Transparency in RTE's Lisbon coverage?

assetmadman

For your information, an email I sent to Peter Feeney, Head of Broadcast Compliance, RTÉ, and his reply. (Be assured I requested and received Mr Feeney’s permission to post this on a public forum.)

RE: RTÉ 's mechanisms for compliance with BCI's revised referendum guidelines

Dear Mr. Feeney,

I note that the GUIDELINES IN RESPECT OF COVERAGE OF THE REFERENDUM ON THE TREATY OF LISBON AND RELATED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS 2009 state in section 4

Please note that there is no requirement to allocate an absolute equality of airtime to opposing sides during coverage of the Referendum. The allocation of airtime must be fair to all interests and undertaken in a transparent manner. This is an editorial matter for broadcasters.

and in section 1

Broadcasters choosing to provide coverage of the Referendum and related constitutional amendments must develop mechanisms that are transparent and fair to all interested parties. These mechanisms should be considered and developed at an early stage and information on the approach being adopted should be available to all interested parties in advance.

Can you please tell me what “mechanisms” have been developed and what “approach” will be adopted to ensure transparency and fairness in RTÉ’s coverage of the debate on the second Lisbon Treaty referendum? Is this information currently available on RTÉ’s website?

Thank you.

Yours,


RE: RE: RTE's mechanisms for compliance with BCI's revised referendum guidelines


Dear Sir,

The first thing to be said is that the BCI Referendum Guidelines do not currently apply to RTÉ. They apply only to commercial broadcasters. Having said this, in future once the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) is established as envisaged in the 2009 Broadcasting Act there will be a single regulator for all broadcasting (including RTÉ).

The mechanism that RTÉ has in place to ensure that its coverage of any referendum campaign fulfils all requirements in regard to impartiality, objectivity and fairness is an internal one. RTÉ establishes a Referendum Steering Group which previews and reviews all coverage to ensure that all sides are fairly treated. The Group is chaired by the Director General and it monitors all output across radio, television and On Line. The minutes of the group and any monitoring records are not public documents. They are exempt from access under the Freedom of Information Act.

Of course RTÉ is subject to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission (BCC) so members of the public who feel RTÉ has not fulfilled its statutory obligations can make a complaint. However that complaint is unlikely to be adjudicated on before voting day as the BCC board meets monthly and a broadcaster has three weeks to make a submission in response to a complaint.

A candidate in the recent European elections went to court to force the BCC to adjudicate on a complaint about RTÉ's lack of coverage of his candidacy before polling day, but he did not succeed in his application.

I hope this is the information you require.

Best wishes


Peter Feeney
Head of Broadcast Compliance

assetmadman

Why doesn't RTE voluntarily agree to be bound by the same rules as the other broadcasters?

This is not acceptable.

P. Breathnach

assetmadman wrote: »

Why doesn't RTE voluntarily agree to be bound by the same rules as the other broadcasters?

Why should it? All that is required is a code to ensure fairness and impartiality, not a particular set of rules.

This is not acceptable.

I think RTE's approach is quite acceptable.

assetmadman

The question is about transparency.

If there is no transparency, how can we have confidence in RTE's supposed fairness and impartiality.

Scofflaw

I like the not terribly subtle hint not to bother with any kind of legal challenge.

amused,
Scofflaw

assetmadman

You know because RTE aren't bound by the BCI guidelines, we can't even be sure that they have decided to dispense with the 'equal time to Yes and No notion'. In fact we have no way of knowing what they're doing in there.

I repeat, this is not acceptible. And I'd invite people from both side of the debate to agree with me. Whatever the result is, we have to live with each other afterwards.

Scofflaw

assetmadman wrote: »

You know because RTE aren't bound by the BCI guidelines, we can't even be sure that they have decided to dispense with the 'equal time to Yes and No notion'. In fact we have no way of knowing what they're doing in there.

I repeat, this is not acceptible. And I'd invite people from both side of the debate to agree with me. Whatever the result is, we have to live with each other afterwards.

I didn't think much of the "exactly equal airtime" rule, but you're right that this is much much less than transparent. At the very least, the minutes of the deciding body should be publicly available.

cordially,
Scofflaw

assetmadman

An obvious problem is that the RTE Lisbon campaign steering committee must have some way of taking on board viewer/listeners' comments and complaints. However, only those on the steering committee will know how this works in practice, based on how decisions are made. This is priviledged knowledge which, if it isn't available to both sides, could allow one side to mount viewer/listener campaigns more effectively than the other.

thebman

Don't expect to see crazies on RTE this time round like Libertas hopefully.

I think there should be air time for reasonable people with reasonable reasons for voting no but the last referendum debate was a joke at times with Libertas.

I'll be monitoring it because I don't believe they will give fair coverage and I'll lodge a complaint when they don't but I'm for a yes on the treaty.

Jackovarian

RTE?
The ones that suck money off people every year through licensing, show loads of adverts, make and show really cheap and crap tv shows, yet cant seem to keep afloat. The ones who pay people like Gerry Ryan shed-loads of money to sit around spouting filth?

Do you really care what their opinion or stance is?

They're corrupting the youth with trashy tv shows and adult conversations during children's programming. I wonder what they are doing for adults?