly disgusting", and it was described by the ''
Irish Independent
The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper
A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray backgrou ...
'' as "a sort of ''
Phoenix'' without portfolio". Its end came when Ryan's publishing empire collapsed in 2007. A new blog ''The Chancer'' was launched in its place after
Jim Carroll
James Dennis Carroll (August 1, 1949 – September 11, 2009) was an American author, poet, and punk musician. Carroll was best known for his 1978 autobiographical work '' The Basketball Diaries'', which inspired a 1995 film of the same title ...
of ''
The Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...
'' questioned what Irish bloggers had written about before blogorrah.
Background
Ryan's publishing company initially owned the publishing venture ''
Stars on Sunday'' which folded with losses. He then set up the ''
New York Dog
''New York Dog'' was an unsuccessful lifestyle magazine for animal lovers based upon women's fashion and lifestyle magazines but instead featuring dogs, owned by Michael O'Doherty (publisher), Michael O'Doherty and John Ryan (publisher), John Ryan ...
'' magazine, which he promoted on ''
The Late Late Show'', and blogorrah.com. The site was edited by Derek O'Connor but mysteriously stopped filing new posts in July 2007. Ryan was also known for his business partnership with
Michael O'Doherty, the owner of ''
VIP
A very important person (VIP or V.I.P.) or personage is a person who is accorded special privileges due to their high social rank, status, influence, or importance. The term was not common until sometime after World War II when it was populari ...
'' magazine. After the collapse of his business empire in early 2007, Ryan was declared missing after he claimed a pet-food scare led to the closure of ''New York Dog''. O'Doherty said he had not heard from Ryan for over a month. Before his disappearance Ryan had attended the
Electric Picnic
Electric Picnic is an annual arts-and-music festival which has been staged since 2004 at Stradbally Hall in Stradbally, County Laois, Ireland.
Overview
It is organised by Pod Concerts and Festival Republic, who purchased the majority sh ...
music festival in the company of fellow publisher Trevor White and soon after appeared as a guest on ''
The Tubridy Show
''The Tubridy Show'' was an Irish talk-based entertainment radio programme presented by Ryan Tubridy. It was broadcast on Mondays to Fridays at 09:00 on RTÉ Radio 1.
Known for its influential book club, the programme attracted 333,000 listene ...
''. However, a rival website then accused him of mistreating his workers and he left the country until
his 2009 television return.
Downfall
Blogorrah failed to update for a number of weeks, with their last normal post before its disappearance being 12 June 2007. On 21 June 2007 Blogorrah claimed the website was undergoing a redesign. But in July 2007 it left a claim that they were to return “very soon”, after a month of no usual updates whatsoever. This was followed by a post in the website's traditional style with the headline “Blogorrah Will Return (Very Soon). In The Meantime...” with a list of “Ten reasons why Blogorrah took July off”. This proved to be the last post before it shut down.
References
{{John Ryan
Irish comedy websites