How does RTE News deal Breaking News?

ateam

Found this on youtube, a snapshot of RTE's coverage of September 11th

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=4cQPU_9C6B4

Although brief, it clearly shows how ineffective RTE is at breaking news. Does anyone know how RTE dealt with huge stories in the 90s? Did they break into programming for the Omagh Bombing and the other various bombings in the 90s..like the Shankill Bombing etc. Plus did they do anything for the death of Diana?

DMC

You could argue that the last "big event" in this country that RTÉ didn't cover effectively was the Love Ulster riots.

RTÉ wouldn't really have done any breaking news for the Troubles. Omagh occurred on a Saturday afternoon, after 3pm, so when the news did break, might have warranted a mention around 5PM, and then from the 6.1 news. When Diana died, I was too busy watching the UK terrestrial 4 to care what RTÉ was up to.

So, in effect, RTÉ are normally on the ball when a political event occurs, such as Bertie going, but can be left wanting if its a rural or international news flash.

70's style news flash....

flogen

If I remember correctly RTÉ were slow off the mark with their coverage of the bus crash on Wellington Quay in 2004 - I distinctly remember a British 24-hour news channel (I think it was Sky News, could have been BBC News) covering it for a while before RTÉ picked it up; I think they did eventually break from the listings to do so.

Overdraft

flogen wrote: »

If I remember correctly RTÉ were slow off the mark with their coverage of the bus crash on Wellington Quay in 2004 - I distinctly remember a British 24-hour news channel (I think it was Sky News, could have been BBC News) covering it for a while before RTÉ picked it up; I think they did eventually break from the listings to do so.

Was the bus crash on Wellington Quay worthy of ***BREAKING NEWS***? Of course Sky News would have covered it, what else have they to do?

santosubito

Overdraft wrote: »

Was the bus crash on Wellington Quay worthy of ***BREAKING NEWS***? Of course Sky News would have covered it, what else have they to do?

Ah, sure why on earth would crash that left five people dead, 17 injured and some trapped under the bus be worthy of breaking news? The very thought of it...

thebman

They aren't a 24 hour station so they can't really interrupt regular broadcasting to deliver breaking news on silly little events like some woman dying.

24 hours news is for 24 hour stations, RTE do good summaries on the key events in a day.

At the end of the day, do you really need news alerts every 30 minutes on things. Can't you wait until 6 to find out what happened during the day?

There is online news for that anyway such as RTE's RSS feeds or other stations Internet feeds.

Overdraft

brim4brim wrote: »

They aren't a 24 hour station so they can't really interrupt regular broadcasting to deliver breaking news on silly little events like some woman dying.

24 hours news is for 24 hour stations, RTE do good summaries on the key events in a day.

At the end of the day, do you really need news alerts every 30 minutes on things. Can't you wait until 6 to find out what happened during the day?

There is online news for that anyway such as RTE's RSS feeds or other stations Internet feeds.

Exactly. RTE is bad enough at times without becoming Sky News.

flogen

Overdraft & santosubito - I've deleted the posts you've made where you pick up on your previous spat. Take it to PM if you want to slag each other off - I'll ban the next person to go off topic or try to use this (or any other thread) to re-ignite a past squabble.

flogen

brim4brim wrote: »

They aren't a 24 hour station so they can't really interrupt regular broadcasting to deliver breaking news on silly little events like some woman dying.

I agree - but I think the likes of the Wellington Quay crash are significant enough to warrant a break from regular programming. In Irish terms I think it can be considered a pretty significant accident, made all the more newsworthy by the circumstance and involvement of a State-owned company.

24 hours news is for 24 hour stations, RTE do good summaries on the key events in a day.

They do - but they should be expected to give live coverage to the major events that happen every once in a blue moon.

At the end of the day, do you really need news alerts every 30 minutes on things.

In extreme examples, such as that of the Love Ulster riots, yes. Many people complained to RTÉ for not giving that adequate coverage as they were heading into town at the time and could have done with the warning that riots had broken out.

Can't you wait until 6 to find out what happened during the day?

Again, in extreme examples people shouldn't be expected to wait.

There is online news for that anyway such as RTE's RSS feeds or other stations Internet feeds.

Going back once more to Love Ulster, RTÉ failed miserably online too - I was in England at the time and got most of my updates from some guy's blog.

Basic explanation is it happened on a Saturday and RTÉ.ie's staff is thin on the ground on weekends/bank holidays... they had only a few updates, including the one at 6pm detailing arrests made... they were way behind in telling people there was trouble in the first place.

Overdraft

santosubito wrote: »

Ah, sure why on earth would crash that left five people dead, 17 injured and some trapped under the bus be worthy of breaking news? The very thought of it...

So where would you draw the line santosubito?

Should RTE break in to programming for, say, every gangland killing? Or only multiple gangland killings? Should it have broken in for, say, the discovery of the bodies of the father and son in Kerry? Or are two deaths not enough? What would the death toll need to be to merit an interruption?

Or should they only interrupt programming for bus crashes on Wellington Quay?

ateam

For the Wellington Quay crash they did have a news update but did not give rolling coverage. I think in that case, rolling news was not warranted.

In the past few years a few stories have got blanket coverage - September 11th, the Beslan Siege, the IRA announcement in 2005, the London bombings and domestic political stories like Bertie's resignation, Mary Harney's resignation, the beginning of the 2007 election etc.

So can no one remember what RTE did in the 1990s? Diana, Veronica Guerin, various Northern Ireland events? The Omagh Bombing happened at about 3.15 in the afternoon. Did they wait until 6 o'clock to mention it?

Overdraft

flogen wrote: »

I agree - but I think the likes of the Wellington Quay crash are significant enough to warrant a break from regular programming.

They're not. We have hourly bulletins on RTE Radio, and news programmes at 1.0, 6.0 and 9.0 on RTE TV (with another late night news) - that's plenty.

Was there any outcry over the lack of 'breaking news' for this incident? I don't recall it.

thebman

In reality, this whole issue of not enough coverage will probably disappear once RTE go digital properly. I imagine they'll launch a 24 hour or near 24 hour news service.

mike65

RTE missed the Romanian revolution cos it happened over the Christmas holliday.

Love Ulster riot was better covered on the After Hours thread than RTE (Newstalk 106 did well I understand).

Mike.

flogen

ateam wrote: »

For the Wellington Quay crash they did have a news update but did not give rolling coverage. I think in that case, rolling news was not warranted.

Agreed - only so much you can say on a story like that before you repeat yourself... my point was that they took so long to break for coverage; they were a fair bit of time behind the rolling news stations that wouldn't have had nearly as much staff in Dublin as they do.

So can no one remember what RTE did in the 1990s? Diana, Veronica Guerin, various Northern Ireland events? The Omagh Bombing happened at about 3.15 in the afternoon. Did they wait until 6 o'clock to mention it?

I can't remember what RTÉ did - I remember watching coverage of that on BBC.

Overdraft wrote: »

They're not. We have hourly bulletins on RTE Radio, and news programmes at 1.0, 6.0 and 9.0 on RTE TV (with another late night news) - that's plenty.

It's not when something major happens in between, say, 1pm and 6pm.

For an ongoing story like the Love Ulster riots even hourly radio bulletins isn't enough - that situation changed so rapidly that hourly coverage was completely irrelevant.

Was there any outcry over the lack of 'breaking news' for this incident? I don't recall it.

I don't either but I don't see why that shouldn't have gotten a news alert... although again, rolling news on the topic wouldn't have been necessary.

ateam

I'm not sure blanket coverage of the Love Ulster riots was warranted either. Perhaps a special 10 minute bulletin, that's it. In the whole scheme of things, it wasn't a particularly major story - no one died.

RTE are good with planned news events, not with unexpected breaking news, particularly if Angus Mckrienna, Anne Doyle or Ken Hammond are on air. Ken Hammond was on air when the invasion of Afghanistan begun back in 2001, he was dreadful.

In relation to the Wellington Quay Crash - even in the UK if there's an event similar to that like a train crash, it doesn't always get coverage on the terrestrial channels. Back before 24 hour news channels, the BBC and ITV showed newsflashes but rarely gave blanket coverage even to the biggest of stories (eg Lockerbie).

flogen

ateam wrote: »

I'm not sure blanket coverage of the Love Ulster riots was warranted either. Perhaps a special 10 minute bulletin, that's it. In the whole scheme of things, it wasn't a particularly major story - no one died.

I disagree - a pretty large riot on the streets of Dublin which led to the capital coming to a standstill is pretty big news.

Blanket coverage might not have been necessary but regular updates were - for the aforementioned reason of ensuring people knew something was happening (a once-off 10 minute bulletin is too easy to miss when you're talking about keeping people away from potential danger).

In relation to the Wellington Quay Crash - even in the UK if there's an event similar to that like a train crash, it doesn't always get coverage on the terrestrial channels. Back before 24 hour news channels, the BBC and ITV showed newsflashes but rarely gave blanket coverage even to the biggest of stories (eg Lockerbie).

Again, blanket coverage isn't necessary in that kind of scenario but you'd expect RTÉ to be able to give a newsflash on a major crash in Dublin city before Sky News. I can't remember the exact amount of time but there was a significant gap between the two, more than you'd expect for a station that would have to scramble staff to the studio compared to Sky always having people sitting there delivering news.

santosubito

Overdraft wrote: »

They're not. We have hourly bulletins on RTE Radio, and news programmes at 1.0, 6.0 and 9.0 on RTE TV (with another late night news) - that's plenty.

Was there any outcry over the lack of 'breaking news' for this incident? I don't recall it.

I don't think there's an outcry over anything at all. It's possible to make a point without becoming hysterical.
In respect of Kentstown, I agree with Flogen, there should have been a news alert over that. BUt I can see why they didn't.
But, also, I think Wellington Quay was slightly different to Kentstown. It was different because Kentstown happened at around 4.30pm and, from my memory, it was not for some time that people became aware of the severity of the incident in Kentstown. By that stage it would have been close to 6.1 one anyway.
But Wellington Quay was different for several reasons. It happened at 1.25pm. There would not have been RTE TV news until several hours later. It was in the centre of the city (as opposed to Kentstown where it is harder to get people to quickly and harder to get information) and it was quickly apparent that there were multiple fatalities.
Also, there was a public service element to the need for a newsflash.
Firstly, the response to the crash on the quays caused streets to be sealed off: RTE should have publicised that major arteries in the city were impassible, let alone the fact that a major incident had taken place.
Also, the people injured and killed in the Dublin crash were all random victims. By that I mean the authorities would have identified all the people on the school bus relatively quickly as they all came from the same places - the schools in question. But, in relation to Wellington Quay, the victims were, largely, strangers. There would have been many, random, people out shopping or whatever in the city centre at the time who could have gotten caught up in the crash. Surely RTE should have adverted people at home to this so they could contact their loved ones to see if they were all right?

ateam

flogen wrote: »

I disagree - a pretty large riot on the streets of Dublin which led to the capital coming to a standstill is pretty big news.

Blanket coverage might not have been necessary but regular updates were - for the aforementioned reason of ensuring people knew something was happening (a once-off 10 minute bulletin is too easy to miss when you're talking about keeping people away from potential danger).



Again, blanket coverage isn't necessary in that kind of scenario but you'd expect RTÉ to be able to give a newsflash on a major crash in Dublin city before Sky News. I can't remember the exact amount of time but there was a significant gap between the two, more than you'd expect for a station that would have to scramble staff to the studio compared to Sky always having people sitting there delivering news.

RTE announced it in their news update at 330 that afternoon, granted it was about 15 or 20 minutes after Sky News.

The riots didn't bring Dublin to a standstill, it brought trouble to a few streets in the city centre. So put the event into perspective. I think it would have been a disgrace to broadcast live pictures of the riots, it would only aggravate the situation.

santosubito

Overdraft wrote: »

So where would you draw the line santosubito?

Should RTE break in to programming for, say, every gangland killing? Or only multiple gangland killings? Should it have broken in for, say, the discovery of the bodies of the father and son in Kerry? Or are two deaths not enough? What would the death toll need to be to merit an interruption?

Or should they only interrupt programming for bus crashes on Wellington Quay?

I don't think the line should be drawn anywhere. I think every incident is unique and each one should be decided upon on its own merits.
That's why executives get big bucks, so they can make the decisions.
Where do you think this line of which you write should be drawn, then?

thebman

RTE don't only do the news at 1 and 6, there are news updates between then, I can't remember how often though but they are there in English and Irish. Don't know if these important items were covered on them.

lostexpectation

when di they first announce give warnings about the riots on rte radio that day?

ateam

What did RTE do in the 1990s for major stories like Omagh, Diana etc?

Overdraft

santosubito wrote: »

It's possible to make a point without becoming hysterical.

Indeed it is santosubito. That’s why I opt for cogency over hysteria – after all, someone whose argument is hysterical smacks of someone spoiling for a fight. Don’t you think?

santosubito wrote: »

There would have been many, random, people out shopping or whatever in the city centre at the time who could have gotten caught up in the crash. Surely RTE should have adverted people at home to this so they could contact their loved ones to see if they were all right?

And cause mass hysteria?! It's hardly the definition of 'public service'. How many people, do you think, have a 'loved one' who shops/works in Dublin city centre on an average day? Exactly. So as well as the roads being clogged up you wanted the networks unnecessarily jammed too, and Emergency Services/hospitals inundated with calls from those who had a one in a million chance (probably literally) of having a loved one involved? Silly stuff.

The first I was aware of the incident that day was, when driving through town, I heard traffic bulletins warning of an ‘incident’ on Wellington Quay – that sufficed. RTE News isn’t, nor should it be, a traffic report.

The Gardai are expert at tracking down relations of the deceased/injured after an incident, let’s leave it to them, okay?

If either case merited a 'newsflash' it was the Meath crash, because it was an infinitely smaller pool of ‘possible’ victims, and it might be argued it would have been a ‘public service’ to alert parents/family of the children involved in the incident.

But if we’re going to go down the road of turning RTE in to a Breaking News service for major road/traffic incidents then….well, I’d worry about the competency of any news editor who made just a trite decision.

DMC

flogen wrote: »

If I remember correctly RTÉ were slow off the mark with their coverage of the bus crash on Wellington Quay in 2004 - I distinctly remember a British 24-hour news channel (I think it was Sky News, could have been BBC News) covering it for a while before RTÉ picked it up; I think they did eventually break from the listings to do so.

Not to forget that Sky News Ireland was on the air/in the process of being setup, and were also very quickly on the air at Kentstown for the bus crash there too.

flogen

ateam wrote: »

The riots didn't bring Dublin to a standstill, it brought trouble to a few streets in the city centre. So put the event into perspective. I think it would have been a disgrace to broadcast live pictures of the riots, it would only aggravate the situation.

Well naturally O'Connell St. was closed down but from what I recall many (if not most) shops on Henry St. closed due to the violence and with the gangs making their way up to College Green and onto Nassau St. I know shops around that area (including ones on Grafton St and Dawson St.) closed to avoid trouble. To put it in perspective Dublin City Centre is relatively small and most of the retail activity is concentrated to a few areas - when you have gangs of rioters moving from O'Connell St. to Henry St., Dame St., Nassau St., Dawson St., Molesworth St., Grafton St. and elsewhere it's going to bring the city about as close to a standstill as you can get.

I don't think it would have aggravated the situation to broadcast live pictures but at the very least they could have had live reports to inform people of what was going on, even if they (for whatever reason) fell short of showing them.

ateam

flogen wrote: »

Well naturally O'Connell St. was closed down but from what I recall many (if not most) shops on Henry St. closed due to the violence and with the gangs making their way up to College Green and onto Nassau St. I know shops around that area (including ones on Grafton St and Dawson St.) closed to avoid trouble. To put it in perspective Dublin City Centre is relatively small and most of the retail activity is concentrated to a few areas - when you have gangs of rioters moving from O'Connell St. to Henry St., Dame St., Nassau St., Dawson St., Molesworth St., Grafton St. and elsewhere it's going to bring the city about as close to a standstill as you can get.

I don't think it would have aggravated the situation to broadcast live pictures but at the very least they could have had live reports to inform people of what was going on, even if they (for whatever reason) fell short of showing them.

Not all shops were closed and none on Henry Street were affected. Again put the event into perspective. Blanket coverage was awarded to September 11th, I don't you can compare to two.

Dodge

DMC wrote: »

When Diana died, I was too busy watching the UK terrestrial 4 to care what RTÉ was up to

well you wouldn't have known that they covered it first. It happened to co-incide witha late bulletinon the Saturday night. I watched it on RTE and switched tot he british channels. none of which were covering it. Sky "broke" it about 3 minutes later.

"We're hearing reports..."

santosubito

Overdraft wrote: »

Indeed it is santosubito. That’s why I opt for cogency over hysteria – after all, someone whose argument is hysterical smacks of someone spoiling for a fight. Don’t you think?

Yes, Overdraft, you are absolutely right. But, of course, I wasn't accusing anyone of being hysterical. Hysetria is so last year. Anyway, why would anyone spoil for a fight on an anonymus forum, where nobody really counts because we are all strangers? Debates are good. Rows are pointless.

santosubito

Overdraft wrote: »

And cause mass hysteria?! It's hardly the definition of 'public service'. How many people, do you think, have a 'loved one' who shops/works in Dublin city centre on an average day? Exactly. So as well as the roads being clogged up you wanted the networks unnecessarily jammed too, and Emergency Services/hospitals inundated with calls from those who had a one in a million chance (probably literally) of having a loved one involved? Silly stuff.

Well, I would argue that it's the media's role to inform - people can react to the information in whatever way they choose, and certainly nobody can stop them becoming anxious when they hear the news. People simply have a right to know what is happening. So in relation to telling the nation about a major incident in the heart of the capital, I think it would have been silly to keep quiet about it. Your argument falls, I believe, on this: no matter what time people were informed about the incident, they would still have had the same reaction, hysterical or not, whether there was a newflash at 2pm or if RTE waited for the 6.1. Surely you're not suggesting that RTE should have kept quite about it?

santosubito

Overdraft wrote: »

The first I was aware of the incident that day was, when driving through town, I heard traffic bulletins warning of an ‘incident’ on Wellington Quay – that sufficed. RTE News isn’t, nor should it be, a traffic report.

That's fine. I have no problem with you thinking the traffic bulletin was sufficient. I have to say, not many journalists I know would have thought that information was sufficient, however I bow to your greater experience. But not everyone is like you. Others want to know what is happening.

santosubito

Overdraft wrote: »

The Gardai are expert at tracking down relations of the deceased/injured after an incident, let’s leave it to them, okay?

If either case merited a 'newsflash' it was the Meath crash, because it was an infinitely smaller pool of ‘possible’ victims, and it might be argued it would have been a ‘public service’ to alert parents/family of the children involved in the incident.

But if we’re going to go down the road of turning RTE in to a Breaking News service for major road/traffic incidents then….well, I’d worry about the competency of any news editor who made just a trite decision.

Again, you are totally entitled to your view. But, as an example, whenever there is a major incident in the UK, the BBC does put up contact numbers for anyone who is worried about a loved one who they fear may have been involved in an incident. It happened on the 7/7 bomb attacks, for example. So in my opinion it's not unfair to expect people in Ireland to want to know if their loved ones were all right. So I would argue it's the media's job to inform, not censor. Moreover, does your last paragraph not contradict the one above it? You're saying there was a case for a newsflash re Meath (I would agree with you on that), yet then you seem to be critcising any news editor who would have a breaking news segment about a major road incident...like Kentstown?

Lastly, sorry people for the multiple posts. I simply don't know how to multiple quote a post. Perhaps someone could PM me and explain...

DMC

Dodge wrote: »

well you wouldn't have known that they covered it first. It happened to co-incide witha late bulletinon the Saturday night. I watched it on RTE and switched tot he british channels. none of which were covering it. Sky "broke" it about 3 minutes later.

"We're hearing reports..."

I remember others saying something along those lines alright happening on RTÉ, aye.

As for the reaction by the British stations of the initial news, yes they were slower than the foreign media. BBC and Sky still suffer from cover at the weekends. Also a factor is, its the Royals. They are a special case, so any breaking dramatic news like that can be delayed/embargoed for a while. CNN and the other foreign media latched onto it quicker than the British media because of this. The Buckingham Palace official announcement of her death was embargoed to 5 or 5:30am that day. BBC News 24 was not up and running for another couple of months, so for the first few hours, BBC World which was shown to BBC 1 viewers in the UK for the first time that Sunday morning. Nik Gowing, iirc was the face of that coverage.

flogen

ateam wrote: »

Not all shops were closed and none on Henry Street were affected. Again put the event into perspective.

I find it hard to believe that no shops on Henry St. were affected - and by affected I don't mean smashed up I mean forced to close down. I distinctly remember reports saying some rioters had made their way down Henry St., onto Liffey St. and over to Temple Bar after Gardaí began to move in on them. Others crossed O'Connell Bridge and others went in various directions down the Quays.

Blanket coverage was awarded to September 11th, I don't you can compare to two.

Why do you keep implying I'm demanding blanket coverage for all breaking news stories? Besides, just because an event isn't as severe as Sept. 11th doesn't mean it doesn't deserve the same amount of immediate coverage. I think blanket coverage is necessary in a developing story of reasonable magnitude - such as Bertie Ahern's resignation. I agree it's pointless when there's nothing new to add to the story (I remember seeing Sky News cover the "riots" in Dublin during the EU Accession Ceremony which was little more than a minor scuffle... they basically played the same 2 minute clip repeatedly for an hour and had some poor reporter on the line during that time, forcing him to talk at length on the back of very little information).

I think the Love Ulster riots fell somewhere in between in terms of the type of coverage it required. I mean the trouble started on O'Connell St. and stayed there for some time - it might have been wise to only have news updates when the situation changed, so say when the crowds began to move from one street and onto another. That way it wouldn't have been painfully stretched out coverage but it would have given people necessary updates... I'd say that might have come in handy to people parked on Nassau St. who probably thought they were well out of harm's way.

My problem with RTÉ during the Love Ulster riots is that they had minimal coverage, not even periodic updates - the website had a story just before trouble broke out which reported that protesters had gathered on the junction of O'Connell St. and Parnell St. and didn't update that until after 6pm when things had been calmed down.

I tuned into the radio a few times and while I didn't listen to it non-stop I can't remember any coverage of the riots at all - bar perhaps in the hourly news updates.

I can't say what happened on RTÉ TV as I didn't see it but from what I heard it was minimal coverage too - not sure if they even had a brief news break to tell viewers what was happening.

Newstalk (as far as I remember) gave heavy coverage to the event, although perhaps not blanket, and won an award for it. I don't remember them being blamed for aggravating the situation, I remember them being praised for their work in relation to it.

thebman

Again though, Newstalk is a news station. That's their bread and butter and its what they do.

RTE News is only one program on RTE. They can't stop to give news bulletins over things like this IMO.

If they said there was an organised protest against that would be fair enough.

Besides with the love Ulster riots, nobody was going near there if they weren't looking for trouble IMO as everybody knew the story in advance.

lostexpectation

brim4bram rte has something newtalk doesn't multiple tv and radio stations

santosubito

lostexpectation wrote: »

brim4bram rte has something newtalk doesn't multiple tv and radio stations

Yes, and it has more resources by a country mile than any newsgathering organisation in the country.
RTE's breaking news capability does not inspire confidence. I think they are very, sometimes overly, cautious.

flogen

brim4brim wrote: »

Again though, Newstalk is a news station. That's their bread and butter and its what they do.

RTE News is only one program on RTE. They can't stop to give news bulletins over things like this IMO.

The RTÉ News and Current Affairs division is more than one programme - it's a significant part of the organisation and is arguably the most critical piece of its PSB obligation.

If they said there was an organised protest against that would be fair enough.

Not when the not-really-organised protest turned into a riot.

Besides with the love Ulster riots, nobody was going near there if they weren't looking for trouble IMO as everybody knew the story in advance.

Not really - most people probably expected the possibility of some trouble but I doubt many (certainly not the Gardaí or many businesses) expected trouble of the scale that occurred. I'd say there were plenty of people in town doing their own thing and staying out of trouble who got caught up in it through no fault of their own.

constitutionus

IMO RTE is a joke. you cant let them off by saying theyre not a news only organisation. as mention theyre first and foremost a public service broadcaster, thats why they get your liscence fee!

I was IN town that day working and listening to the radio was bizarre. on newstalk, the privately owned station with sod all resources, henry mckeen had been hit on the head by a brick reporting LIVE from the scene , a gardai's arm was on fire another one was being taken away in an ambulance the PDs headquaters front window had had a table thrown through it and yobbos were smashing shops fronts and looting with abandon. and thats just o'connel street ! henry street WAS shut down to stop the rioters causing havoc in arnotts and the like, nassau street had cars smashed up and set on fire and the quays had riot police batton charging rioters by the old virgin megastore.

this WASNT a small deal. it shut down the city center and bollocked up traffic to the greater dublin area for the guts of the day. ALL the bus services were affected.

and what was on RTE radio when this was happening........provisional county GAA results. fcuking muppets. :rolleyes:

i wouldnt mind so much but this is the STANDARD response from RTE. they did the same thing when liam lawlor died. newstalk cancelled their sports show to cover the story (using i might add the sports commentators cause they couldnt get anyone else on short notice i suppose) whereas RTE never bothered their hole.

its the typical civil servant mentality that afflicts the organistion. they cant HANDLE things that happen out of the blue, the way its structured they need authorisation from some faceless cretin before they can make a single decision on how to act. even if its blindingly obvious in the case of rioting on the main thoroughfare of the capital

at the end of the day fecking YOUTUBE had better coverage of the event than RTE six one news. in fact you can probably still see it there now !

the whole oraganistion need a good shake up, sacking HALF the management and editors and actually encouraging good old fashioned investigative reporting again. the way its run now is practically in line with its original remit.

Government FM.

Case in point berties resignation. the man was ran out of office for a financial scandal, the REST OF THE WORLD called it that, what do we get?fcuking montage of slo motion images to the tune of the theme song from "Once" like the man's died or something. thats a god damned disgrace from a so called professional broadcasting organisation covering NEWS . they completly and totally avoided the central story, after that one i came away thinking "this what it mustve been like living in soviet russia with "pravda" !"