sexual discrimination in RTE?

constitutionus

Just wondering if anyone's noticed that all the country correspondants in RTE news seem to be female. whats the problem, no lads applying for the jobs? in fact bar the lad with the gammy eye there doesnt seem to be a male reporter under 35 on the news period (im excluding the sport here).

it doesnt really bother me that much, hell its half the reason i watch TG4 (god bless those weather girls:D ) but it does seem to be an unofficial policy and just wondered what you thought.

copacetic

i think this is a ridiculous topic.

metrovelvet

<snip>

Tom Dunne

The men in TV3 must be a happy bunch, so.

Kevster

copacetic wrote:

i think this is a ridiculous topic.

Agreed. This is pathetic and this type of argument [a severely 'lacking-in-substance' argument] is too common nowadays.

flogen

If you think this is a stupid topic then don't post here - it'll drop off the radar pretty quickly.

Metro - you and others may think your comment is funny but I doubt a passerby from RTE would, and I'm sure that situation would just lead to a legal headache for boards.ie, which it hardly needs more of. Edited.

Now, back on topic - that's assuming there actually is anything to discuss here (rather than just an attempt at kite flying).

DMC

Of the RTE regional correspondants, only 2 are female (Mid-west and North-west) I think John Kilraine is still Dublin correspondent?

Shurely shome mishtake, OP.

constitutionus

i started this as a bit of a wry nod at the sexualisation of the news. cant belive how aggressive some people seem to be about it. this is meant to be about media and you have to admit its changed a great deal from staid bloke in a suit to sharon ni bheolain in her catsuit. its certainly no more stupid a thread than what size the irish times gets published in.:)

im not a journo, just joe public posting his obversations so i have to ask, you guys do actually watch the news dont you? the male complement of six one is basically the old fogeys thatve been there since the 80's. your man that covers the dail and the sports lads. everything else is girls, usually shashaying towards the cameres dolled up to the eyes and wearing pastel coloured wool. not exactly kate addie is it?

i mean can anyone actually name anyone in RTE thats under 35 and male on the news?

jesus its not like theyre the only ones, TG4 dont seem to have any men working for em at all as presenters besides the news guy and the token weatherman to keep the girls happy. its just simply modern TV business, slap something pretty on the telly and people will watch it which boosts ad revenue. its not nuclear physics, i just feel sorry for the girls cause they dont seem to be getting any thinking totty for them.

and hey for a moment i thought it could be a good chance to discuss the fact women seem to be doing better in media than blokes on average prehaps making it one of the few professions where they out earn men. but my mistake

Kevster

constitutionus wrote:

i started this as a bit of a wry nod at the sexualisation of the news. cant belive how aggressive some people seem to be about it.

I wasn't aggressive about the RTÉ issue - I was stressed-out over other things so I probably shouldn't have posted. I see your point now though but I still think it's not something to look too much into!

Sorry about my comment.


Take care,
Kevin.

DMC

Thanks for the clarifcation.

It's a fair spot... the women on RTÉ News do look younger* than their male counterparts, but to me, it makes no odds, so long as the news is delivered and given to the public without being sexed up. What I mean is, they are not standing up for the sake of seeing their legs... (ITV, Sky News... etc)

Kevster

DMC wrote:

What I mean is, they are not standing up for the sake of seeing their legs... (ITV, Sky News... etc)

Ha! I wanted to post something about those female news-readers on Sky News... ...I think it's ridiculous the way they are portrayed. There's one that does the late-night news sometimes and she just looks gaunt and borderline anorexic.


Kevin.

Tom Dunne

There was a piece in the Sunday Times at the weekend about TV3's new "news" and "current affairs" program, Xpose, I think it was called.

It basically said the promotion for the program was more "Hey look at these babes" rather than "Subjective debate on current events".

Shouldn't expect much more TV3, in fairness.

It's back to my usual rant about the dumbing down of the media. TV3 are catering for the low end of the market, the tabloid-purchasing, entertainment-seeking, unsophisticated viewer. I suppose it speaks volumes that I read about a TV3 program in a newspaper rather than seeing it on the channel in question.

J.S. Pill

constitutionus wrote:

everything else is girls, usually shashaying towards the cameres dolled up to the eyes and wearing pastel coloured wool. not exactly kate addie is it?

i mean can anyone actually name anyone in RTE thats under 35 and male on the news?

jesus its not like theyre the only ones, TG4 dont seem to have any men working for em at all as presenters besides the news guy and the token weatherman to keep the girls happy.

I totally agree with every word you've said here. Has anyone seen the latest addition to RTE News Siún Nic Gearailt? Enough Said.

I'd personally welcome the return of the staid bloke in a suit (What ever happened to the guy who said 'This is the BBC, here is the news!?) - there is absoloutely no need for this smut on our televisions

DMC

J.S. Pill wrote:

I totally agree with every word you've said here. Has anyone seen the latest addition to RTE News Siún Nic Gearailt? Enough Said.

In fairness to Siún, she's served her time on Nuacht, like Sharon. There was talk of moving the entire RTÉ Nuacht team to Baile na hAbhann.

Dublin's Finest

J.S. Pill wrote:

there is absoloutely no need for this smut on our televisions

Down with that sort of thing.

DMC

Careful now.

constitutionus

yeah siun's been doing nuacht since sharon's got promoted. had to laugh when you mentioned skynews. am i just misremembering things or did they once have a see through desk so you could get a good look at grainne way back when?

and hey no offence . im still kinda new to this forum so im not sure how light things can be. probably get it from hanging around AH too much, probably shouldve clarified it in my initial post really does make you wonder how much further things can be taken, the way things are now keep making me think of blaithnid off nightowls !

DMC

constitutionus wrote:

yeah siun's been doing nuacht since sharon's got promoted. had to laugh when you mentioned skynews. am i just misremembering things or did they once have a see through desk so you could get a good look at grainne way back when?

I don't recall that, but its more than interesting to see that Sky News now use the entire "newswall" for the weather, so the girls can be seen full length.

Solair

There are simply far more women in the media generally. More females in communications, journalism, etc. Even though those profeessions were once very male dominated.

If anything, they need to look at getting more guys into current affairs via community, local etc radio and also more men onto journalism / communications courses .

Dublin's Finest

Well, the media is the one industry where the wheat tends to be sorted from the chaff pretty quickly.

I actually think many of the prominent female broadcasters in Ireland are there because they do a very good job.

Milktrolley

Xpose was never marketed as a "news and current affairs" programme. If it was, you'd imagine they'd leave in the E

It's a new half-hour entertainment programme, an alternative to the Six-One which appeals to readers of OK!, Now, Hello and all that jazz, according to Sybil Mulcahy at the press launch.

Anyhoo, some of the "young female" journalists at RTÉ, and TV3 to be fair, are good at what they do. Others aren't overly suited to television I think, but in any case maybe fewer men are attracted to TV News? Depends what the gender ratio of press journalists are.

As for Sky News... I recall seeing a behind-the-scenes video which listed the qualities that Sky News personalities should have. "You have to have a presentable appearance," it said. They have to glamourise it somehow I guess, sure it wouldn't be news otherwise

mike65

Regarding the drift towards wimmin, I thinks it can be traced to the belief that women do not like severe looking chaps in suits reading at them, while men don't mind fluffy young things cooing the same news into thier ears. So the broadcasters employ women of a certain type/look/age.

Everyones happy!

Mike.

J.S. Pill

Milktrolley wrote:

Anyhoo, some of the "young female" journalists at RTÉ, and TV3 to be fair, are good at what they do.

Agreed, Claire Byrne is really good, don't know what she was doing on TV3

mike65 wrote:

Regarding the drift towards wimmin, I thinks it can be traced to the belief that women do not like severe looking chaps in suits reading at them, while men don't mind fluffy young things cooing the same news into thier ears. So the broadcasters employ women of a certain type/look/age

But wimmins don't watch the news - thats presumably why TV3 are producing that Xpose Sh1te so that women can keep up with the things that are important to them - perfectly analogous to a 'lifestyle' supplement: again, something to keep the women occupied while the men watch the serious news (Haven't seen the show of course but the premise doesn't fill me with much confidence)

Slow Motion

tom dunne wrote:

There was a piece in the Sunday Times at the weekend about TV3's new "news" and "current affairs" program, Xpose, I think it was called.

It basically said the promotion for the program was more "Hey look at these babes" rather than "Subjective debate on current events".

Shouldn't expect much more TV3, in fairness.

Indeed ! Look at the political part on sunday, more like 'politics light'..... So Bertie what's your favourite colour ?.....That woman (Ursula wassname) asks some of the most inane and irrelevant questions instead of getting to the heart of the matter:mad: , I think politicians go on that program because they know they will get an easy time of it

Judt

Maybe it's because a lot of RTE bosses have been having a lot of daughters in recent years?

I jest. Honestly.