Government fires broadside across RTE and Liveline

mike65

In the SBP and Sindo

http://www.sbpost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=NEWS-qqqs=news-qqqid=36128-qqqx=1.asp

The government has complained to RTE about some of its coverage of the global financial crisis.

It warned station bosses that the alarmist tone of some programmes could worsen the situation and lead to deposits being withdrawn from Irish banks.

RTE has confirmed that it received representations from government, but The Sunday Business Post understands that complaints have been made by the Government Information Service (GIS), the Department of Finance, the Central Bank and the Financial Regulator.

Finance minister Brian Lenihan confirmed that he spoke to Cathal Goan, the station’s director-general.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/lenihan-lash-at-joe-duffy-banks-panic-1479358.html

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan personally rang the director general of RTE on Thursday to express his outrage at a Liveline radio programme, presented by Joe Duffy, which purported to elicit public opinion on the financial turmoil of last week but ended up provoking unprecedented panic and causing genuine fears that it might lead to a run on the banks.

Mr Lenihan took the initiative when alerted by officials in his department that the Financial Regulator and banks across the country were being "inundated" with telephone calls after the programme from customers alarmed that they were about to lose their savings.

Significant sums are believed to have been removed from Irish banks last week following the Liveline programme. An estimated €50m was lodged to An Post's state-guaranteed savings scheme in just one 24-hour period.

Liveline began its programme on Thursday with an An Post employee extolling its security. A spokesman told the Sunday Independent: "The Joe Duffy show did prompt a huge level of interest in terms of inquiries across the board."

The Finance Minister's intervention forced RTE, as it admitted yesterday, to "scramble" to rectify the potential damage to Ireland's banking system on its subsequent radio

Dunno which paper got there first.

Anyone who listens to Liveline these days will be famiair with Duffys increasingly Tabloid style using selection and order of callers to hype up situations - Example Not for the first time he has sailed close to the wind.

Mike.

ixoy

I think the real issue was, according to the Sunday Times article on the same issue, that there was an unfair balance - nearly all the calls were alarmist and very few given to those advocating calm.

I didn't catch the program myself but were any bank representatives asked on? It would have been interesting to get them to talk about their side, discussing issues like liquidity and portfolios in an effort to allay fears. Even pointing out how the banks that fell in the States were not commercial banks, like BoI, and were more directly exposed to sub-prime mortgages - things that are banks don't have to worry about to the same degree.
It's perfectly possible to explain all that in layman's terms as it's the terms that I understand.

It was this lack of balance that got people panicking and the criticism to go for the short "shock" tactic of irresponsible journalism. But then it's hardly something RTE only did in response to the financial crisis and I had to find a few articles in the respectable sheets like the Financial Times and the Economist to get a good idea of the implications of some of the recent moves.

lostexpectation

to be fair significant sums were being removed from banks before the program too.

jdivision

Was in all the Sundays mike that I saw, probably means it was leaked by Lenihan's PR. I didn't listen to Liveline much but one guy I heard who was claiming to be an expert named a bank that nobody thinks is in major trouble as the one to be most worried about. if they're not vetting callers then lenihan's right and duffy shouldn't be contributing to alarmism imo

jmayo

lostexpectation wrote: »

to be fair significant sums were being removed from banks before the program too.

+1
Talking to member of staff in NIB who mentioned there had been lots of people in about opening accounts over last couple of weeks, but that number jumped drastically last week.

Normally don't really like Joe Duffy (I find Derek Davis nicer to listen to) but I would compliment him on this one. Sometimes a bit of hysteria and the masses sabre rattling actually achieves something. Sadly the Irish population and the state broadcaster are too meek in this country and just roll over all too often.

Maybe if the government got off their ar** in the first place and upped the guarantees, then there would have been no issue.
It was only when the banks (not the depositors) started being concerned about people moving money did they do anything to safeguard depositors.

As regards getting balanced view, what was the balanced view?
At the end of the day only 90% of your money on deposit, up to a maximum amount of 20,000, was actually protected in Irish financial institutions.
Yes it may have been the amount protected in some other EU countries, but what is avaerage salary and house price in those countries ?
Of course the banks will say that there is nothing to worry about, biut are they going to tell you the facts in case a ruyn does actually start ?
The program achieved more in one day than economic analysts would achieve in a month of PrimeTimes and it put a necessary shot across the bows of a few very complacent people.

constitutionus

good example of how at the end of the day censorship and propaganda are RTEs main priorities in tough times.

at it again today in terms of the "guarantee" lenihans giving to back the banks. very little questioning as to WHERE he's going to get 500 BILLION, or ten times the national debt, from to cover this besides a charge on the banks -who last time i checked needed the fecking thing because theres fears about them having no money !

talking up banks stocks big time too. mark my words by 10 or 11 oclock we'll be back into the same territory we were in yesterday. as RTE radio one was talking up the shares the ISEQ had alreadly lost 100 of the 176 points it gained.

thank GOD for the net. its the only place i can actually get any information anymore !

mike65

There is a thread about same on Economics

Mike