Why is Questions and Answers so bad?

tadgher

Is it because the panels seem to be always drawn from the same pool of twenty politicians, five journalists, four solicitors, three academics, two foreigners and Nell McCafferty?

Is it because John Bowman is both an ineffectual chairman and the voice of Establishment Ireland?

Is it because the audience is full of party hacks, lunatics and people clutching their contributions in their sweaty hands?

Is it because of the way that John Bowman will silence a speaker with an outstretched palm, while simultaneously contradicting what they have just said? Is it because he thinks this is acceptable?

Is it because, on so many questions, everyone agrees on the answer?

Cabaal

tadgher wrote:

Is it because the audience is full of party hacks, lunatics and people clutching their contributions in their sweaty hands?

There's a audience?
I've never seen anything to suggest there is,

monument

tadgher wrote:

Is it because the panels seem to be always drawn from the same pool of twenty politicians, five journalists, four solicitors, three academics, two foreigners and Nell McCafferty?

...

Is it because the audience is full of party hacks, lunatics and people clutching their contributions in their sweaty hands?

Is it because these people are involved with, or have an interest in, the topics of the program?

tadgher wrote:

Is it because John Bowman is both an ineffectual chairman and the voice of Establishment Ireland?
...
Is it because of the way that John Bowman will silence a speaker with an outstretched palm, while simultaneously contradicting what they have just said? Is it because he thinks this is acceptable?

Why I am not going to comment on John Bowman...

Is it because you gave no reasons for your accusations of him being an ‘ineffectual chairman’ or the ‘voice of Establishment Ireland’?

Is it because you also haven’t giving a reason why his actions are unacceptable?

tadgher wrote:

Is it because, on so many questions, everyone agrees on the answer?

What?!!

Cork

Is it because, on so many questions, everyone agrees on the answer?

Are the topics that questions can be asked on set?

They are too many politicians on the programme and it never seems to tease out issues.

I have stopped watching it because it has become predictable. Politicians give well rehersed opinions.

Issues which deserve debate become political footballs.

Moe79

I actually thought last Monday's Questions and Answers was excellent.. Pat Rabbitte and Nell McCafferty, though both full of garbage, made for entertaining viewing.

Although Nell really annoyed me when she basically laughed like a kid through one of her answers so as to disguise the fact that she had no clear opinion on the topic.

emertoff

Yes, it's a poor imitation of Question Time IMO.

Actually, I have a lot of respect for John Bowman but I agree with the original point about the pre-ordained make-up of 'the panel'. Too many political lackeys,academics,society barristers, and establishment journos.
In addition, the panel should not be privvy to the questions in advance.

A wider point is that our politicians and opionion-shapers get a very easy ride from RTE. Rarely do we see any in-depth interviewing, and never any opportunity for 'ordinary' people to share a studio with elected reprentatives.

The last election was a perfect case in point. FF ensured an information blackout and more or less dictated to RTE what the coverage would be. There should be a series of debates, not just one on the last campaign night.
Debates should be scheduled regardless and if FF want to be represented by an empty chair then that would be up to them. Sorry for going off-topic but it annoys me.

DublinWriter

emertoff wrote:

A wider point is that our politicians and opionion-shapers get a very easy ride from RTE. Rarely do we see any in-depth interviewing, and never any opportunity for 'ordinary' people to share a studio with elected reprentatives.

...not to mention both Scrap Saturday and Bull Island being cancelled at the height of their popularity when RTE were lobbying hard for a licence fee-increase.

However, I do agree about all the previous critisms about Q&A.

I'd also like to add that the 'new' set looks like something you'd get if you locked a junior civil servant in the OPW up in a small room with some paper, a packet of red markers and nothing to eat except magic mushrooms for 72 hours.

star gazer

I get the sense John Bowman is holding back when it comes to asking the really tough questions or when he does to not following through to get a proper answer. I think Bowman should write one of the questions himself and ad a bit of spice that way. One thing that is difficult is that the guests are usually treated differently, the politicians get a roasting and the other guests get it less so. in fairness some guests wouldn't really be expected to take much political heat but there are plenty of reps who could do with less of an easy ride.

I agree that there should be a wider range of politicians brought onto it and that the audience is so full of party hacks or people who already hold extreme views on issues that it's not reflective of the population in general. Audience members should be expected to state their party affiliation or other interest rather than having the television audience realising only after three sentences that really this guy/girl is actually a govt/FG/Lab/SF/GR/Ind hack. However i would suggest that if a near independent panalist does a really good performance that there should be no reason that they can't become a regular to the show. Viewers tend to appreciate consistency and someone with an inteligent opinion not totally tied to what they work at.

Flukey

RTE generally have very good current affairs programmes and at times Questions and Answers is very good, depending on the issues raised and the panel. Naturally there is going to be a similar type of panel each week, but they always have panelists on the programme that would be particularly relevant to the issues of the day. Naturally there are always going to be party hacks in the audience too, but the non-affiliated general public get tickets too. I know non-party people who have been on it and have been offered tickets to go on it myself, though I am not connected with any party. If you e-mail them they will send you a number to ring for audience tickets. Go on it and then come back and tell us what you think.

star gazer

originally posted by Flukey
Go on it and then come back and tell us what you think.

I was talking as a television viewer which i would have thought was the point. It could be magic live, but if it doesn't work on TV then RTE wouldn't keep it going. I'm not saying it's a bad program, it is definitely one of the more penetrative political programs but that there is room for improvement.

Naturally there are always going to be party hacks in the audience too, but the non-affiliated general public get tickets too

A declaration of interest would be helpful i think because i don't want to have to try to work out where someone is coming from even if in the end they do sound like general memebers of the public who have an opinion. And i'm not just talking about political parties, say a controversial new road is proposed and it turns to the audience, i would like to know if the audience member is affiliated with the road builder or the protest group so i know what is vox pop and what is not.

Flukey

Some are and do declare it on air and some don't. There are also some very knowledgeable members of the public who are non-affiliate, who may appear to be affiliated due to their knowledge. Of course some questions and comments are slanted, but that is the nature of the beast and it is impossible to know for sure what their interests are. In the programme apparently the way they select the questions is to ask the audience what they want to ask and select the main issues that arise and the question or questions in relation to that issues that are most suitable to raise that issue. There is some editorial control exercised although once it goes live, they can't be sure what people will say. I don't know what knowledge of the audience does John Bowman have and if he possibly avoids some of the people that he knows may be trouble. It is for those reasons I'd be interested in seeing what actually goes on off-air. Maybe I will order tickets some time.