RTE news at 1, or Vatican news at 1.

jonniebgood1

Following the luchtime special a few weeks ago where all other news was ignored after Pope Benedict's resignation todays news at 1 again had just the one story. It was Pope Benedict's last day which is of course absolutely newsworthy. But is it worth flying the RTE crew on a junket to Rome. I don't think so. This followed on from the review of Benedict's time in office on the Pat Kenny show carried out by Father Michael Collins (point being this is hardly an unbalanced view).

The irony being that when I switched over to Newstalk they were dealing with the question of the license fee changing. The license needs to change and fund other broadcasters as this thread demonstrates. A news programme is an important part of life for some people and not just for those who are dedicated to Catholicism.

Any opinions?

heybaby

Yes there is something quite out of touch and hypocritical about the national broadcaster dedicating such a primetime slot to an institution whose influence on this country has waned so dramatically in recent times. Yes as the nations broadcaster they need to cover the story because what happens in the Vatican is important to many especially over a particular age.However to devote much of the programme to that one story is overkill, also to have only Fr Michael Collins who wrote a book on the pope as a sound bite merchant is certainly providing an unbalanced view. Then again this is RTE we are talking about, when was balance ever important to them? Its essentially one outdated dinosaur cabal of an institution reporting on another.

europa11

Why so surprised?

The embarrasment that is "The Angelus bell" reminds us which direction RTE heads bow not once once, but twice a day.

Expect more overload tomorrow and beyond.

Nice mentioning that item on Newstalk about the licence fee OP. How much of that will be wasted on junketing RTE broadcasters hitting off for a nice bit of Roman spring sunshine over the next few days and weeks.

jonniebgood1

Morning Ireland getting in on the act I hear this morning.

It is a story worth covering but this love-in makes a mockery of the national broadcaster given the wider questions being asked in the international media.

yosser hughes

We had the familiar sight of one RTE person interviewing another on TV last night, except this time it was in Rome.Brain Dobson and Joe Little were there. Samantha Libreri was also reporting as was Tony Connolly.
All back to the Ritz Carlton afterwards no doubt

Akrasia

I can't be bothered to listen to that rubbish on RTE. but does anyone know if RTE covered any of the recent revelations about the reasons behind the popes resignation?
Everything I've seen from RTE has just been gushing obituaries of a man who has resigned in suspicious circumstances.

Shouldn't the story be about the crisis in the church, not just the fact that the pope is resigning?

The fact that the most homophobic institute in the world appears to be struggling with it's own sexuality?

The fact that the institution that is almost single handedly blocking equal treatment of homosexuals in many parts of the world is run by men who speak about the evils of being gay in public, while engaging in illicit homosexual affairs in private

spank_inferno

Where is the surprise?

Home rule is Rome rule after all!

two wheels good

If I'd succeeded in finding an email address for the programme on RTE's (confusing) website I was going to tell them the coverage was excessive.

PK, Drivetime, even Mooney's Money also had extensive Vatican reports yesterday.
PK is reporting lengthy speculation on the papal elections again this morning. Report\discuss the news, not speculation - or at least keep the speculation to a minimum.

GSF

They seem to have accepted his statement that God told him to resign without question. We still dont have a statement from God confirming this.

mike65

"Vatican Calling Vatican Calling"

Joe Little is enough.

jonniebgood1

News headline at 1 today:

Pope Benedict has called for people to unite behind his successor .


Shocking news - I simply can't believe that he could do this...
Now I see why RTE have gone to Rome, They knew this could happen...:pac:

RoundyMooney

Another day of it today I notice. Ridiculous.

heybaby

RoundyMooney wrote: »

Another day of it today I notice. Ridiculous.

Yes Sean o Rourke aluding to people questioning the media focus on the vatican justifying it by saying every major world network is there to cover the story. I totally disagree. No doubt rte will have a team out there till the conclave decides on a successor at how much expense ??

two wheels good

CNN reporter interviewed by RTE reporter - the sure sign of time-filling.

goose2005

RTE is basically for the over-50s anyway. I don't suppose they bothered covering Beppe Grillo and the Italian elections while they were over there? Too much thinking involved, let's just watch the holy show.

Btr

Think to be fair - you've got this mostly wrong. The resignation today in Rome is the biggest story in the world today and most networks have a very substantial presence in Rome today .

Even US networks are there. Quote of the day must go to tweet from US show TODAY which confirms (honestly) that despite pope having an honorary pilots licence , he will not pilot helicopter out of Rome this evening - deep
sigh from journo schools worldwide

Max Headroom

GSF wrote: »

They seem to have accepted his statement that God told him to resign without question. We still dont have a statement from God confirming this.

:rolleyes:........it was on his facebook page silly..............:p

Mongarra

What's so surprising about the RTÉ overkill. The Magdalen Laundries, the Promissory notes and the withdrawal of disability payments Joe, have been debated to death.

I was driving home after the most recent soccer friendly against Poland and I cannot remember which news story had happened that day, but from the time I left Donnybrook to arrival home (about an hour and a half) it was all the one topic on RTÉ radio 1 and they did not even stop for news headlines or the sports news. I kept listening in case they had a sports bulletin after the 11.00 pm news but they didn't even have the news!

neris

Rte seem to have made their own little bandwagon. Sky news haven't gone into pope overload (yet)

Bloody*Mary

What I would say if I was in charge of RTE is

'WHAT ADDED VALUE DO WE GET FROM BROADCASTING FROM ROME' based of a cost benefit analysis.?

Bloody*Mary

Now here's how I see it

Who from RTE that I heard was out in Rome

Tony Connolly
Sean O'Rourke
Brian Dobson
Fran McNulty
Joe Little
Samantha Libreri


Those are just the people I heard .

What in fhooks name added value does that amount of people out there add to the reportage.?

None that i can account for, and if anyone can give me an answer ,thank you

Pure juncketeering in it's most blatant form ,in my opinion.

Itssoeasy

Bloody*Mary wrote: »

Now here's how I see it

Who from RTE that I heard was out in Rome

Tony Connolly
Sean O'Rourke
Brian Dobson
Fran McNulty
Joe Little
Samantha Libreri


Those are just the people I heard .

What in fhooks name added value does that amount of people out there add to the reportage.?

None that i can account for, and if anyone can give me an answer ,thank you

Pure juncketeering in it's most blatant form ,in my opinion.

Sure tony Connolly is only up the road.
Sean o rourke and dobbo are the big hitters for this kind of story.
Joe little is the rte religious correspondent so it would be strange if he wasn't there given the nature of the story.
Fran McNulty I'm not sure why he's there.
Samantha libreri ? Token women ?

mrsdewinter

It's easy, easy radio. Forget the costs of flying half a dozen staffers to Rome - that's minuscule compared to the cash needed to fund an investigations unit.

sligojoek

Bloody*Mary wrote: »

Now here's how I see it

Who from RTE that I heard was out in Rome

Tony Connolly
Sean O'Rourke
Brian Dobson
Fran McNulty
Joe Little
Samantha Libreri


Those are just the people I heard .

What in fhooks name added value does that amount of people out there add to the reportage.?

None that i can account for, and if anyone can give me an answer ,thank you

Pure juncketeering in it's most blatant form ,in my opinion.

Don't forget Paul Cunningham. Him and Tony Connolly and Joe Little. Fair enough. But why does Eileen Dunne have to go out to do an on site interview when she can do the same thing from home?

More Music

neris wrote: »

Rte seem to have made their own little bandwagon. Sky news haven't gone into pope overload (yet)

Don't worry, Sky Rome will be on air 24 hours a day shortly!

The RTE staffing arrangements do seem excessive alright. But they won't be the only ones. The worlds media has descended upon The Vatican.

Bloody*Mary

More Music wrote: »

Don't worry, Sky Rome will be on air 24 hours a day shortly!

The RTE staffing arrangements do seem excessive alright. But they won't be the only ones. The worlds media has descended upon The Vatican.

Certainly reporters do have to go there, but this business of anchoring main news programmes from there has me wondering what the advantage is when the costs are taken into consideration?

Genuinely puzzled with that.

padd b1975

sligojoek wrote: »

Don't forget Paul Cunningham. Him and Tony Connolly and Joe Little. Fair enough. But why does Eileen Dunne have to go out to do an on site interview when she can do the same thing from home?

She could be there sourcing material for her 'God Slot' programme on Radio 1.

jonniebgood1

Bloody*Mary wrote: »

Certainly reporters do have to go there, but this business of anchoring main news programmes from there has me wondering what the advantage is when the costs are taken into consideration?

Genuinely puzzled with that.

Indeed- they tried covering some Irish stories on the lunchtime news at 1 yesterday so were interviewing from Rome Irish based reporters, etc. A joke .

GSF

Meanwhile in a parallel universe.........

Philip Boucher-Hayes ‏boucherhayes
The "RTÉ is anti-catholic" protestors are back at the front gate. They really haven't picked the best week to make their point.

mike65

rather big picture here

Going Forward

Who wouldnt want to go to Rome on a jolly?

Reminds me of the Madeline McCann coverage. Every journo wanted to be in the Algarve.

two wheels good

Well, Pope Idol has kicked-off in earnest.
Fergal Keane's repetitive reports and regurgitating papal PR. (Hard to blame him really 'cos there's nothing happening!) Tedious video of a stove pipe on the 9pm news.

NIMAN

Yeah the TV news coverage of it is nauseating already.

Isn't it funny how excited the likes of UTV, Sky News, BBC are about it all - considering that population of the UK is mostly non-Catholic, and UTV, well ... you know.

Then again, if I was getting a free trip abroad, I'd pretend I was excited by it too.