would RTE News 24 work?

thejollyrodger

Ireland needs its own 24 hour news sevice.... all island at a quality of RTE not Sky news which seems very tabloid and covers storied very superfically

flogen

thejollyrodger wrote:

Ireland needs its own 24 hour news sevice.... all island at a quality of RTE not Sky news which seems very tabloid and covers storied very superfically

I would like to see RTE news 24, but I just can't imagine it being viable. RTE need to sort out their accounts first, then they could afford about 16 more channels (ad free ) with the money they bring in every year.

flogen

thejollyrodger

Im pissed having to look at SKY NEWS every evening.... RTE should be re organised to provide real value for money and then launch the 24hr news channel... more like the bbc than SKY. SKY sucks

bus77

I think we're still too small a country/population for that 24 hour stuff. RTE shound get the main shows back on track imo and maybe invest in stations like "Euronews" and get ahead of the posse.

flogen

not a big fan of euronews at all... just never anything I want to watch on it... and so much damn weather!
If RTE got their accounts sorted, i think they could manage a 24 hours news channel, although as part of being a PSB their output should only be relevant to the needs of the Irish people (majority and minority), im not sure if that would cover a constant news channel.
Perhaps they could link up with BBC for news... would be alot of work, but given their co-operation on some other shows, maybe RTE and BBC NI could work together to make an all Ireland news service.... I dont know how it would operate in reality, but just a thought to put out there.

I'd be happy to see RTE just sort itself out financially and get some money into their existing channels for the time being, though.

flogen

bus77

Ahh yeah I dont watch euronews either
I just see a time when this EU stuff kicks in and people will start looking for Europe wide stations/news but all we'll have is Murdock style tabloid ones

Thinking about it now though, all the state owned national stations around europe should be making a move now and setting up local news divisions under one banner and sharing content.(and a translation service;))

Flukey

I don't think a News 24 from RTE would be viable. They provide good news and current affairs as it is. Going up against SKY News would not make sense. We are too small to have enough interesting news to keep it going, so we'd have to compete direct with Sky who have greater resources. The recent Sky News Ireland flop proves that even they can't make a success of it. Stick to what we have. There is enough news on TV as it is along with radio, the Net, papers etc. to keep us all going.

flogen

Flukey wrote:

The recent Sky News Ireland flop proves that even they can't make a success of it.

Thats debateable... I would argue that sky news Ireland is doing badly because of a) its time slot (and the fact that it isn't really 24 hour news, its just another news bullitten, b) TV3 already has the audience that would watch the sky news style of show for half hour bullittens, and it can do a better job of it (its not the best news show, but it is usually up to date, and has plenty of people around the country reporting, rather than sky, which seems to have about 3). c) Sky News is on all the time, and besides Grainne Seioge there is very little difference in SNI and the regular kind, d) (and I can only guess) Irish people, on average are looking for less tabloid journalism. Sure The Sun sells well, but its readers wouldnt be news devotees, and so wouldn't be rushing for a news service of that type. Broadsheet readers, on the other hand, are probably more likely to have a greater interest in current affairs*, and a respectable news service would appeal to them.

*total generalisation here, apologies to any sun readers interested in news, and any broadsheet readers who are not.

I think that if RTE got its money sorted, it could make a decent 24 service that would be watched... linking with BBC NI would also help it out.

flogen

Flukey

Well I wouldn't sit all day watching news, even though I am interested in News and Current Affairs. Ireland does not have the audience big enough to get the advertising revenue to keep a 24 hour news channel going. There is too much competition as well. They don't have Murdoch's Millions to support it. There is enough news out there between the channels we have and the radio and newspapers. RTE do very well between radio and television in the news and current affairs that they bring us. They have other things to concentrate on, so though you might find it attractive, it isn't really viable for a country like this.

On the subject of the Sun, did you hear they sacked one of their journalists last week for bringing the paper into disrepute? He wrote a news story that was true!

flogen

Flukey wrote:

Well I wouldn't sit all day watching news, even though I am interested in News and Current Affairs. Ireland does not have the audience big enough to get the advertising revenue to keep a 24 hour news channel going. There is too much competition as well. They don't have Murdoch's Millions to support it. There is enough news out there between the channels we have and the radio and newspapers. RTE do very well between radio and television in the news and current affairs that they bring us. They have other things to concentrate on, so though you might find it attractive, it isn't really viable for a country like this.

It doesn't take you or I watching news constantly to make it viable, and while I certainly don't know for sure if it would float, I think RTE wouldn't be mistaken for at least considering the possibilities, while they don't possess the endless pit of money Sky News does, they have a decent income which could prop them up enough if spent wisely. I'd say some market research (if not already conducted) is in order.

Also, dont be under the mistake that Sky News costs Murdoch anything, if it was running at a loss he would have either changed format majorly or jumped ship by now. As Bill Gates once said "I didn't get rich by writing a load of cheques"

On the subject of the Sun, did you hear they sacked one of their journalists last week for bringing the paper into disrepute? He wrote a news story that was true!

buh dum-dum tis

By the way, I'm breaking this off the original thread, as its seriously off topic (although an interesting and important discussion none-the-less)

flogen

Flukey

I can't see it as a genuine runner. The country is too small. There would not be enough decent news to fill it. Even with the reporting structures that Sky has, it does get a bit boring with the same thing over and over again for hours. It gets annoying when hours after a story was first reported they still have "Breaking News" and "News Flash" on the screen.

There are a number of things that annoy me about Sky News. They go into overkill on big stories sometimes. No matter how big a story is, they should always have a little bit of other news within each hour. Even when they spend the full hour on a story, hour after hour, a lot of it is filled with stuff that isn't really that relevant and the time could be used for quick updates on other stories. No matter how enthralling a story is, it is good to show a bit of something else, even to give people a break from seeing the same thing all the time. They should maintain their regular features and at least do a brief sports headlines at 20 past the hour, before returning to the main story for example.

When the Shuttle exploded last year they had bits of JFK making his speech about going into space, which at best had only a tentative link to the story of the day. That time could have been used for other stories. Sometimes it appears as if absolutely nothing else is happening in the world. In 1997 it was almost as if they were lucky that Diana died when she did, because they had absolutely no other news to report for a whole week! Even when they are giving the headlines on days like that, some of the "headlines" given are minor parts of the story in question and not headlines in their own right.

flogen

The sky news tendency for Breaking News on old stories is all part of their tabloid nature, and so is the over hype of everything (they repeated the same few minutes again and again when brando died, and when the "riots" took place on the EU expansion day). This would hopefully be something RTE could avoid if they made the venture.
The channel wouldnt have to be just news, there could be plenty of features, like what BBC 24 does.
Anyway, my stance is that it should be considered by RTE; if it is viable etc. then it should happen (and an all Ireland one with BBC NI would only help that case). I cant say for sure what kind of percentage would like the channel, but no one can until they do some research and so on.
Setanta feel that they can put on a free sports channel and have enough content to air with a long enough broadcast day, I certainly wouldn't have thought there would be enough decent stuff to go around for that (and bad/unpopular sports dont tend to pull in ratings).

flogen

mike65

RTE can't be arsed to fill the exisiting news slots every day of the year - witness Prime Time getting cut back during summer, ditto Six-One. RTE radio is no better ,Morning Ireland has been cut by 30 mins for no good reason. So the idea they could sustain 24 hrs news is laughable.

Mike.

Flukey

Well Summer is seen as the silly season when nothing much happens and when they are shorter on staff because of holidays, so they cut back on news. They should be able to maintain the full service through the Summer and keep other programmes like Questions and Answers going. At least in the 6:30 slot, although they have been repeated many times now, the Reeling in the Years programmes are good. They should try and do more of them for the other decades.

emertoff

A 24-hour news channel is not viable in my view, it is also uneccessary.
RTE are already stretched with news coverage. They do an excellent job of reporting home news, but cutting political analysis and international news is where they fall down on. They could/should do a number of things:
1. Have a breakfast news show to rival the dross on TV3.
2. Let Six-One focus on primarily on Home news.
3. Give the 9 O'Clock slot a more international bias.
4. Introduce a 'Newsnight' type programme to replace News 2 - currently just an disorganised re-hash of the day's reports. Unless there is a breaking story during the day there can often be very little difference between the content of RTE's news programming throughout the day.

BBC Newsnight is ecellent, not just because of Paxman and the live in-studio interviews, but also the format. It takes a number of stories - not necessarily in the days headlines, and a mix of home and international news - and analyses them in some depth. That is what's wrong with RTE's news - no analysis beyond the same old soundbite reporting, particularly from Charlie Bird.

News is an event these days and RTE's anchors are mostly boring and over the hill. The classic older guy/younger girl mix should be used for Six-One.
They should have tried to get Grainne Seoige and could use Sharon Ni Bheolain a lot more.

mike65

emertoff wrote:

BBC Newsnight is ecellent, not just because of Paxman and the live in-studio interviews, but also the format. It takes a number of stories - not necessarily in the days headlines, and a mix of home and international news - and analyses them in some depth. That is what's wrong with RTE's news - no analysis beyond the same old soundbite reporting, particularly from Charlie Bird.

Agree about a Newsnight format but it needs presenters of a certain "weight" to make it work - certainly not fluffy eye candy. See below!

emertoff wrote:

They should have tried to get Grainne Seoige and could use Sharon Ni Bheolain a lot more.

Mike.

Flukey

Well Prime Time is not that different from Newsnight and does a good job. As to splitting the 6 and 9 news to domestic and international stories, they are both targetting a different audience so those not home from work at 6 would miss out and those not able to see the 9 news would also miss out. The 6 news does cover a broader range of news and gives more time to the different aspects, like the sports news for example or a longer interview based on the main story of the day, once the main news stories have been covered. The 9 news is the flagship news event and of course can cover developments on the main stories of the day.

flogen

I think David McWilliams would be a brilliant Irish equivelant to Paxman if they were to go for a newsnight style show..

see other thread )

flogen

Cork

flogen wrote:

I would like to see RTE news 24, but I just can't imagine it being viable. RTE need to sort out their accounts first, then they could afford about 16 more channels (ad free ) with the money they bring in every year.

flogen

They could well start updating the news between the 6 and 9 o clock versions.

Does time stand still in RTE?

Flukey

In fairness, if there are updates on news during that period they are reflected in the 9 o'clock bulletin. Naturally, being the main news of the day, it is going to have a lot of the same stories. Most stories of a given day have occurred before 6pm and as I said, any interim developments are reported at 9. A lot of people don't ever get to see the 6 o'clock news. RTE can only report the news, they can't create it. On some days the reports on the 1 o'clock news are still being shown on the 9 o'clock news, but whatever it was may well be the story of the day. On other days, the news differs on all bulletins. RTE does a fairly good job on news and current affairs for their size and influence. They would still always be my prime source of news.

monument

thejollyrodger wrote:

Ireland needs its own 24 hour news sevice.... all island at a quality of RTE not Sky news which seems very tabloid and covers storied very superfically

Ireland has 24 hour news services...

http://www.breakingnews.ie/
http://www.rte.ie/news/

grumpytrousers

I'd have thought that considering the limited resources available to RTE the standard of their television news output is pretty good. You get 2 decent bulletins on RTE1, and network 2 news isn't as dumbed down as you'd initially suspect. They tend to have a reporter where they're needed, and when they're needed (although I have noticed a little bit of sending a reporter to say absolutely nothing, just 'cos SKY do it!).

I suppose that if RTE sorted out their finances they could maybe afford a 24 hour news service. But face facts - who the hell would watch it. I'd consider myself a news junkie, but sweet jesus, there's only so much happening on this wee island. Aye - it could cover international news as well, but once they go into that area, they're directly competing with the Big Guns.

In addition, assuming they had the money and chose to blow it on rolling news, the outcry from the usual suspects (yeah - meself included ) would start that the wasting of license payers money etc etc etc entertainment etc etc pisspoor attempting at copying Brits and so on.

Maybe more local news you might say. Have any of you lot read a local paper recently. 'Pencil Stolen - Gardai Stumped', 'Man drunk and disorderly outside chipper', 'Bear ****s in woods' and so forth...

mike65

grumpytrousers wrote:

Maybe more local news you might say. Have any of you lot read a local paper recently. 'Pencil Stolen - Gardai Stumped', 'Man drunk and disorderly outside chipper', 'Bear ****s in woods' and so forth...

Maybe if they did it in the Naked News stylee....plus court reports - National mortification!.

Mike.

grumpytrousers

Live action 'Bog Cuttings' a la The Phoenix, y'mean?

I'd watch....

Flukey

Naked news on RTE? There are certainly some bulletins I'd tune into if certain readers were doing the bulletin. Isn't it a good thing that Derek Davis no longer reads the news?

star gazer

would RTE News 24 work?

Possibly, but you'd probably have to wait for one of those huge, gripping stories that keep changing every few minutes to get it started. Unfortunately that is usually some kind of disaster like a war or natural disaster. Creating such a long news day would also give talents which rte clearly has a bigger platform on a wider number of issues.

Flukey

We are heading into September and Six-One is back to its full hour from today. Their other current affairs programmes will be getting up and going now soon too. That is as much news and current affairs as we need. It is one of the areas that RTE does do a good job.

DMC

When the prospect of Digital TV was on the horizon, I was all in favour of a RTÉ News Channel.

Now, I'm not so sure. As everyone here says, there is nothing wrong with the current output of RTÉ News. Yes, RTÉ News on 2 might need tweaking, might come with the launch (read re-launch) of RTÉ 2 in a few weeks. But on the whole, Six-One, The Nine* and the One are excellent programmes, with top class presenters.

For breaking news, they are not as good on their own turf, even Sky or BBC will be live at a scene and on air quicker than RTÉ. Examples: Sky and the semi-riot at the Phoenix Park on May 1st, BBC when the Chinese immigrants were found dead in a lorry at Rosslare Harbour a couple of years ago, Shane Harrison was on the scene quick smart.

For breaking news abroad, 9/11, three years ago today, it showed how slow a animal RTÉ can be. They did ok with Carol Coleman and Conor O'Cleary of the Irish Times reporting, but it was via phone etc. I always remember that like TV-am c.1984 and the Brighton bombing.

So. What would RTÉ News 24 look like?
Again, as a small player with no real network of foreign based journos, the 9/11 scenario will still be a factor. They could do a better version of Euronews, they have great access to the Eurovision Network and the BBC. Can we see the Irish news being updated quicker?

So will it be any better than Sky News or BBC News 24? Hard to say. These are mighty, huge, media organisations. We'd have to make expectations not as lofty as the cross channel versions.

So for that reason, I feel that RTÉ shouldn't do a 24-hr News channel per se, but some sort of channel that, like BBC Radio 5 Live, be a mix of News/Sport/Debate, and add in the Dáil stuff, then go into live news as it breaks, then I can see it in a good light.

Any opinions?


* Issue with Anne Doyle; she's a newsreader really, not a journo by trade. When she does a two-way with any politican**, she cant readily adapt to something they say unlike Bryan Dobson, say. There are some others like her too.

**No Jim McDaid jokes now

pork99

DMC wrote:

So. What would RTÉ News 24 look like?
Again, as a small player with no real network of foreign based journos, the 9/11 scenario will still be a factor. They could do a better version of Euronews, they have great access to the Eurovision Network and the BBC. Can we see the Irish news being updated quicker?

So will it be any better than Sky News or BBC News 24? Hard to say. These are mighty, huge, media organisations. We'd have to make expectations not as lofty as the cross channel versions.

If there was to be a RTE 24 hour news channel the obvious solution is to do some sort of partnership/franchising deal with BBC, ITN, SKY, CNN or the like. RTE would cover the local stories and the "big gun" partner would do the international coverage.

Also it should have someone like David McWilliams doing the in-depth analysis type programs

(Even the newspapers in this country are a bit slow off the mark with international news. I remember in the 1991 Gulf War the Irish Indo having to rely on syndicated news of very variable quality while English newspapers on the level of the "Scunthorpe Observer" had a man on the ground in Saudi Arabia)

flogen

your mixture of news/sport and debate is probably the most workable DMC, and most stations, even BBC and Sky link up with foreign networks for international news, so sky went to Fox during 9/11, and I think BBc often go to CBS (but I'm not sure).

RTE could link up with both BBC and ABC or CBS in America, it wouldnt be all that strange.
No matter what they do, though, they need to sort out their instant reporting. Sky had the Dublin Bus crash a good while before RTE cut to it, and it doesnt get more central than that.
I already pointed out on another thread how they were the only channel not to cut normal programming and cover the Belsan incident, which is rediculous.

flogen

mike65

DMC wrote:

So for that reason, I feel that RTÉ shouldn't do a 24-hr News channel per se, but some sort of channel that, like BBC Radio 5 Live, be a mix of News/Sport/Debate, and add in the Dáil stuff, then go into live news as it breaks, then I can see it in a good light.

Any opinions?

I agree, Radio one is in truth half-way there already what with news and comment in one shape or from from 7 am till 7 pm with two breaks 12-1pm and 3.30-5pm. They could easily tweak the mix so there's room for breaking news and analysis and get rid of Ronan Collins!

Mike.