Eoghan Harris: Reynolds not a once-off at ‘unfair’ RTE
THE inquiries into the Fr Reynolds scandal are too restricted in their remit. The presidential election Frontline, which fell for a Sinn Fein agenda, shows that Reynolds was not a once-off.
We need a comprehensive review of the culture, received wisdoms and editorial practices of RTE news and current affairs.
For 30 years I tried to get the public to pay attention to the peculiar mind-set of RTE news; as a television producer in the 1980s, a columnist in the Sunday Times in the 1990s, and in the Sunday Independent since 2000.
Apart from that long apprenticeship, the Reynolds affair did not surprise me for two reasons. First, like the Roman Catholic Church, RTE news regards itself as a muchloved secular church, has long held effective monopoly in Ireland, has aged into arrogance and has delusions of infallibility.
And like the church, it just doesn't get it when it does wrong. Instead of grovelling, it goes on about what a great job all the good broadcasters are doing.
Second, RTE news has always been reluctant to reflect on its own theory and practice. Back in 1987, in Television and Terrorism I showed that RTE news did not have an adequate theory for dealing with Sinn Fein spokespersons should Section 31 be lifted. For which I was roundly abused by RTE reporters.
But when Section 31 was abolished, and Sinn Fein spokespersons duly ran rings around RTE reporters — as they have been doing ever since — not one reporter reviewed his or her position. Just as in the Reynolds case, far from revising their views in the face of the facts, RTE reporters redoubled their denunciations of my document.
My criticisms of RTE news cost me dear over the past 30 years. Although uniquely involved in the peace process on the progressive Unionist side, I was marginalised by RTE news for most of that time and seldom seen on the screen. It was the same story when I became senator.
In my three-plus years in Seanad Eireann I was the chief critic of the high pay of politicians and civil servants. But not once was I invited to speak about these issues on The Week in Politics. And the only time I personally protested about my poor treatment I got a grim glimpse into a culture of insolence.
In 2008 I called on politicians to take a pay cut. When I got no response I took a 10 per cent cut myself, the first politician to do so. This was widely reported in all media — except RTE news.
When I challenged RTE’s political correspondent David McCullagh about this he said, “that’s more of it” before walking off. From which I concluded that RTE news considered me a combatant not covered by the Geneva Convention of the Broadcasting Act 2009.
RTE is not the Sunday Independent. It does not pay its own way. It is a publicly funded broadcaster. And because the salaries of its staff, including McCullagh’s, are paid by me and every member of the public, they must be taught to see themselves as public servants and not masters of all they survey.
Let me quote the relevant section of the Broadcasting Act 2009, for the benefit of the many RTE news reporters who may not have read it. Section 39 (b) clearly says that everybody is entitled to fair play.
“Every broadcaster shall ensure that… (b) the broadcast treatment of current affairs, including matters which are either of public controversy or the subject of current public debate, is fair to all interests concerned and that the broadcast matter is presented in an objective and impartial manner and without any expression of his or her own views.”
Fair play can be denied by omission as well as commission. As the rest of the media had reported the cut, I was reasonably entitled to ask that RTE news report it too. If for some editorial reason, this could not be done, the reporter had a duty to explain why, and to do so in a civil manner.
Most of the blame for the cosy culture belongs to the chiefs. But the Indians should examine their consciences too. All week I have been hearing about the shocked reactions of RTE reporters to the Reynolds affair. And I am not impressed.
To wrong someone you need three groups: perpetrators, victims and bystanders. RTE seems full of weak bystanders. In 30 years I can’t remember a single reporter challenging his or her chief or peer group on cherished shibboleths such as being soft on Sinn Fein, hard on Israel and keeping me off the air. That is not how it was in my time. For most of my 25 years in RTE I consistently challenged the conventional wisdom of both management and colleagues, on subjects ranging from the adverse effects of advertising to the need to support Section 31.
And I was not alone. These challenges cost me. I was reprimanded, suspended without pay, continually banished to marginal programmes. But my actions allowed the station to argue with itself.
And avoid the closed shop mentality that led to the Reynolds debacle. RTE no longer seems to recruit people prepared to — as per the title of Bob Quinn, Jack Dowling and Lelia Doolan’s book — Sit Down and Be Counted. It recruits reporters from a small, politically correct pool ready to reflect the prejudices of the peer group. But a healthy national broadcaster should be full of non-conformists.
And it was like that in the past. Great director generals, like Tom Hardiman and John Sorohan, were not afraid of producers like me who pointed a finger at chiefs and Indians alike and asked, “what the f**k do you think you’re doing giving Fr Reynolds a hard time?” To return RTE to its former glory we need more than gore. No use in chopping off old heads to replace them with other old heads. We need a national broadcaster which exercises its authority, not as arrogance, but — as St Thomas Aquinas advised — as a service to the people.
- Eoghan Harris
