Fianna Fail - RTE connection

guitarzero

There seems to be some weight in it that the ties between both are quite strong and perhaps too much so. Tubridy and McSavage being related to Andrews of Fianna fail to name some...

http://twentymajor.net/2007/07/05/the-great-rtefianna-fail-conspiracy/

If you are aware of any other such connections in any form I'd be interested to hear.

Seth Brundle

Independent & FF?
Lab & unions?

Fitzerb

guitarzero wrote: »

There seems to be some weight in it that the ties between both are quite strong and perhaps too much so. Tubridy and McSavage being related to Andrews of Fianna fail to name some...

http://twentymajor.net/2007/07/05/the-great-rtefianna-fail-conspiracy/

If you are aware of any other such connections in any form I'd be interested to hear.

Are you having a laugh. The link above is dated June 2007.

Why not check the link between the old DL party of Rabbitte and Gilmore and the union branch in RTE............. Then you can talk more sh1t about FF and RTE

belacqua_

kbannon wrote: »

Independent & FF?

The Indo is traditionally a Blueshirt rag.

Seth Brundle

In recent times it has been (percieved as) an FF mouthpiece especially with their support of Ahern and also with election losing headlines referring to FG as liars

alang184

The problem is not with FF specifically. The problem is that we've got a state broadcaster who can be easily influenced/controlled by a leading party or government.

The whole thing is pretty transparent. It's effectively "We'll pay you comfortable salaries, and you give us a very restrained press of our government".

I came across some figures for 2009 recently. Across around 2,000 employees of RTE, the average salary was almost 70,000 euro. Now before you think "but sure they've got top paid presenters etc.", there are probably only around 20 or 30 presenters paid more than 70,000. This 2,000 employees would include cleaners, sound engineers, lighting technicians etc, etc. Out in the real world (private sector), what would people of these same professions be paid?

David Davin Power is another huge question mark for me (political correspondent). During the Fianna Fail "think-in", where he (and some other journalists perhaps) were privileged guests of Fianna Fail well into the early morning for a party, Power just 12 hours later had to give an RTE news update about the Cowen (drunken) radio appearance. He gave a completely slanted report of the situation, giving a clear endorsement of Cowen, making it clear that he felt the whole thing was most unfair on Cowen.

Another ridiculous moment for David Davin Power was a few weeks ago; the international media all in Dublin, Cowen statement announced, all expecting a resignation. Cowen announced to soldier on to the bemusement of the national (TV3, some papers) and international media, yet Power came on RTE Six-One again repeatedly referring to Cowen's speech as "a strong performance", and the same again on the 9 o'clock news.

freevoice

Miriam O’Callaghan's brother was a Fianna Fail candidate in 2007 General election. Jim O’Callaghan Dublin South East.

eamo12

Fitzerb wrote: »

Are you having a laugh. The link above is dated June 2007.

Why not check the link between the old DL party of Rabbitte and Gilmore and the union branch in RTE............. Then you can talk more sh1t about FF and RTE

Agreed, RTE and labour are inseparable. Labour now represents the interests rich union backed earners like the ESB and RTE. They wheel out low paid union employees as cannon fodder for propaganda purposes.

eamo12

belacqua_ wrote: »

The Indo is traditionally a Blueshirt rag.

The rest are commie rags...

belacqua_

kbannon wrote: »

In recent times it has been (percieved as) an FF mouthpiece especially with their support of Ahern and also with election losing headlines referring to FG as liars

gcgirl wrote: »

It's been rename The Endapendent

Posted elsewhere, I hope gcgirl doesn't mind, but I thought it worth repeating.

steelcityblues

belacqua_ wrote: »

The Indo is traditionally a Blueshirt rag.

Once O'Reilly got his hands on it, things changed tho!

Shea O'Meara

eamo12 wrote: »

Agreed, RTE and labour are inseparable. Labour now represents the interests rich union backed earners like the ESB and RTE. They wheel out low paid union employees as cannon fodder for propaganda purposes.

Baloney.

RTE is a family business, with strong FFail ties at higher levels.
Union or not, if you're not born into RTE you'll never prosper there, from post room to boardroom.
Read the credits....

jmayo

belacqua_ wrote: »

The Indo is traditionally a Blueshirt rag.

Yeah especially with the likes of that haughey sycophant john dreenan, bertie sycophant eoghan harris, socialist man gene kerrigan and husband of ff frontbench policy advisor averil doyle as political editor.

Yeah very pro Enda and FG. :rolleyes:
Hell the sindo was still sniping at Kenny after very spectacular result on the previous day.

Fitzerb wrote: »

Are you having a laugh. The link above is dated June 2007.

Why not check the link between the old DL party of Rabbitte and Gilmore and the union branch in RTE............. Then you can talk more sh1t about FF and RTE

Ah ffs have you ever watched tubridy doing the Late Late ff Show ?

I expect he will have interviews with o'rourke, hannafin, conor lenihan etc over the coming weeks.

freevoice wrote: »

Miriam O’Callaghan's brother was a Fianna Fail candidate in 2007 General election. Jim O’Callaghan Dublin South East.

Correction he was on front bench as legal advisor under martin.

Shea O'Meara wrote: »

Baloney.

RTE is a family business, with strong FFail ties at higher levels.
Union or not, if you're not born into RTE you'll never prosper there, from post room to boardroom.
Read the credits....

Very true.
tubridy's grand daddy was DG AFAIK.
gerry ryan's daughter got gig after he died.
John Bowman's son got a gig with RTE.
Eileen Dunne's daddy was Mick Dunne.
Niall Cogley was head of sport at RTE where daddy Fred worked for years.

Now these are only the ones I can think of so there are probably a lot more.

irishh_bob

i expect RTE to shift from pro FF to pro labour once the new goverment is formed , RTE doesnt much care for FG , its very much a soft left outfit

mike65

Agree strongly with that, assuming they are in government you can expect Morning Ireland in particular to become Labours most favoured outlet, a sounding board for musing about differences of opinion (esp from the likes of Fergal Finley who will be used to leak Labours real opinions to the media). Newstalk on the other hand will be much
more scepitcal of Labours moaning when it comes.

Ash.J.Williams

guitarzero wrote: »

There seems to be some weight in it that the ties between both are quite strong and perhaps too much so. Tubridy and McSavage being related to Andrews of Fianna fail to name some...

http://twentymajor.net/2007/07/05/the-great-rtefianna-fail-conspiracy/

If you are aware of any other such connections in any form I'd be interested to hear.

Considering the Savage eye was not made by RTE, i think you should remove his name from your post.

irishh_bob

mike65 wrote: »

Agree strongly with that, assuming they are in government you can expect Morning Ireland in particular to become Labours most favoured outlet, a sounding board for musing about differences of opinion (esp from the likes of Fergal Finley who will be used to leak Labours real opinions to the media). Newstalk on the other hand will be much
more scepitcal of Labours moaning when it comes.

ah yes , fergus finlay , irelands most civilised man , i can clearly envisage him and aine lawlor tut tuting over a descision by leo varadkar to can a few heads over at the equality authority , i do enjoy his musings , just like i enjoy root canal surgery minus anasthetic

steelcityblues

mike65 wrote: »

Agree strongly with that, assuming they are in government you can expect Morning Ireland in particular to become Labours most favoured outlet, a sounding board for musing about differences of opinion (esp from the likes of Fergal Finley who will be used to leak Labours real opinions to the media). Newstalk on the other hand will be much
more scepitcal of Labours moaning when it comes.

Remember Charlie Bird going easy on Emmett Stagg after the Phoenix park incident?

Hope he's not brought back into the political cor role now.

ISAW

Shea O'Meara wrote: »

Baloney.

RTE is a family business, with strong FFail ties at higher levels.
Union or not, if you're not born into RTE you'll never prosper there, from post room to boardroom.
Read the credits....

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=70626191&postcount=51

the thread was locked before I could post the other two third of workers Party / RTE links.
But Im sure you have enough to go by there.

From this book:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lost-Revolution-Story-Official-Workers/dp/1844881202

Which if you don't buy you can order in any public library.

mike65 wrote: »

Agree strongly with that, assuming they are in government you can expect Morning Ireland in particular to become Labours most favoured outlet, a sounding board for musing about differences of opinion (esp from the likes of Fergal Finley who will be used to leak Labours real opinions to the media). Newstalk on the other hand will be much
more scepitcal of Labours moaning when it comes.

Interesting comment. Mondays Right Hook on Newstalk had Tom Mc Gurk of Sunday Business Post literally dismantling Finley. He was left stuck for words and contradicting himself. He made some comment like "I'm not going to talk about aleft right divide with someone who never voted Labour" I mean either it is a contradiction or Finly wants a "cosy left right divide" where there is only a left and they are in government.

Mc Gurk flummoxed Finley wioth "how did you vote on Lisbon? I voted against it." Finley said he could not remember how he voted . when I think of what Finley might have stated about Betrie's memory I find it hard to imagine he couldn't remember what he voted in two Lisbon referenda!

Considering he actually wrote articles supporting it:

http://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/fergus-finlay/dont-be-scared-there-are-no-time-bombs-in-the-lisbon-treaty-62557.html


O tempora O Mores!

http://media.newstalk.ie/listenback/221/tuesday/1/popup

click on part 2 begins at 5:00 into the run

Tom begins: We need another window on what happened. The elephant in the room is not noticed. no change has happened. We have been run by teachers undertakers and trade union officials
2: nearly 45 per cent voted left but obviously Labour are not interested in a socialist alternative but only in government.

finley says: FF gave our sovereignty away

Mc gurk: Lisbon gave it away too . How did you vote on Lisbon?

Finlys says : you dont know how I voted.

Mc Gurk says: you voted yes on Lisbon.


Finley : We have to bury difference and get out of a mess. a an "ordinaly membe3r" of Labour i would love to see a left opposition but i am a citizen and the mess has to be sorted out. [finley was on the "we have to sort out a mess" senario which Mc Gurk torpedoes with a - "you chant change the IMF/EU deal and you voted for the EU to be able to duo this under Lisbon" ]

Mc gurk: Differences will last till second cup of coffee and fourth biscuit. You know you have no chance of altering the deal and politicians canvasing for Labour are saying that they will prevent homes being repossessed. this isn't their function it is a function for the courts.

Finley [trying to label Mc Gurk as simply anti Labour comes in with : You asked if I voted for Lisbon did yo ever vote for Labour?

Mc gurk immediately replies: i never voted for Labour and I never voted for Lisbon.

11:00 mins in and finley loses his words and resorts to : Can i rest my case [he hasnt made one that mc gurk has not wiped out].. He oges on "your only purpose is to have a go at Labour"

Mc gurk straight back with : No Im trying to put a different spin than the cosy conventional analysis of what has happened

Finley interrupts wioth : ther is no spin

Mc gurk presses on with the idea that we abandoned sovereignty with the Lisbon treaty and even with no FF in government the incoming government will have to operate the EU deal and they supported the Lisbon treaty

By 13:42 Hook steps in and asks Mc gurk to lay off finley because "I have to work with him a lot"

15:35 the contradiction creeps in " I would love to see a left right divide "
Mc gurk : Now's your chance
Finley: I really don't want to be lectured on a left-right divide by someone who never voted Labour in their life.

apparently Finley wants a left-right divide only when people are on the left side or Labour are in government. Otherwise he is happy to dump this love in order to get into government!

Finley goes of into we get what the people vote for and quotes Abe Lincoln
Mc Gurk comes straight back with : Most US government is not elected!

belacqua_

jmayo wrote: »

Yeah especially with the likes of that haughey sycophant john dreenan, bertie sycophant eoghan harris, socialist man gene kerrigan and husband of ff frontbench policy advisor averil doyle as political editor.

I posted that the Indo was traditionally a pro-Fine Gael newspaper, this is undeniable. Its political allegiance shifted in the 90s, due in part to the demise of the Irish Press papers and an opportunistic, populist editorial shift in 97 (not unlike the Sun 'backing' Labour in the UK). It'll be interesting to follow their editorial line over the next few months/years.

mcwhirter

jmayo wrote: »

Niall Cogley was head of sport at RTE where daddy Fred worked for years.

Now these are only the ones I can think of so there are probably a lot more.

Now at TV3, interesting

Fred Cohen

Why not sell RTE(radio and TV) ?

Let TNG perform the PSB since they seem to be doing a better job anyway.

Fred Cohen

steelcityblues wrote: »

Remember Charlie Bird going easy on Emmett Stagg after the Phoenix park incident?

Hope he's not brought back into the political cor role now.

Remember Brian Dobsons interview with the weeping Bertie Ahern. This is the person delivering the national news, RTE bias free - like sh1te.

Zubeneschamali

Ever wonder how the talentless Gerry Ryan became an RTE star?

The one that got away was Charlie Haughey. "I think he has some things to say to the Irish people and I think he might say them to me," says Ryan, before explaining how he grew up with the young Haugheys and how Charlie was unlike all the others dads because he would talk to the young fellas about stuff, "like women and drinking and art". Ryan has found the demonisation of Haughey very painful personally. "It's like finding out that Bob Dylan has no dick".

anymore

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

Ever wonder how the talentless Gerry Ryan became an RTE star?

The one that got away was Charlie Haughey. "I think he has some things to say to the Irish people and I think he might say them to me," says Ryan, before explaining how he grew up with the young Haugheys and how Charlie was unlike all the others dads because he would talk to the young fellas about stuff, "like women and drinking and art". Ryan has found the demonisation of Haughey very painful personally. "It's like finding out that Bob Dylan has no dick".

Ot finding out that Gerry Ryan was high on coke a lot of the time ?

johngalway

In my opinion, it's not just RTE. From comments he's made in the past I'd strongly suspect Sean Moncrieff on Newstalk being a closet FFer.

Wouldn't have a problem with it, but he should declare his interest if one exists IMO.

goose2005

jmayo wrote: »

Yeah especially with the likes of that haughey sycophant john dreenan, bertie sycophant eoghan harris, socialist man gene kerrigan and husband of ff frontbench policy advisor averil doyle as political editor.

Yeah very pro Enda and FG. :rolleyes:
Hell the sindo was still sniping at Kenny after very spectacular result on the previous day.



Ah ffs have you ever watched tubridy doing the Late Late ff Show ?

I expect he will have interviews with o'rourke, hannafin, conor lenihan etc over the coming weeks.



Correction he was on front bench as legal advisor under martin.



Very true.
tubridy's grand daddy was DG AFAIK.
gerry ryan's daughter got gig after he died.
John Bowman's son got a gig with RTE.
Eileen Dunne's daddy was Mick Dunne.
Niall Cogley was head of sport at RTE where daddy Fred worked for years.

Now these are only the ones I can think of so there are probably a lot more.

Dave McSavage is also a grandson of the Andrews DG. Grainne Seoige's sister is there too. Miriam O'Callaghan is married to Steve Carson, Director of Programmes.

Ash.J.Williams

goose2005 wrote: »

Dave McSavage is also a grandson of the Andrews DG. Grainne Seoige's sister is there too. Miriam O'Callaghan is married to Steve Carson, Director of Programmes.

I really don't think mcsavage counts..his tv show was independently made and infinitely better than any other comedy on RTE, so i genuinely think he just made a good show and got on RTE through merit....

He is WELL connected in RTE it must be said..his late late appearences etc was probably due to the fact he used to work there and therefore nepotism!

thebman

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

I really don't think mcsavage counts..his tv show was independently made and infinitely better than any other comedy on RTE, so i genuinely think he just made a good show and got on RTE through merit....

He is WELL connected in RTE it must be said..his late late appearences etc was probably due to the fact he used to work there and therefore nepotism!

Ah here plenty of good shows don't get on RTE even when they have merit. RTE just is a clubhouse of everything that is wrong with Irish society IMO.

Why the hell when we are broke do we even own a TV station FFS. It serves no purpose, forget selling the ESB which we actually need to keep the lights on, sell this TV station!!

I created a thread here a month or two ago on this issue and nobody could give a valid reason why we own a TV station when we are selling state assets and we can't even afford to run the government, the whole thing is an enormous joke on the taxpayer/license payer as far as I can see.

mcwhirter

We were also probably the last country in western europe to have a HD tv channel.
And then when we get one, it isn't even full HD most of the time.
Ireland is so backward it is behind a joke.

steelcityblues

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

Ever wonder how the talentless Gerry Ryan became an RTE star?

The one that got away was Charlie Haughey. "I think he has some things to say to the Irish people and I think he might say them to me," says Ryan, before explaining how he grew up with the young Haugheys and how Charlie was unlike all the others dads because he would talk to the young fellas about stuff, "like women and drinking and art". Ryan has found the demonisation of Haughey very painful personally. "It's like finding out that Bob Dylan has no dick".

How would that prevent Dylan from writing good songs though? Gerry Ryan was a bit of a weirdo.

steelcityblues

johngalway wrote: »

In my opinion, it's not just RTE. From comments he's made in the past I'd strongly suspect Sean Moncrieff on Newstalk being a closet FFer.

Wouldn't have a problem with it, but he should declare his interest if one exists IMO.

D'arcy pretty much politically outed himself, with his ridiculous Enda Kenny comment a few years ago. Can't say about Moncrieff, as I don't listen to him often enough.

thebman

mcwhirter wrote: »

We were also probably the last country in western europe to have a HD tv channel.
And then when we get one, it isn't even full HD most of the time.
Ireland is so backward it is behind a joke.

Yeah but you'll have to get Sky Digital to hear the joke, not going to be aired on RTE :P

Even during all the bailout talks, we had to get news from BBC in order to get anything resembling the truth about what was going on.

johngalway

steelcityblues wrote: »

D'arcy pretty much politically outed himself, with his ridiculous Enda Kenny comment a few years ago. Can't say about Moncrieff, as I don't listen to him often enough.

I listen to Moncrieff when ever I'm in the car. It's just comments, ya know. Last day he had someone in and he threw his full weight behind the "Why are they still blaming the last Govt, would they not ever get over it and move on" way of thinking. You know, like 14 years (or whatever it was) can be rectified over night. There's been other comments too but that's just the one I remember from lately.

mcwhirter

johngalway wrote: »

I listen to Moncrieff when ever I'm in the car. It's just comments, ya know. Last day he had someone in and he threw his full weight behind the "Why are they still blaming the last Govt, would they not ever get over it and move on" way of thinking. You know, like 14 years (or whatever it was) can be rectified over night. There's been other comments too but that's just the one I remember from lately.

His voice grates too. irritating man

Fred Cohen

Joe Duffy's show today was dedicated to an emotical hatchet job on Marrtin McGuiness and Fintin McGrath for backing him and not David Norris.

Does anyone know if there is any point in complaining to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission about the bias shown.

anymore

Fred Cohen wrote: »

Joe Duffy's show today was dedicated to an emotical hatchet job on Marrtin McGuiness and Fintin McGrath for backing him and not David Norris.

Does anyone know if there is any point in complaining to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission about the bias shown.

There is always a point in complaining - the more complaints, the more attention will be focussed on it.

Sonnenblumen

The partner of the Political ed or subEd for the Indo is a FF Senator. So how objective is the political analysis there?

Also have all the supporters from the Party formerly known as the Workers Party vacated Montrose?

bijapos

Sonnenblumen wrote: »

The partner of the Political ed or subEd for the Indo is a FF Senator. So how objective is the political analysis there?

The wife of a leading FG TD, elected in 2011 to the position of Taoiseach is an out an out FFer, she is a fromer assistant to CJ Haughey. So using your simple 2+2= 4 sytem it seems Enda Kenny would be a closet FFer too. :rolleyes:

opinion guy

bijapos wrote: »

The wife of a leading FG TD, elected in 2011 to the position of Taoiseach is an out an out FFer, she is a fromer assistant to CJ Haughey. So using your simple 2+2= 4 sytem it seems Enda Kenny would be a closet FFer too. :rolleyes:

It is kind of difficult to spot the difference between FG and FF these days.....

thebman

bijapos wrote: »

The wife of a leading FG TD, elected in 2011 to the position of Taoiseach is an out an out FFer, she is a fromer assistant to CJ Haughey. So using your simple 2+2= 4 sytem it seems Enda Kenny would be a closet FFer too. :rolleyes:

Well where the problem usually lies is when it is financially beneficial for one partner to be a closet FFer so that wouldn't apply to Enda.

If your partner has close ties to a party and your in the media, it would be odd if you didn't have bias in favor of that party.

It is why the state shouldn't own a TV station at all. The whole unbiased broadcasting thing is BS and the whole every private station is FOX News is BS too.

Fred Cohen

Why do RTE want so much David Norris to be on the ballot?

They have given all their discussion time to himself and Mr McGuiness

Damn I did the same myself (hat tilt to Dana, Mr Gallagher, Ms Davis, Mr Mitchell and Mr O'Higgin).

Dob74

Fred Cohen wrote: »

Why do RTE want so much David Norris to be on the ballot?

They have given all their discussion time to himself and Mr McGuiness

Damn I did the same myself (hat tilt to Dana, Mr Gallagher, Ms Davis, Mr Mitchell and Mr O'Higgin).

I dont get the whole Norris thing.
Ok he's gay and certain people would love to show the world that we arent the ultra conserative country we once where. So they want a gay as president. We are inclusive.
Just as long there are no poor people aloud into our beloved fee paying schools. Exclusive not inclusive

Corsendonk

Katryn Thomas RTE career has started to climb since she started turning up at all those FG events.

Crystalset

Dob74 wrote: »

I dont get the whole Norris thing.
Just as long there are no poor people aloud into our beloved fee paying schools.

Joyce would have been proud of that sentence.

Sonnenblumen

Corsendonk wrote: »

Katryn Thomas RTE career has started to climb since she started turning up at all those FG events.

Probably more to do with budget cutbacks and getting more (multi-tasking for less pay) from ' average presenters'? I must admit, I cannot fathom the trend, who is watching many of these crap me-2 low budget progs with Z celebs?


Maybe RTE is being prepared for a sell off?

Zombrex

Fred Cohen wrote: »

Why do RTE want so much David Norris to be on the ballot?

Because clearly RTE are huge socialist liberal conservatives who support gay rights, traditional Catholic values and Irish republicanism while maintaining the west brit protestant establishment, propping up both FF, FG, Labour and Sinn Fein all at the same time.

What a stupid thread. Fianna Fail hate RTE, they blame them and their coverage for everything from the Bertie dismissal to RTE costing them the last election, while at the same time FG think RTE were in the pocket of the government (a position they held from the moment they left government right up to the time they re-entered government)

Everyone in Ireland seems to think RTE is in bed with the people they personal object to.

This speaks more to their selective filtering of information than anything RTE do. My favourite fact with relation to RTE was they were sued at the same time by both sides of the Lisbon treaty debate for being too biased to the other side.

If everyone hates you then you are doing something right.

Peanut

People consistently look at a partisan bias from an individual presenter and decide that it's representative of the whole place, when in reality there is a divergence of opinion just as there is here.

Zombrex

Peanut wrote: »

People consistently look at a partisan bias from an individual presenter and decide that it's representative of the whole place, when in reality there is a divergence of opinion just as there is here.

Excellent point. They also tend to accept the position that the bias is always in favour of the other side. When was the last time a hard core FF supporter said RTE was too supportive of them and should give more time to the other side, or vice versa

thebman

Peanut wrote: »

People consistently look at a partisan bias from an individual presenter and decide that it's representative of the whole place, when in reality there is a divergence of opinion just as there is here.

Well it is the state broadcaster, it is not supposed to be biased at all. Individual presenters are supposed to leave their bias at the door.

Zombrex

thebman wrote: »

Well it is the state broadcaster, it is not supposed to be biased at all. Individual presenters are supposed to leave their bias at the door.

No one has presented evidence they don't. It is all innuendo, such as saying X's brother is a member of FF and then X got promoted, they must be in bed with FF, Y's father was a member of the Labour party and then Y wasn't as critical of Labour as I would have liked, they must be in bed together.

Peanut's point, if I was following correctly, is that RTE is a collection of people from different backgrounds different political leanings, different families. They are not all from FF families, they are not all from FG families, they are not all from Dublin they are not all from Kerry.