Sexism in RTE Sports Coverage?

AConn

I am conducting a thesis on the causes of recent surge in female sports reporters and the ripple effects of this move being sexualisation. Do you think females have been brought in to cover male sports to counteract broadcasting of female sports in Ireland and further afield?

Do you think that sexualisation of female athletes has engaged in a kind of ripple effect into female sports broadcasting/reporting? (ie) Graygate

Thanks

Corsendonk

AConn wrote: »

I am conducting a thesis on the causes of recent surge in female sports reporters and the ripple effects of this move being sexualisation. Do you think females have been brought in to cover male sports to counteract broadcasting of female sports in Ireland and further afield?

Do you think that sexualisation of female athletes has engaged in a kind of ripple effect into female sports broadcasting/reporting? (ie) Graygate

Thanks

Maybe you should contact the OP

AConn

who?

donfers

AConn wrote: »

I am conducting a thesis on the causes of recent surge in female sports reporters and the ripple effects of this move being sexualisation. Do you think females have been brought in to cover male sports to counteract broadcasting of female sports in Ireland and further afield?

Do you think that sexualisation of female athletes has engaged in a kind of ripple effect into female sports broadcasting/reporting? (ie) Graygate

Thanks

Is it wrong that I read "ripple" as "nipple" in that post?

the answer to all your questions is the relentless brutal honesty of the market but if you want to postulate some theories from that then feel free, personally I think you're way off the mark but people will assign meaning how they see fit and you are entitled to do that

troutfeet

uvox wrote: »

Generally, there is far too much sport on the telly, but especially in the newspapers (look at the amount Sunday Tribune and Village Magazine used to sink into it. Lesson there). That said, if you're going to have this stuff on the telly at all, then it should be balanced. Camogie, women's marathon, and the rest should be covered. Just look at the lousy coverage given to TracyKatie Taylor until recently, by comparison.

The BAI is not the place to pursue it. Take it up with the broadcasters and also election candidates who write the checks for RTE too.

do me a favour love, if your going to use an example get their name right especially when she is by far the biggest female sport star in Ireland atm and the only real option for the op to make a valid point in this thread

Anywhoodle

kevin99 wrote: »

RTE television and radio doesn't have the airtime to broadcast women's sport. Simple as.
Next best thing is for the station to hire female sports journalists.
The ubiquitous Joanne Cantwell, Evanne Ni Quillan (sounds so secondary school girlish with no understanding nor interest in what she is reading) and a few others.

Presume you mean Evanne Ni Chuilinn? She's a mad GAA fan sure.. Involved in a bunch of supporters' clubs for years, plays camogie with Portobello.. You suggesting she has 'no understanding [n]or interest' in sport is probably just your own projection. Her reading is perfectly competent, doesn't sound the least bit disinterested. Can't see any reasonable basis for saying she's not into her job. Would also love to hear what you think points to a 'lack of understanding'? She's not mispronouncing players' names or anything..?

As a woman, I defo wouldn't bother with the womens' GAA matches, womens' footie or womens' rugby.. I think the standard is defo blatantly lower than in the mens' games. (BUT I'm a huge fan of both men and womens' tennis and showjumping where there's no diff between the abilities of male and female showjumpers.. Moot since RTE don't cover tennis or show-jumping though!)

kevin99

Evanne's presentation delivery lacks enthusiasm, interest, excitement for radio or television. She sounds like she is reading a school essay for teacher.
I don't care what GAA interests she has or the fact she plays sport. Thouands of people play sport.
Her job is to make people sit up and watch or listen to her sports bulletin broadcasts. And that's not just my opinion.
Most people I have spoken to about her have the same opinion of her broadcasting skills.
A BBC broadcast trainer watched her on telly one night and couldn't believe she is allowed broadcast.
Let's put it another way. Would she ever get a job with a UK TV or radio station? I doubt it. She is not good enough to be a compelling, convincing sports broadcaster.

brianio

Evanne works in news she's asked not to be exciting or particularly interesting. If she was presenting shows you'd see more of her personality. Cantwell does lack any personality, everything is over prepared.

Anywhoodle

kevin99 wrote: »

Evanne's presentation delivery lacks enthusiasm, interest, excitement for radio or television. She sounds like she is reading a school essay for teacher.
I don't care what GAA interests she has or the fact she plays sport. Thouands of people play sport.
Her job is to make people sit up and watch or listen to her sports bulletin broadcasts. And that's not just my opinion.
Most people I have spoken to about her have the same opinion of her broadcasting skills.
A BBC broadcast trainer watched her on telly one night and couldn't believe she is allowed broadcast.
Let's put it another way. Would she ever get a job with a UK TV or radio station? I doubt it. She is not good enough to be a compelling, convincing sports broadcaster.

We'll have to agree to differ.. I genuinely have no idea what you're objecting to. She seems totally competent to me, v.professional.. I defo can't see any marked diff between the way she presents the sports news and the way Horan (for example) reads it.. Like brianio said, news-readers aren't really supposed to show major enthusiasm or excitement or whatever.. That's just not the nature of that particular area of broadcasting. Their views aren't supposed to come across- total objectivity and impartiality is what's aimed for..

Minstrel27

kevin99 wrote: »

A BBC broadcast trainer watched her on telly one night and couldn't believe she is allowed broadcast.
Let's put it another way. Would she ever get a job with a UK TV or radio station? I doubt it. She is not good enough to be a compelling, convincing sports broadcaster.

I couldn't care less what a BBC broadcast trainer has to say about her. She tells me the sport news and that's all anybody needs. I don't want or need her to sparkle. I think she does a good job.

brianio

what exactly did mr. bbc trainer say? lol. how exactly can you critcally analyse a sports bulletin on the news? everytime i've seen her she's hasnt fluffed a word. she's got talent as a journalist and seems to have a pretty cool personality too......i'd love to see her present sports programming as there seems to be a lack of female talent in this area. I love rugby but find cantwell so staged on against the head. it's painful to watch - it's as if it's been learned off...

kevin99

I know what is required of newsreaders and sports news readers.
I worked in that area in the UK for many years.

Evanne needs to inject some life into her broadcasts. She doesn't have a great voice broadcasting, but with some work she would improve. Nobody has told her she needs to (a) empahsise key words and phrases and (b) engage with the camera.

I don't know the girl from adam and I am sure she is a good sports journalist, but being a good journalist and a good broadcaster are two seperate qualities altogether.

Compare her sports/news deliveries with those of sports/news broadcasters on BBC or Sky. There is a huge gulph in class.

As I have said and continue to say to 'wannabe' TV presenters, you must engage with the camera first. Treat the camera as your best friend.
Imagine you are telling your friend a story.

That's the key.

Cantwell is very professional. She rehearses and does her preparation and that is to be encouraged. We all put on our broadcasting voice when working in front of the camera.

LeoB

kevin99 wrote: »

Evanne's presentation delivery lacks enthusiasm, interest, excitement for radio or television. She sounds like she is reading a school essay for teacher.
I don't care what GAA interests she has or the fact she plays sport. Thouands of people play sport.
A BBC broadcast trainer watched her on telly one night and couldn't believe she is allowed broadcast.
Let's put it another way. Would she ever get a job with a UK TV or radio station? I doubt it. She is not good enough to be a compelling, convincing sports broadcaster.

Comparing any B.B.C presenter to an R.T.E presenter is very unfair!! The B..B.C would not hold a candle to to the Irish presenters with the exception of Mr. Doyle.

She might not be the best presenter but she is decent and equally as good as the vast majority of B.B.C presenters.

kevin99

Camogie = Cora Staunton
Athletics = Dearbhal O'Rourke
Boxing = Katie Taylor
Ladies
football = Katie Taylor and the girl who joined Arsenal ladies
Golf = twins from cavan, we have a few ladies on the LET tour but they haven'r performed well nor challenged for top ten places.
Racing = Nina Carberry and Ted Walsh's daughter.

RTE has given ample airtime to the above ladies' sports and to the personalities involved.
What more do you expect RTE to do? Devote primetime radio/tv coverage to women's basketball, cricket, showjumping?
The ladies All Irish GAA football and camogie finals are covered live by RTE.
Nine Carberry and Ted's daughter have received plenty of coverage on RTE.
I fail to see your point.
RTE's coverage of women's sport is excellent, fair and balanced.

LeoB

My point above refers to our broadcasters who I think are superb and for someone like the B.B.C to say someone should not be allowed on air is Bulls****..

I think ladies sport gets ample time on T.V and Radio.

hatz7

I have an idea, why don't the good ladies that wish to see more female sport on tv try and get RTE to replace 'soaps' and broadcast sport shows for the girls.

I do think there is merit in the argument that TV coverage could help increase the popularity of sport among women. (how much, I don't know).

Now I'd sooner write a letter to RTE about replacing soaps with sports shows for the ladies rather than give out about sexism, that's not how us men roll.

But I'm with ye on this.

kevin99

LeoB wrote: »

My point above refers to our broadcasters who I think are superb and for someone like the B.B.C to say someone should not be allowed on air is Bulls****..

Well how is it bull****? You either have a good broadcasting voice or you don't. Good diction, ability to emphasise a word or phrase, and a broad use of the English language. An abilit to use the right word or phrase to describe the action is what is needed. Sadly, the RTE boys, with a few exceptions don't have it.
The majority of RTE sports presenters wouldn't stand a cat in hell's chance of getting a job with the BBC or SKY or ITV. Their awful accents, poor diction and general lack of knowledge of the sport they speak about is so obvious that they clearly are out of their depth.
Most of their sports commentators, as distinct from sports readers, sadly lack fluency and have a limited command of English. And no amount of swapping shouting for passion will get them off the hook.
And as for the radio sports presenters. What a cushy life they have.
All they do is cut and paste what they read in the morning newspapers and on the wires, put a top or new intro on it and make it sound as if they have unearthed this little gem of a story.
Rory McIlroy has been back in Ireland for the past five days and I have yet to hear RTE sports dept. interview him or advertise the fact they may have lined up an interview with him for their weekend sports shows.
Cahill didders, lacks any fluency and can't adlib, Cantwell tries too hard and mixes words and phrases, Maloney giggles at the slightest lighthearted comment an interviewee makes, NiChuillan sounds so down beat and boring; Corcoran must be the worst radio rugby commentator ever. His use of language is limited to about 50 words, he can't come up with an original descriptive phrase or adjective for a passage of play or player. He has to script everything when reading a sports news bulletin or he is literally lost for words. Morrissey and Carty are awful. Never objective when it comes to the GAA.
And the big issue is that nobody in Montrose has the balls to challenge any of them and tell them so.
They are just plain lazy.

LeoB

kevin99 wrote: »

LeoB wrote: »

My point above refers to our broadcasters who I think are superb and for someone like the B.B.C to say someone should not be allowed on air is Bulls****..

Well how is it bull****? You either have a good broadcasting voice or you don't. Good diction, ability to emphasise a word or phrase, and a broad use of the English language. An abilit to use the right word or phrase to describe the action is what is needed. Sadly, the RTE boys, with a few exceptions don't have it.
The majority of RTE sports presenters wouldn't stand a cat in hell's chance of getting a job with the BBC or SKY or ITV. Their awful accents, poor diction and general lack of knowledge of the sport they speak about is so obvious that they clearly are out of their depth.
Most of their sports commentators, as distinct from sports readers, sadly lack fluency and have a limited command of English. And no amount of swapping shouting for passion will get them off the hook.
And as for the radio sports presenters. What a cushy life they have.
All they do is cut and paste what they read in the morning newspapers and on the wires, put a top or new intro on it and make it sound as if they have unearthed this little gem of a story.
Rory McIlroy has been back in Ireland for the past five days and I have yet to hear RTE sports dept. interview him or advertise the fact they may have lined up an interview with him for their weekend sports shows.
Cahill didders, lacks any fluency and can't adlib, Cantwell tries too hard and mixes words and phrases, Maloney giggles at the slightest lighthearted comment an interviewee makes, NiChuillan sounds so down beat and boring; Corcoran must be the worst radio rugby commentator ever. His use of language is limited to about 50 words, he can't come up with an original descriptive phrase or adjective for a passage of play or player. He has to script everything when reading a sports news bulletin or he is literally lost for words. Morrissey and Carty are awful. Never objective when it comes to the GAA.
And the big issue is that nobody in Montrose has the balls to challenge any of them and tell them so.
They are just plain lazy.

Sorry Kevin99 I cant agree with you.

When I turn on the radio to listen to sports programmes or a sports report I dont want to hear someone waffle on with a load of crap like our pals in B.B.C and Sky.

You appear to me to just have a dislike to the R.T.E crew.

Michael Corcoran on the radio is enjoyable to listen to, he makes the action exciting and can be funny especially when Munster are playing. Marty Morrisey has had a few spats with the G.A.A and while in general most of our sports journalists are not very controversial they are quite good, not trying to dig up dirt the English counterparts. I do by times some are a little less engaging or can be slightly boring but if you call what the brits pedal as sports journalism during Wimbledon, British open golf, 6 Nations or soccer tournament as good professional impartial reporting you watch different channels to me or my collegues at work.
The R.T.E journalists are fair and impartial, like Cahill was the other day when describing how us as such a small nation are producing people like Harrington, Lawrie and McGinley. BTW is McIllroy still going to declare for team G.B if golf is an olympic sport.

Des Cahill in my opinion is good to listen to, he is quite lighthearted, The women you mention I find are ok and not bad to listen to. Their voices are easier to listen to than Clare (Balding?) or Sue Barker.

If I wanted an lesson on grammer I would not tune into any sports brodcast.

B.T.W our racing commentators are regarded as among the best in the world by their peers.

kevin99

Hi,
You miss my point. I am referring to their 'technical' ability as presenters and commentators.

What broadcast journalists in the UK dig up dirt?
I think you are referring to the red top print media.

I never criticised RTE's racing presenters or commentators who are top class.

In relation to Wimbledon and The Open ( it is not called the 'British' Open), I presume you are referring to the way the broadcast media get behind the British participants, especially in the tennis. Well, just look at the way the broadcast media here got behind the Irish cricket team recently and young McIlroy at the Masters. I don't have an issue with that. Look at the way the broadcast media here have supported Katie Taylor. Again, I don't have an issue with that.

Are you seriously saying that we have better sports presenters and commentators than Peter Aliss and Ken Brown, John Motson, Clive Tyldesley, Martin Tyler, Gary Lineker, Gabby Yorath, Eddie Butler etc?

I am not saying the Irish guys are not as knowledgeable about their sport, but that they are not 'technically' as good. Listen to BBC Five Live to any of the reporters and they never, ever are stuck for words, a phrase or irony. Yet, RTE's lot struggle to find the correct descriptive adjective or phrase to communicate a passage of play to radio listeners in particular.
And the reason is that they don't have that skill or ability. RTE hired some of their sports presenters from local radio where there is no training. These guys get above themselves in terms of their egos and believe they are excellent at what they do.
Instead, they should review their broadcasts and try to improve for the next event.
And their radio sports reporters should be told to come up with 'exclusives' or a different angle rather than trot out the latest sports news 'lifted' from that morning's newspapers or wire services.
Did any of them attempt to interview the parents or extended family or trainer or owner of horses ridden by the injured jockey Peter Toole?
Did any of them attempt to interivew Rory McIlroy?
Have any of them attempted to look at up and coming Irish pro snooker players, given the world championship is on in the UK?
Dublin and Cork play tomorrow in the Nat League Final. I listened yesterday to Morrissey interviewing a pundit about the match. Why not interview a former Cork player and Dublin player? Or better still, interview 'unemployed' guys from both sides. But at least make an effort to be different instead of regurgitataing the usual ****e.
What are the Irish cricket players, not playing in England, doing now? Kevin 0'Brien who scored the fantastic, record-breaking centure in 50 overs cricker is unemployed as far as I know. Why not do a five minute interview with him on his plans for the future on and off the crease?
We have Fairyhouse races starting on Easter Monday. Why not interview the next up and coming female jockey, if there is one? And ditto male jockey?
Are Airtricity league of Ireland games attracting more fans this season?
The Irish Times carried the match attendance at all premier league games. So, check with the clubs and do a comparison to last season.
Interview club owners. How much are players being paid this season. Talk to FAI about the future of the domestic league in Ireland. This is what people are interested in, NOT the result from last night which they can get on their mobile phones, laptops or PC.

I don't know what I will do this summer during the GAA championship now that Michaél has retired from radio. I used turn down the sound on the telly, cos I can't listen to Ger Canning, and listen to the beautiful use of language of Michaél during a match.


My issue is the fact that there appears to be very little technical training or appraisal given to the sports presenters. Des being funny is a subjective issue. But he has poor command of the English language and he slurs words and phrases. He is also very defensive if a caller or texter disagrees with his analysis of a situation.

I don't dislike RTE. Their news output on Radio and television is top class and very professional. That applies to both news presenters and reporters.

LeoB

I dont think the Englis media get behind their fellow Brits as much as ignore others. They look for excuses when things dont go to plan, ah Tim had a slight tweek on his hamstring, or Sally had an ankle problem which must have been on her mind, but when they win a race or event they build them up to high heaven thats not good T.V, Radio journalism its totally unprofessional and not impartial as they should be.

The other major consideration is the money side of it. It is part of sponsorship deals where a lot of English sports stars have to do interviews infact its not uncommon to Kevin Doyle doing his bit in front of Camera for wolves. R.T.E. cant compete with the big media producers no matter who is presenting the programme and I think for the size of our network and financial status we are very good.

As you will see from my posts my own grammer is not the best at times but you know what I mean;)

Corsendonk

kevin99 wrote: »

Camogie = Cora Staunton
Athletics = Dearbhal O'Rourke
Boxing = Katie Taylor
Ladies
football = Katie Taylor and the girl who joined Arsenal ladies
Golf = twins from cavan, we have a few ladies on the LET tour but they haven'r performed well nor challenged for top ten places.
Racing = Nina Carberry and Ted Walsh's daughter.

RTE has given ample airtime to the above ladies' sports and to the personalities involved.
What more do you expect RTE to do? Devote primetime radio/tv coverage to women's basketball, cricket, showjumping?
The ladies All Irish GAA football and camogie finals are covered live by RTE.
Nine Carberry and Ted's daughter have received plenty of coverage on RTE.
I fail to see your point.
RTE's coverage of women's sport is excellent, fair and balanced.

Katie Walsh, lets not keep calling her Ted Walsh daughter, she deserves better.

AConn

kevin99 wrote: »

Camogie = Cora Staunton
Athletics = Dearbhal O'Rourke
Boxing = Katie Taylor
Ladies
football = Katie Taylor and the girl who joined Arsenal ladies
Golf = twins from cavan, we have a few ladies on the LET tour but they haven'r performed well nor challenged for top ten places.
Racing = Nina Carberry and Ted Walsh's daughter.

RTE has given ample airtime to the above ladies' sports and to the personalities involved.
What more do you expect RTE to do? Devote primetime radio/tv coverage to women's basketball, cricket, showjumping?
The ladies All Irish GAA football and camogie finals are covered live by RTE.
Nine Carberry and Ted's daughter have received plenty of coverage on RTE.
I fail to see your point.
RTE's coverage of women's sport is excellent, fair and balanced.

Camogie is NOT Cora Staunton. That would be ladies Gaelic football.

Jammydodger123

Yes I agree with everythinig you said!! Its an absolute disgrace!! The inequality between female and male athletes in ireland is mind boggling!! Sher wasn't Larry Corbett and the hurlers on the LAte Late show whinging about how theyv'e nowhere to go on a Monday morning because their unemployed!! Its actually hilarious!! There are loads of female ladies footballers and camogie players (and other Irish female athletes) out there with no jobs and they don't get invited to on jack ****! But no the poor boys who decided to get a trade sit their cosy asses down on fat tubridys seats and moan about how embarassing it is!! Mortifying!! The women just get on with it!

The Irish media is also another failing factor in all of this! You have the sunday game, a bunch of fat old men around a table anaylising every breath of the weekends of the mens GAA "action" ..I'd welcome the day when I see a panel of women discussing the ins and outs of the Ladies GAA!! That'll be the day! Lucosade sport..the shower of ****! Dya think they'd ever do an advert on the women? NO! You have the most enthusiastic sports player ever..Ronan o Gara! "I just take a sip of lucosade sport and i can ****ing fly" What an uninspiring mog! Katie Taylor..what a gem! Ireland only hope for a gold medal in London 2012! She had to go to the UK to do a lucosade sport ad..they aired it about 4 times in Ireland and never again! There is so much evidence of this it's sickening! You ask any young boy or girl who their favourite sports player is and 9 times out of ten its a male! Its so sad!

I play with girls who play on their county teams and the dedication they put in is outstanding. They deserve more recognition. I heard of a guy playing with his county the other day and he gets so many incentives..free boots, free petrol/diesel, free gumsheilds..everything! TG4 are good in their coverage but I still think they could do better. For the All star awards night, they showed a half an hour of the ladies football only (no camogie) and the mens awards got a full hour of broadcasting an interviews. They also only show the finals of the ladies football leagues and the semi finals and finals of the championship so we don't get to see or follow them through the months, to see their improvement or development. A young child gets inspiration from their favourite team/sports player because they get to see them progress throughout their lives on television, if young children aren't seeing any female sports on television from a young age then how are we suppose to instill the value of female sports participation in them?

It makes me sick. RTE need to take their hands out of their pants and wake up!

IRE60

"If you tremble at the thought of the possibility of 50 pc women’s' sport"

There shouldn't be 50% of the sports airtime devoted to "women’s' sport"

Even if we looked at it in two ways the numbers won’t stack up.

1) Make the proportions (men’s /women’s) to the numbers of each gender that participate in sport. I wager that it's not 50/50 - far from it. I'd say that our of all the people that participate in sport, men make up the majority.
2) As its a commercially driven organisation (park that there please - let’s just say they try to get in money) - they have to show the sports where there is the majority of interest =eyeballs=audience=ad-rates *

*with the odd exception, see below

Plain and simple.

Look at the audience for the Men’s GAA Football Final in September and the Women’s a week later. Leagues apart in terms of audience. Would you advocate that women be forced to watch it to bring up the numbers - to justify its broadcast.

Actually I'd go so far as to suggest that the Woman’s coverage is a complete loss leader and wouldn't wash is face commercially - but it’s still shown.

Couple of points

I am of the opinion of PeakOutput that you are a troll
I think you have the Neanderthal attitude in this matter
Its Shia Imams that impose the laws.
I'm particularly board now and won’t be joining in any more. The Woman’s Road Bowling from Armagh is on Santana 4 and it's not to be missed.

LeoB

Good post IRE60.

The numbers just stack up to justify showing anymore ladies sports on T.V. Taking the Ladies All-Ireland of the supporters who do go a lot get free tickets which adds to the attendance.

A few other points
R,T,E get paid to show Ronan O'Gara doing his Lucozade add.
R.T.E didnt pull the Katie Taylor add
R.T.E have given the golf twins from Cavan good coverage but untill R.T.E. can

The hurlers on the late late show have huge profile and an organisation behind them the G.P.A. which I am totally opposed to by the way. Plenty of female sports people have been on T.V and Radio over the last year with regular spots for Cora Staunton, Katie Taylor, Linda Milea, Melanie Nocer, Dervella O'Rourke, Nina Carbury to name but a few and we have 4 very good sports journalists in Evan NiChullian, Joanne Cantwell, Jacquie Hurley and the other escapes me at moment, ah Sioban Madigan.

Until such time as we have female athletes competing at the top, like Sonia O'Sullivan or Cathriona McKiernan we wont be seeing them on our Screens.

Snickers Man

kevin99 wrote: »

Compare her sports/news deliveries with those of sports/news broadcasters on BBC or Sky. There is a huge gulph in class.

Gulph?

kevin99 wrote: »

I know what is required of newsreaders and sports news readers.
I worked in that area in the UK for many years........

I can see why you evidently no longer do so.


Now I risk being torn to shreds for this but one clear advantage that Ms N Chuillinn has is that visually she is stunningly appealing. And that DOES help on TV which let's face it is a visual medium.

The curves from her neck to her waistline are Mother Nature as an art form. And that is the part of her most often in view as RTE usually decides, quite deliberately I expect, to have her presenting while standing up rather than sitting behind a desk. (The latter arrangement is preferred for the likes of O'Herlihy, Giles and Dunphy for which relief much thanks!)

She also speaks clearly and fluently which is all you need.

The BBC has no right to be sniffy. In its early days it had very strict requirements for the diction of its presenters. They had to have cut-glass high-brow Queen's-English accents (actually it was the King's English back then). The result was a generation of upper class clones whose sound is now ridiculed and confined to history with the toxic label "Reithian" as a warning to future generations never to be too rigid in its requirements for broadcasters to speak in a certain way.

It was only after the BBC relaxed and allowed people with strong regional accents to come to the fore that it earned its reputation for true excellence in broadcasting. Just keeping to the area of sport: Rugby Union's Bill McLaren had a Scottish Borders' accent that would do justice to Robbie Burns; Rugby League's Eddie Waring became a much loved institution despite having a strong north country accent and a rasping voice that was often mimicked to the point of ridicule.

John Arlott and John Motson had less pronounced accents but clearly neither spoke the "Oxford" version of English often deemed to be closest to standard pronunciation. All men are considered broadcasting legends and rightly so.

Clarity of diction, and the ability to let your listeners comprehend what you say without scratching their heads in bewilderment are the primary requirements for broadcasting on radio or TV. So too are an ability to sound authoritative and trustworthy on your given subject. After that, it's a matter of empathy with the audience. To a great extent, this is something intuitive that is hard to teach.

McLaren might have had a chuckle in his voice, Motson a nerdy addiction to trivia, Murray Walker an unquenchable enthusiasm which overcame an uncanny ability to say the wrong thing at the wrong time. Evanne has the basic requirements of clear speech and enthusiasm, a broad general sporting knowledge and her body.

Fair play to her!

I'd be very cross if she were taken off air because of something a BBC "assessor" geek might say about her.

Corsendonk

Snickers Man wrote: »

Gulph?


I can see why you evidently no longer do so.


Now I risk being torn to shreds for this but one clear advantage that Ms N Chuillinn has is that visually she is stunningly appealing. And that DOES help on TV which let's face it is a visual medium.

The curves from her neck to her waistline are Mother Nature as an art form. And that is the part of her most often in view as RTE usually decides, quite deliberately I expect, to have her presenting while standing up rather than sitting behind a desk. (The latter arrangement is preferred for the likes of O'Herlihy, Giles and Dunphy for which relief much thanks!)

She also speaks clearly and fluently which is all you need.

The BBC has no right to be sniffy. In its early days it had very strict requirements for the diction of its presenters. They had to have cut-glass high-brow Queen's-English accents (actually it was the King's English back then). The result was a generation of upper class clones whose sound is now ridiculed and confined to history with the toxic label "Reithian" as a warning to future generations never to be too rigid in its requirements for broadcasters to speak in a certain way.

It was only after the BBC relaxed and allowed people with strong regional accents to come to the fore that it earned its reputation for true excellence in broadcasting. Just keeping to the area of sport: Rugby Union's Bill McLaren had a Scottish Borders' accent that would do justice to Robbie Burns; Rugby League's Eddie Waring became a much loved institution despite having a strong north country accent and a rasping voice that was often mimicked to the point of ridicule.

John Arlott and John Motson had less pronounced accents but clearly neither spoke the "Oxford" version of English often deemed to be closest to standard pronunciation. All men are considered broadcasting legends and rightly so.

Clarity of diction, and the ability to let your listeners comprehend what you say without scratching their heads in bewilderment are the primary requirements for broadcasting on radio or TV. So too are an ability to sound authoritative and trustworthy on your given subject. After that, it's a matter of empathy with the audience. To a great extent, this is something intuitive that is hard to teach.

McLaren might have had a chuckle in his voice, Motson a nerdy addiction to trivia, Murray Walker an unquenchable enthusiasm which overcame an uncanny ability to say the wrong thing at the wrong time. Evanne has the basic requirements of clear speech and enthusiasm, a broad general sporting knowledge and her body.

Fair play to her!

I'd be very cross if she were taken off air because of something a BBC "assessor" geek might say about her.

Is she joining the BBC? Or did you just loose the run of yourself with he curves? lol She hasn't a patch on Gabby Yorath.

Snickers Man

Corsendonk wrote: »

Is she joining the BBC?

I highly doubt it. I was just responding to the quote below that somebody from the BBC was being dismissive about her.

kevin99 wrote: »

A BBC broadcast trainer watched her on telly one night and couldn't believe she is allowed broadcast.

Corsendonk wrote: »

Or did you just loose the run of yourself with he curves? lol She hasn't a patch on Gabby Yorath.

Hey it's not a competition! They're both easy on the eye.

Snickers Man

Ok. Remember: this is not sexist; it's sexual! OK?

Different.

The attached is the bould Eavanne from last night's news at Nine. Not exactly what she might wear if she was togging out for a bit of pucking practice.

Maybe she had to go to a debs dance or something afterwards.

But all I can say is "Holy Mary, Mother of God!!!"

Cardinal Richelieu

Snickers Man wrote: »

Ok. Remember: this is not sexist; it's sexual! OK?

Different.

The attached is the bould Eavanne from last night's news at Nine. Not exactly what she might wear if she was togging out for a bit of pucking practice.

Maybe she had to go to a debs dance or something afterwards.

But all I can say is "Holy Mary, Mother of God!!!"

One of the few positive side effects of a pregnancy, a free boob job!:pac: