10.2.05
Daily Ireland
Web master to expand satire site
The mastermind behind a satirical Derry-based website yesterday revealed plans to expand it across the North of Ireland.
The purederry.com website has attracted almost 150,000 hits since it was launched last August. It takes a swipe at many peculiar characteristics of life in Derry.
The site has proved hugely popular with people from the city, including many expats, but has also provoked anger from some of the well-known people featured in its columns.
Until today, Pure Derry’s editor has remained hidden behind the pages of the website.
However, Daily Ireland can reveal that the man behind the site is 26-year-old Derry man Ciarán Murray.
Murray said he spends each Sunday updating the site. Content is also provided by a group of contributors.
With a problem page entitled “Dear Majella”, a ream of acidic satire that pokes fun at who's who in Derry and the northwest, and an irreverent disregard for the status quo, Pure Derry is poised to widen its appeal and make some cash in the process.
For Murray, the inspiration for the website came from living away from his home city.
"I was living away from home in Austria," the University of Ulster student told Daily Ireland.
"When I came back I had to deprogramme myself and began to really notice all of the colloquialisms in Derry. Everything just hit me up the face and I decided I would try to build a website.” The result was a hilarious take on the city and its peculiarities.
Murray says he was influenced by the satirical US website The Onion, which takes a wry look at the breaking news stories of the day.
He has tried to keep the appeal of his website wider than just the field of politics.
“The satire is more broad-based and is not just political. On its first day, it received 1,000 hits.
“One thing we didn't want to do was to get tied down to politics. Whatever's been in the news, we managed to find a crazy Derry connection.
“But we now also want to make the humour more universally appealing," Murray says.
Although Pure Derry doesn't recoil from taking potshots at people in the public eye, there are a few figures Murray considers off limits — Derry City soccer legend Liam Coyle and local actor Bronagh Gallagher.
Web master to expand satire site
The mastermind behind a satirical Derry-based website yesterday revealed plans to expand it across the North of Ireland.
The purederry.com website has attracted almost 150,000 hits since it was launched last August. It takes a swipe at many peculiar characteristics of life in Derry.
The site has proved hugely popular with people from the city, including many expats, but has also provoked anger from some of the well-known people featured in its columns.
Until today, Pure Derry’s editor has remained hidden behind the pages of the website.
However, Daily Ireland can reveal that the man behind the site is 26-year-old Derry man Ciarán Murray.
Murray said he spends each Sunday updating the site. Content is also provided by a group of contributors.
With a problem page entitled “Dear Majella”, a ream of acidic satire that pokes fun at who's who in Derry and the northwest, and an irreverent disregard for the status quo, Pure Derry is poised to widen its appeal and make some cash in the process.
For Murray, the inspiration for the website came from living away from his home city.
"I was living away from home in Austria," the University of Ulster student told Daily Ireland.
"When I came back I had to deprogramme myself and began to really notice all of the colloquialisms in Derry. Everything just hit me up the face and I decided I would try to build a website.” The result was a hilarious take on the city and its peculiarities.
Murray says he was influenced by the satirical US website The Onion, which takes a wry look at the breaking news stories of the day.
He has tried to keep the appeal of his website wider than just the field of politics.
“The satire is more broad-based and is not just political. On its first day, it received 1,000 hits.
“One thing we didn't want to do was to get tied down to politics. Whatever's been in the news, we managed to find a crazy Derry connection.
“But we now also want to make the humour more universally appealing," Murray says.
Although Pure Derry doesn't recoil from taking potshots at people in the public eye, there are a few figures Murray considers off limits — Derry City soccer legend Liam Coyle and local actor Bronagh Gallagher.
