Support for RTE showing hunting as a topic

extremetaz

Mornin' all,

Came in to find an email from the Countryside Alliance in my inbox this morning to this effect:

"Show RTE Support for Hector Goes Hunting
Thursday, 31 January 2013

Following the broadcast on Monday evening of Hector Goes Hunting, we have been made aware that anti-hunting activists are subjecting RTE management to heavy lobbying by complaint through email, letter, phone call and Facebook

In normal circumstances we would not regard this as requiring a response from the field sports community, however RTE is a public service entity and they are charter obliged to give consideration to complaints where the public allege unfairness or imbalance in their programming.

We must respond now by contacting RTE directly and expressing our appreciation and support for Hector Goes Hunting as an open and objective view of our beloved field sports.

In failing to do so, we risk allowing the anti hunting activists undue influence over future editorial decisions. In other words, hunting and shooting would be seen as too controversial and would be effectively censored from appearing on our t.v. screens.

The anti hunting activists have a major problem with freedom of expression and we cannot allow them to chip away at it through their usual strategy of demonising legitimate country pursuits.

Please encourage all your friends in hunting to make their voices heard, using this link : http://www.rte.ie/about/en/information-and-feedback/contact-rte/

Many thanks to Philip Donnelly, Chairman of the Hunting Association of Ireland for informing us of this situation."


Just figured I'd post it up here in case anyone hadn't happened upon the info.

The URL provided in the article only takes you to RTE's contact page, in which the only option that relates directly to feedback is actually the complaints link...

However: feedback@rte.ie is probably a more appropriate point of contact.

I haven't seen the show yet so I haven't much to say but I'll watch it on the player later and likely submit a few words of encouragement at that stage.

cavan shooter

To whom it may concern,

Well done on an excellent and enjoyable show that was balanced and credible that showed hunting in its true light.

I particularly enjoyed how the show was honest and natural in the portraying of hunting as an inclusive sport yet allowed for the viewer to form their own opinion, something that rarely happens in the media.

Regards

The Harrier

It does not matter what sport you follow be it fishing, shooting, falconry, and even if you think hunting with hounds is pointless, its cruical that we stick together and all country sports people respond on this. If a ban on country sports is put in place either offically or unoffically in RTE it will be a massive blow to us. We will never be able to get our point of view across to the general public. The Anti's are playing a long game, first coursing, then hunting with hounds, then shooting, then fishing etc etc, if it takes 10 20 30 or even 50 years they do not care. We must do the same and think strategically and proactively. This is exactly what they did in England, they controlled the PR agenda and managed to protray all hunters as upper class toffs, despite the many working class people who followed hounds, and hunted with terriers, lurchers etc. By the time the hunting community realised what was going on it was too late and the general public only saw a ban on hunting as affecting the priveliged few. We must not allow the same thing to happen here.

Al391

Done

SeeZee

Done

Got auto responce

'Thank you for your email.

Your comments will be included in the RTÉ Audience Log which is circulated to senior programme management and submitted weekly for information at RTÉ's Editorial Meetings. No further comment will issue to you in this regard.

Feedback is always welcome, so thank you for taking the time to write.
If you have a query that requires a response please contact the RTÉ Information Office by email: info@rte.ie

Kind Regards,

The RTÉ Feedback Team
RTÉ Information'

EastTyrone

does anyone have this on youtube?my rte iplayer won't work

Dalken

The Harrier wrote: »

It does not matter what sport you follow be it fishing, shooting, falconry, and even if you think hunting with hounds is pointless, its cruical that we stick together and all country sports people respond on this. If a ban on country sports is put in place either offically or unoffically in RTE it will be a massive blow to us. We will never be able to get our point of view across to the general public. The Anti's are playing a long game, first coursing, then hunting with hounds, then shooting, then fishing etc etc, if it takes 10 20 30 or even 50 years they do not care. We must do the same and think strategically and proactively. This is exactly what they did in England, they controlled the PR agenda and managed to protray all hunters as upper class toffs, despite the many working class people who followed hounds, and hunted with terriers, lurchers etc. By the time the hunting community realised what was going on it was too late and the general public only saw a ban on hunting as affecting the priveliged few. We must not allow the same thing to happen here.

Right you are the antis are playing a long game and inevitably they'll get some fieldsports banned. You'll get it hard to persuade the average angler or shooter to row in behind the lurcher/coursing crowd Im afraid. I think to protect their own interests they would try and disassociate their sports from the less popular hound and terrier brigade. You'll find people here dont like to be 'classed' either. British situation had less to do with upper vs lower or middle and more to do with rural vs urban, and in England the rural parts are few and far between, something I think the pro hunt lobby in England didnt grasp. I would also mention that duck shooting was banned in most of Australia, again a rural vs urban situation. Thankfully in Ireland common sense tends to prevail our biggest enemies are those that bring our sports into disrepute and bring the heat on the rest of us.

Done also.

mallards

Done also.

yubabill1

I think there are marginally more urban dwellers than rural in Ireland now.

What the UK lacked was one consistent, challenging voice.

I know they had the CA and the marches, but a single voice of reason will count for more.

Sent my support to RTE.

We all should.

marlin vs

Done.

wexfordman

marlin vs wrote: »

Done.

Ditto

pnudj

Done !

round tower huntsman

done.

lads when they antis are quite do not think they are at nowt. our huntsman was atlking to a local td a while back, he informed him that he gets emails daily from antis, showing graphic vid's etc.............. every td and councillor gets em all the time. how often do we send in pro hunting ones???????????????
i know i never do if im honest.

hector did a great job to show how and why we hunt.

Kat1170

Done.

Tac

Done.

ROSSKI

Ditto

Grizzly 45

Dalken wrote: »

Right you are the antis are playing a long game and inevitably they'll get some fieldsports banned. You'll get it hard to persuade the average angler or shooter to row in behind the lurcher/coursing crowd Im afraid. I think to protect their own interests they would try and disassociate their sports from the less popular hound and terrier brigade.

Better to fight a battle on somones elses doorstep than in your own living room.But as you said trying to convince some people of the merits of this is an uphill slog.:(

You'll find people here dont like to be 'classed' either. British situation had less to do with upper vs lower or middle and more to do with rural vs urban, and in England the rural parts are few and far between, something I think the pro hunt lobby in England didnt grasp. I would also mention that duck shooting was banned in most of Australia, again a rural vs urban situation. Thankfully in Ireland common sense tends to prevail our biggest enemies are those that bring our sports into disrepute and bring the heat on the rest of us.

If you listen to the antis rehoric it is all "Upper class clowns,Squireeens,West Brits,Toffs and wannabe Toffs"Etc.
All imported from the UK.Even a crowd of antis of the Anarchist bent but who gave up on it who used to write a underground mag called "Class War" in the 80s and 90s freely admitted it was this and nothing to do with animal welfare for them.In the Uk you get the most diverse people of all walks of life in a hunt from Royalty to Commoner.

CA UK ran a very good counter ad one time of a Afro Carribean nurse in her working nurses uniform and her in her hunting pink . Another was a WPC from some inner city of the UK born and bred ,who hunted.

Simple fact is the antis are playing the same game over here.Trying to make hunting with hounds out to be some nievu riche,class pretension,BRITISH sport.Wonder how they explain the thousands of Irish who follow British multi millionaires kicking a bit of leather around a field,or follow British football teams??:rolleyes:
Dont worry ,we have a fine town/country divide here since the time of the Ark! "Boggers and Culchies" Vs "Jackeens and Dub 4s":rolleyes:
What has kept this country divided and conqured for generations.:rolleyes:

Done as well.

terminator2

glad im from D15 :D

German pointer

Done

cookimonster

Done and replied to........

Sent:

Great to see some Irish programs covering field sports such as hunting makes a change from watching the Discovery Channel. Keep it up, give us more.....

Repiled:
Thanks for your email regarding Hector's Programme.
I will pass on your comments to editorial for logging and review.
Kind Regards,
Rose

RTÉ Information Office

fathersymes

Done.

Dear Sir/Madam,

Just a note to express my thanks to you for airing such an interesting programme on shooting and hunting, I felt that it as very informative regarding traditional countryside activities. I now have a greater understanding especially regarding the Fox Hunting portion of the programme. Perhaps you would consider producing other programming relating to the countryside such as angling, shooting and hunting, I would imagine the audience is very large indeed, considering that many European TV networks have regular programmes related to countryside activities.

yubabill1

Come on, you lot.

I count 583 views, 20 replies.

Get your email to info@rte.ie and log it here.

Killdevil Spider

Done. I received a reply identical to the one somebody posted above.

fathersymes

yubabill1 wrote: »

Come on, you lot.

I count 583 views, 20 replies.

Get your email to info@rte.ie and log it here.

Indeed and also get onto whatever organisation you're in, be it NARGC, ICPSA etc. to encourage all their members to write to RTE.

We can be sure the Anti's are well organised in their own letter writing strategies.

LB6

EastTyrone wrote: »

does anyone have this on youtube?my rte iplayer won't work

My player gave up the ghost too. If you've got adblock on either FF or IE , use the other to play the rte player. It'll work for you then. Seemingly RTE are insisting that you watch their ads for a few mins before their programme starts. Hope this helps.:D

yubabill1

Big article p3 Sunday Times about ICABS complaint to RTE about Hector.

If we could portray these people for the screeching witch hunters they are, we might get somewhere.

Will be writing to the ST editor.

yubabill1

Had my thinking cap on while having a puff outside.

Can somebody tell me if they mentioned any conservation work we do in Hector's programme (can't stand to watch the guy, myself)?

If not, a complaint could be made to RTE about balanced reporting.

wexfordman

yubabill1 wrote: »

Had my thinking cap on while having a puff outside.

Can somebody tell me if they mentioned any conservation work we do in Hector's programme (can't stand to watch the guy, myself)?

If not, a complaint could be made to RTE about balanced reporting.

Hector has a Facebook page also with a fair amount of comment on the show, so would be worth posting a few response to it also.

jagged

Done

Cass

Done.

yubabill1

Going to scrap the counter-complaint idea: Really can't abide watching Hector.

However, in the UK, the fieldsports organisations attempted to be the voice of reason and we all know the consequences.

I think, according to the last census the population here has just become an urban majority....

flanum

Done

Thank you for your email.

Your comments will be included in the RTÉ Audience Log which is circulated to senior programme management and submitted weekly for information at RTÉ's Editorial Meetings. No further comment will issue to you in this regard.


Feedback is always welcome, so thank you for taking the time to write.

If you have a query that requires a response please contact the RTÉ Information Office by email: info@rte.ie



Kind Regards,


The RTÉ Feedback Team
RTÉ Information

Grizzly 45

yubabill1 wrote: »

Big article p3 Sunday Times about ICABS complaint to RTE about Hector.

Link to the article??

ace86

done

Sparks

Finally back to a keyboard. Done.

Dalken

Times article is a load of me h*le, more picture than words. Basically some letter writer from the ICABS(or whatever) thought the show was "one sided" and Hector a disgrace(I agree with that part but not because of that show). He reckoned it glorified hunting and some huntsman admitted that 1 in 4 foxes got killed during hunts as opposed to the 1 in 100 claimed in the TV show, Hector is still cheering for the Fox but is glad he made the show as it has opened a "debate", cant type that with a straight face.
Anyways you have to hand it to the antis, they sure know how to turn the tables on us lot, maybe we should start writing letters and quit arguing with one another on Boards about other things...just a thought..

LB6

http://soc.li/i37hdyH

They say they're anti-violence. Pfft, there's proof and there's more on video!

Sparks

Dalken wrote: »

maybe we should start writing letters

Yes... as we said a while back!

and quit arguing with one another on Boards about other things...

Lot easier for the antis to do that when there's so few of them... and even then, if they're so unified, why do they have so many organisations?

Dalken

Sparks wrote: »

Yes... as we said a while back!

Lot easier for the antis to do that when there's so few of them... and even then, if they're so unified, why do they have so many organisations?

...Im thinkin of the scene in Life Of Brian where they are cursing the Proples Front of Judea, The Peoples Popular Front and the Judeas Popular Peoples Front..:D

Grizzly 45

TBH they are just as disorganised as we are betimes.:rolleyes:
Only thing that makes them look organised is their consistency in letter writing and their better media contacts.
Remove that "advantage" and they are nothing here.

Their next target this month will be Clonmel and the coursing meet.Weather permitting, they might manage a busload or two up to stand in a long line to give the impression that there were "Hundreds" at their demo. Whereas there are a few thousand inside the track.:P

target

Done!

sfakiaman

Done!

CJhaughey

Done and got the standard pro-forma reply.

moby30

Done

.243

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

TBH they are just as disorganised as we are

but orginised enough in the uk to get fox hunting banned
do not under estimate these people,
they have nothing better to do with there time,
and all the time to do it,
these people have nothing else in there lives,and when they succeed with one issue they move onto the next nearest to the previous,

yubabill1

I'm counting the thick end of 30 emails to RTE supporting the programme so far.

Well done to everyone, so far. Remember, journos pay more attention to correspondence from people they never hear from. An earlier poster said the antis bombard TD's etc with mail, most of which rightly goes in the bin. However, they sit up when they get significant communications from the general public.

As I said, I will be writing to the Sunday Times editor before Thursday's deadline- I usually take a couple of days to mull things over.

I am not trying to make hay from this thread, btw. I have a track record of challenging John Tierney, ICABS, etc in the media when they overstep the mark. I will be reading back over the thread for inspiration, however, if that's OK.

So far, it seems to me the ICABS have achieved their objective in this case; simply lodging a complaint has bought them lots of publicity for their anti-hunting stance.

So little effort for so much reward.

We must undermine this tactic, somehow. My first instinct is to build on their public image, which is currently perceived as fanatical and extremist. Like I said- screeching witch hunters. now to make this palatable.....

Longranger

Done
Got the bog standard reply too. I've asked all the lads in the gun club to do the same. The more the merrier.

yubabill1

Just wondering out loud; should someone ask RTE to get Hector to spend some time with ICABS, in the name of balanced reporting?

Would this be worthwhile, guys?

Sparks

Only if he also spent time with ARAN, ALF and all the other 2-man teams they have...

edit: Mind you, having said that, I think Dara O'Brian has a magnificently accurate point at 1:00 here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI-Uu94vINg

Grizzly 45

.243 wrote: »

but orginised enough in the uk to get fox hunting banned
do not under estimate these people,
they have nothing better to do with there time,
and all the time to do it,
these people have nothing else in there lives,and when they succeed with one issue they move onto the next nearest to the previous,

BUT how long did they take to do it??[Decades]At what cost??They won a battle ,but ultimately lost a campaign !How?New Labour got booted out.Tony Blair admitted it was the worst political move he ever did giving excess time to the foxhunting debate when things of global importance ,like Iraq were being ignored for the benefit of a bunch of minority fanatics.Also the antis lost huge support when the ban came thru as they had built membership on a single issue and everyone thought it was done and left,draining them of monies and support.

Over here the same thing happened with the Greens..They pushed the govt with their extreemists members demands of banning stag hunting.Wasted a load of Dail time when the arse was falling out of the country,and contributed to the demise of FF/Green as political parties for evermore. The Greens are back being a coffe house talking shop that gets the occasional media soundbite.

ICABS has been around since 1966.In 46 years of campaining what have they achived exactly??Muzzled greyhounds in coursing and banned a elitist form of hunting with hounds at extreme political cost to them. Coursing is still live and well,as is fox hunting,shooting,fishing,and keeping domestic pets.

Despite their claim [from the 1970s opinion poll] that they have the overwhelming support of the Irish people.Their cold hard figures of monies dont suggest this.They are a PLC and their latest returns are consistently under the national average industrial wage IE they have about 20/25 thousand euros a year..
Their main political supporter is a inner city Dub woman Trotty oik, who inherted Tony Gregorys seat,and no one pays any attention to in the Dail when she rants away.

They have had to chuck out twice their PROs for brushes with the law of varying seriousness over their existance. Both who favour "direct action" methods of getting their point across and who associate with people who have been either jailed,[Robin Webb]deported from the UK[Jerry Vlasek] but can debate here in Trinity.Or work as lecturers after doing a spot of bird..

IOW folks,the simple way to defeat them here,or at least seriously damage them is cold hard facts and figures on their antics over the last 46 years,that they have and associate with criminals and Loyalist Ex bombmakers,[One was the head of huntsabs in Derry]have nil pouplation support and less political and financial support.All they have is good media PR and dont miss a trick to put their views across ,even if it is capitalising on a tragedy in another country.I've noticed the usual suspects didnt comment on Sandy Hook,so they started using "clean skin" names and address to do the commentary.:rolleyes:
Dangerous and a nusiance yes,even thier direct actions here have been more on the line of petty vandalism rather than a serious attack on property. A clear and present danger at the current time...NO.
We have more to fear from fallout from the US affecting our gun laws than from our enemies domestic.



LATER
As I figured from todays Irish times Feb 05/13

Up to 70 protesters attended a picket of the National Coursing Championships in Co Tipperary yesterday to voice their opposition to the sport at its biggest event of the year

“We are extremely heartened by today’s turnout, which is one of the highest we’ve had in recent years,” Mr Carmody added.

The OVERwhelming support of the Irish pouplation to get blood sports banned.....??

Reality must be a fierce problem in the day to day lives of these people..

yubabill1

content blocked- you will have to tell us yourself, Sparks