Pro-FF Political Bias on RTE tv/radio outlets?

southsiderosie

Since I am from the land of "truthiness" and "Fair and Balanced" cable news, I am loathe to comment on other countries' political coverage...but I have been quite surprised by the RTE (television and radio) coverage of the economic crisis, and more recently the government crisis. Between the soft questions, "we must have hope" admonitions, and turning the corner-isms, it really does seem like RTE is protecting the government from criticism in a way that non-Irish media certainly does not.

Am I just being crazy here (a distinct possibility)? If there is a bias, is it because they don't want to bite the hand that feeds them? Is this an argument from non-state funded television? Or is it the personal ties that matter more than the purse strings?

I am genuinely curious, as reading about the crisis from Irish media is a completely different experience than reading about it from media sources outside of Ireland.

Liam Byrne

Sharon Ni Bheolain's interrogation of Gilmore earlier was certainly a lot more venomous than anything I've seen in interviews with FF members.

steelcityblues

Don't remember Miriam's one woman interrogation of Enda during 2007 debate, Dobbo playing Oprah with Bertie the year before, Tubridy trying to rehabilatate chancers like O'Dea through the Late Late, the reruns of Hep C drama week before election?

At least you are waking up to this now!

southsiderosie

steelcityblues wrote: »

Don't remember Miriam's one woman interrogation of Enda during 2007 debate, Dobbo playing Oprah with Bertie the year before, Tubridy trying to rehabilatate chancers like O'Dea through the Late Late, the reruns of Hep C drama week before election?

At least you are waking up to this now!

Well I didn't live in Ireland when most of those incidents happened! I've only really paid attention to Irish media since summer 2009, and I never listened to Irish radio until this spring. And I'm not currently living in Ireland, so I generally only read the papers online, but every time I see links people post on here from RTE, or even last summer when I occasionally listened to the radio, it has been really surprising, and the difference has only crystallized for me living in Spain, where even the Socialist newspapers are not afraid to criticize the government these days.

But in the case of RTE, is it because they are state funded, or because Ireland is a small universe? Or both?

southsiderosie

Hm, and it seems that boardsies are not the only ones who are disgruntled:

RTÉ has rejected criticism of its coverage of last night’s press conference at which details of Ireland’s application for a bailout were revealed.

The broadcaster insisted it never intended to censor Vincent Browne's questioning of Taoiseach Brian Cowen at the press conference.

Browne was subjecting the Taoiseach to a strong line of questioning when RTÉ returned to the studio.

In a statement issued by RTÉ News this evening, it said it was "far from being the case" that it cut off its live feed and returned to the studio because Browne works for a rival broadcaster TV3.

The statement said that it cut away after four "fairly similar questions" from Browne.

The station also cut away from the press conference because it was getting too close to the Nine O'Clock News, for which a huge audience was expected.

“RTÉ News is satisfied that it covered yesterday’s events fully and appropriately.”

There was criticism too of RTÉ's not broadcasting live the Green Party press conference which effectively pulled the plug on the Government.

RTÉ's Pat Kenny Show continued to broadcast an item with accordion player Liam O'Connor at the same time as the Green Party leader John Gormley called for a date to be set for a general election by the end of January.

RTÉ said it received "very little notice" of the press conference which was announced at short notice and it was not possible to arrange a live feed.

Dozens of viewers vented their anger on Twitter and RTÉ's Facebook page over both items, arguing that Sky News and the BBC covered both press conferences in greater detail.

steelcityblues

southsiderosie wrote: »

Well I didn't live in Ireland when most of those incidents happened! I've only really paid attention to Irish media since summer 2009, and I never listened to Irish radio until this spring. And I'm not currently living in Ireland, so I generally only read the papers online, but every time I see links people post on here from RTE, or even last summer when I occasionally listened to the radio, it has been really surprising, and the difference has only crystallized for me living in Spain, where even the Socialist newspapers are not afraid to criticize the government these days.

But in the case of RTE, is it because they are state funded, or because Ireland is a small universe? Or both?

I think a lot of it has to do with political behind the scenes wrangling between both parties - not that i'm an insider but at times I would love to be.

If they weren't funded by the taxpayer, people would be less outraged by events like last night!

alang184

There's no fooling us.

The RTE live transmission of the bailout announcement was already disrupting their evening programming. It would not have made a difference to delay the Nine news, especially since the only point of the conference was when Browne began his questioning.

alang184

steelcityblues wrote: »

If they weren't funded by the taxpayer, people would be less outraged by events like last night!

Based on 2009 figures I believe, RTE was around 50% funded by the TV license, and the average salary across 2,000 employees was 70,000 per year. This is what p*sses me off.

Dublenguy

I was working in Europe for the last few weeks. It was obvious from BBC, german, french, CNN and Euro news that a bailout was coming, not reported by RTE (from talking to folks at home).
They missed Vincent Brown asking what we all wanted to ask last night, great TV and very relevant. If I was 5 Euro short with my licence fee, would I be let off? Its either dreadful media work or FF have them in their pocket

BOHtox

Why bite the hands that feed them?

Drumpot

So what are "boardsies" going to do about it ?

a) Bitch and moan on boards.ie and actively do nothing
b) Pro-actively get out and demand that we get an independent national broadcaster answerable to the people (not its government)
c) Read the thread and think .. . Pfff . . I reckon theres more worrying things to solve!
d) Start up a new broadcaster and call it NTV (national tv) that only tells the truth. Yeh, high 5 everybody . .

or

e) Be the best god damn PC warrior the world has ever seen.

oscarBravo

Moved from Politics.

steelcityblues

Drumpot wrote: »

So what are "boardsies" going to do about it ?

a) Bitch and moan on boards.ie and actively do nothing
b) Pro-actively get out and demand that we get an independent national broadcaster answerable to the people (not its government)
c) Read the thread and think .. . Pfff . . I reckon theres more worrying things to solve!
d) Start up a new broadcaster and call it NTV (national tv) that only tells the truth. Yeh, high 5 everybody . .

or

e) Be the best god damn PC warrior the world has ever seen.

Speaking for myself, I have sent several letters to RTE heads for a few years criticising a few things in their current affairs output!

I think that's being pro-active, and I hope my answer makes you happy. :rolleyes:

Southsider1

Listening to most RTE people interviewing Fianna Fail people conjures up an image of the said FF chap being attacked by his favourite duvet:pac:

ThisRegard

I don't get this idea that seems pretty prevalent on boards, all you have to do is listen to News at 1 with Sean Rourke and watch the 6.1 News or the Frontline, which FF members want to boycott due to what they see as being biased against them, to see there's no FF bias, on these programs at least. Cutting the press conference short is a different issue.

steelcityblues

After last night's shambles of a Frontline programme, anyone willing to disagree with the OP's assertion?

jonniebgood1

Indeed- was it live from a FF party conference? Im struggling to describe it...

micro_dot

in general, from a human viewpoint, to be a political hack, a person has to have a political viewpoint. It would have to be a hobby. I read about George Lee being approached by Fine Gael in the Phoenix magazine long before he jumped.

One more for the usual roll call of party affiliations. John Murray worked for Mary Harney. Then he worked for the RTE newsroom.

I've become aware of the use of music in some of Prime Time's short analysis reports - why create mood when you're supposed to be neutral? Also the juxtaposing of pictures against the voiceover commentary. The voiceover can be neutral, whereas the picture invites an emotional response.

Why keep interviewing Jim Power when Friends First lost money on property investments that are effectively in Nama? Is it our limited gene pool?

steelcityblues

Messrs Davin Power and others using terms like 'robust' and 'feisty' in recent days to describe this grossly unpopular excuse of a Taoiseach , who managed to scrape by a leadership vote.

Good time to resurrect this thread.

outandabout

I actually think RTE's political coverage is excellent and balanced, but you can't please all of the people all of the time.

JustinDee

Its rubbish.
Bryan Dobson for a start grilled Cowen on RTE News yesterday evening.
The govt gets plenty of flack from RTE, regardless of the party incumbent.

Its programmes like the Late Late Show which should be keeping their schnozz out of politics and cease to be political popularity platforms.

outandabout

Agree with the poster on Bryan Dobson. He's a top class newscaster and is always prepared to ask the tough questions.

steelcityblues

Extended 'special' of Drivetime to discuss the leadership contest of currently the fourth most popular political party, and still continuing as I type.

Also, Pat Kenny devoting two segments to it on the radio yesterday.

The Enda-Bruton contest got nothing like this coverage from the State broadcaster.

Raging_Ninja

steelcityblues wrote: »

Extended 'special' of Drivetime to discuss the leadership contest of currently the fourth most popular political party, and still continuing as I type.

Also, Pat Kenny devoting two segments to it on the radio yesterday.

The Enda-Bruton contest got nothing like this coverage from the State broadcaster.

FF is in government. And there was a good bit of coverage on the FG leadership challenge.

steelcityblues

Raging_Ninja wrote: »

FF is in government. And there was a good bit of coverage on the FG leadership challenge.

There's coverage, and then there's too much coverage.

Not only was a large proportion of the DriveTime show devoted to Martin, then later he got two extended interviews on television in the one day - one with Dobson on 6:1, and then another with Crowley on PrimeTime.

Even people who used to place a great deal of trust in RTE are beginning to see the wood from the trees.

outandabout

Even people who used to place a great deal of trust in RTE are beginning to see the wood from the trees
...
Hi Steel City

Can't agree with you here. The FF leadership story is a big story as they are still, despite the fact that their opinion poll rating has shot through the floor, the biggest party in the country.

I think RTE's political coverage is excellent although it's impossible for any media outlet, no matter how hard it tries, to be completely unbiased.

Bucklesman

I think RTÉ could try a little harder to be honest. I remember back in January The Frontline devoted an entire programme to the state of the Fianna Fáil party which was of no interest to anybody but Fianna Fáilers.

My pet peeve is that they roll out archive footage of Dev and the likes at the drop of the hat and go on about FF history. It's nothing but a smokescreen to distract voters from the shambles they are leaving the country in today.

steelcityblues

Incredible!


Just found out that RTE provided yet another lengthy, unopposed interview with Michael Martin - third one in a matter of days.

Going out on a limb for the government party once again!

goose2005

The Six One News, today:

Item 1
FIANNA FÁIL UP 2% IN POLL

Item 2
Egypt on the verge of revolution

Says it all really. Also, FF are still listed first in the poll, even though they were below Lab and FG, while the ULA were still dumped with "Other" even though they're surely above the Greens.

steelcityblues

The State broadcaster using the term 'tug of war' several times today to describe the possibility of a FG/Labour coalition.

Never heard such a negative connatation being applied to FF/Greens on the airwaves.

You would swear FG and LAB had never gone into coalition before.

steelcityblues

Mary Wilson on DriveTime decided to throw in a sly line about SF's policies, after a text by a woman reporting a fallen O'Caolain poster in Cavan:

"First his economic policies and then his poster!"

:mad:

steelcityblues

Anyone else notice they still put the Greens ahead of SF on their poll graphics, despite the latter clearly being the more popular party for sometime now.

maringo

RTE must be being harangued by FF also note Vincent B seems to be a little less waspish these days - he actually seems to be giving people time to respond to a question :rolleyes:

outandabout

Anyone else notice they still put the Greens ahead of SF on their poll graphics, despite the latter clearly being the more popular party for sometime now.
...
Hi Steel City

Maybe that's because alphabetically G becomes before S:)

steelcityblues

outandabout wrote: »

Anyone else notice they still put the Greens ahead of SF on their poll graphics, despite the latter clearly being the more popular party for sometime now.
...
Hi Steel City

Maybe that's because alphabetically G becomes before S:)

Then, why did they not put them ahead of Labour too?

steelcityblues

Didn't see it, but by all accounts the feedback to last night's Eleventh Hour programe has been ultra-critical, and how the three wise men and women of Irish journalism - Clifford, Hannon and Smyth - all remarkably came to the same conclusion that Adams was 'terrible', and words to that effect.

Any underlying tones of bias from the State broadcaster in the past is now firmly out in the open with an election and the minds of voters to be won.

kevin99

micro_dot wrote: »

in general, from a human viewpoint, to be a political hack, a person has to have a political viewpoint. It would have to be a hobby. I read about George Lee being approached by Fine Gael in the Phoenix magazine long before he jumped.

One more for the usual roll call of party affiliations. John Murray worked for Mary Harney. Then he worked for the RTE newsroom.

I've become aware of the use of music in some of Prime Time's short analysis reports - why create mood when you're supposed to be neutral? Also the juxtaposing of pictures against the voiceover commentary. The voiceover can be neutral, whereas the picture invites an emotional response.

Why keep interviewing Jim Power when Friends First lost money on property investments that are effectively in Nama? Is it our limited gene pool?

John Murray worked with the now defunct Irish Press Group before joining working with the PDs. His wife also worked with the 'Press Group and subdquently worked with the Herald before moving to the Irish Times. Murray was working with RTE's Morning Ireland programme. His wife landed a job as the IT's Asia Corr and so Murray packed up Morning Ireland and headed east.
The Itimes recalled his wife to the Dublin newsroom due to cutbacks and John returned to RTE, where after a few months, he was back to Morning Ireland. The rest ishistory.

kevin99

Firstly, RTE have excellent political interviewers.
Mssrs Dobson, MacCoille and O'Rourke take a neutral view and don't permit political grandstanding by their interviewees.

Where they fall down is with their two Pol Corrs.
Mssrs Davin Power and McCullagh just report what happened or what was said in a debate. They don't give the insiders' view like their counterparts in BBC, Sky and ITV.

They should be going behind the scenes to get the real stories and interpret what is happening for the viewer.

McCullagh sometimes comes across as being totally disinterested in what he is reporting on. Note I didn't use the word commenting. He cannot give an interpretation of what is happening. And quite often he sounds as if he is totally bored and disinterested.

For me the best pol hack to interpret what is happening is jaunty Michael O'Regan, Irish Times parliamentary corr. It means he covers happenings in Leinster House - Dail and Seanad. But he has been there so long and knows every nook and cranny that there is no hiding place for TDs or Senators.
He has a great use of language and a typical Kerry way of communicating.
He comes from a family of journos - brother Gerry is editor of the Indo and sister Eilish is Health Corr of the same paper.

kevin99

I was very surprised at the three journos interpretation of the political debate on RTE TV last night.
Gerry Adams was definately not the worse performer.
He made his point and stuck to it again and again.
In terms of clarity and directness, I would have said Michael Martin first, Adams second, Gormley third and Kenny fourth, Gilmore trailed in a distant fifth.
Martin has nothing to lose, so he can say what he likes. Political reform? He's been going on about nothing else the past two weeks. Why did FF never raise Political Reform over the past 13 years?
Banks should help out SME's! Why did FF not insist on this approach since they bailed out the banks with the famous guarantee two and a half years ago?

Adams - Does what it says on the tin. Populist, articulate, rhetorical without too much detail. But he and his party will appeal to a growing band of disaffected voters FF and the unemployed and disadvantaged.

Gormley - Nothing to lose. Spoke eloquently. Was never as open and straight talking in Government.

Kenny - Seemed very self conscious and reluctant to engage in debate with the others. Said his piece and shut up. Wouldn't agree with Hannon last night that he looked almost Presidential with one hand in his pocket. I would suggest he was hoping and praying the debate would conclude. Caught out by Gilmore not stating his party's predicted growth rate and by Martin over commercial rates and giving power to local authorities. Gormley referred to this point near the end.

Gilmore - just wanted to have a row with anybody to show the viewers he will take no nonsense. But again he failed miserably and seems to be grappling with being concise and the use of ladybird English.

Next week's debate will be far more interesting as there will only be Kenny, Martin and Gilmore.

steelcityblues

kevin99 wrote: »

Firstly, RTE have excellent political interviewers.

Mssrs Dobson, MacCoille and O'Rourke take a neutral view and don't permit political grandstanding by their interviewees.

Debatable! Dobson seemed to give Bertie the soft treatment in several interviews in the past.

Where they fall down is with their two Pol Corrs.
Mssrs Davin Power and McCullagh just report what happened or what was said in a debate. They don't give the insiders' view like their counterparts in BBC, Sky and ITV.

DDP has used adjectives in the past to describe Cowen's slobbering performances as 'rousing' and 'stirring' - the same Cowen with an 8% approval rating not so long ago. As you can see, I don't rate him.

McCullagh, on the other hand, I don't have as much of a problem with - straight pol corr from what I've seen.

McCullagh sometimes comes across as being totally disinterested in what he is reporting on. Note I didn't use the word commenting. He cannot give an interpretation of what is happening. And quite often he sounds as if he is totally bored and disinterested.

Given all the waffle he presumably he has to hear from their mouths on a daily basis, can you really blame him?

For me the best pol hack to interpret what is happening is jaunty Michael O'Regan, Irish Times parliamentary corr. It means he covers happenings in Leinster House - Dail and Seanad. But he has been there so long and knows every nook and cranny that there is no hiding place for TDs or Senators.

Too much of a cosy consensus political reporter/commentator for my liking, but then again he's not RTE.

micro_dot

RTE, deadpan McCullagh included, is portraying this election as a personal tragedy befalling Fianna Fail. How many seats they will lose, Martin not being able to pull in an extra seat, Cowen needing but failing to pull it out of the bag and so on, Aunty Mary wheeled out every so often.
In reality, we've a massive unwarranted debt hanging over the economy, but the status of the Irish language is getting equal coverage (which one is dead?).

steelcityblues

RTE's midday special getting comments from the reporters at party HQs and leads off with FF.

Raging_Ninja

steelcityblues wrote: »

RTE's midday special getting comments from the reporters at party HQs and leads off with FF.

FF is still the governing party. Its only right that they come first in the news, since they are the ones who are in power right now.

steelcityblues

They are no longer the most popuilar party though, so it is wrong news priorities.

TV3, for example, have usually been leading with Enda Kenny on canvas, and rightly so as they have a clear lead in popularity with voters.

Raging_Ninja

The only opinion polls that mean anything are elections. FF is still currently the biggest party in the country, as well as the governing party. Its only right that they would come first in news items.

steelcityblues

PK providing Martin, by himself, with a public phone in this morning, and 'selected' phone calls.

IRE60

and, to balance that, EK is on a solo with PK and we write. Higgins, Gilmore et al all got a solo run on PK.

steelcityblues

Despite being heavily behind in seats, Micheal Martin comes ahead of Eamon Gilmore in the RTE TV and radio running order this afternoon.

outandabout

I watched RTE's coverage all weekend and thought it was superb.

In terms of bias, I thought they were fair to all parties/candidates.

To the poster who complained about Martin ahead of Gilmore in the running order, I think you need to take a bit of an historical perspective.

FF have returned their worse result in their history and the ramifications for national politics are immense.

The Gilmore Gale has now superceded the Spring Tide but I think the Fianna Fail vote colllapse is a bigger story.

Miriam Lord has an excellent story on the front page of today's Irish Times which concentrates on the end of FF as we know it so this is a story that is being carried across all media.

steelcityblues

outandabout wrote: »

I watched RTE's coverage all weekend and thought it was superb.

In terms of bias, I thought they were fair to all parties/candidates.

To the poster who complained about Martin ahead of Gilmore in the running order, I think you need to take a bit of an historical perspective.

FF have returned their worse result in their history and the ramifications for national politics are immense.

The Gilmore Gale has now superceded the Spring Tide but I think the Fianna Fail vote colllapse is a bigger story.

Miriam Lord has an excellent story on the front page of today's Irish Times which concentrates on the end of FF as we know it so this is a story that is being carried across all media.

So you are defending the fact that 'after' the overall result, they could still justify putting Martin in first, rather than Enda or someone else from FG?

News scheduling simply should not work like that, and it is insulting to an FG party - like them or not - who had their most successful election. Also, to Labour on a lesser level.

outandabout

So you are defending the fact that 'after' the overall result, they could still justify putting Martin in first, rather than Enda or someone else from FG?

News scheduling simply should not work like that, and it is insulting to an FG party - like them or not - who had their most successful election. Also, to Labour on a lesser level.
..

Hi Steel City

All the accusations of RTE bias on these board are based on perception rather than fact.

I'm sure there are plenty of bright journalism/communication students who might actually take the time to dissect RTE's coverage and show if bias exists or not.

My opinion, of course, is personal and as someone who voted FG 1-2 and Labour 3, I still stand by my original defence of RTE's coverage.