RTE must pay the correct price
It would be excessive to say RTE provides us with a case study in Lord Acton's warning that "absolute power corrupts absolutely".
The margin, though, is fine, for something rotten is nestling in an organisation that vilifies powerless citizens so casually and, when caught, apologises so reluctantly. In theory, the station's hubristic claim that it is "very difficult for a rolled head to learn anything'' might be correct but when it comes to bankers, politicians, mandarins and RTE executives, fear of the rolling of heads can be a powerful incentive for good behaviour.
RTE's 'accountability is only for the little people' attitude is certainly about to exact a heavy price on the disgraced station. Though harsh, that is correct, for RTE is not a normal commercial media organisation. It is funded by taxpayers of all political, ideological and religious persuasions and has a statutory responsibility to be objective, impartial and fair.
The most embarrassing feature of RTE's attempt to evade accountability with all of the care of a cat tiptoeing across the glassed top of a wall is that it stank of how Fianna Fail used to deal with its various ethical debacles. Such a response was not exactly in harmony with RTE's carefully fostered image of itself as a national ethical treasure that, like the Hill of Tara, should be left in the pristine state of perfection it believes it currently embodies.
The rather crueller reality is, however, that the Prime Time debacle was not some virgin conception. It was instead the child of a subterranean editorial agenda whose authors, like anonymous letter writers, preferred to slink in the shadows whilst they shaped our society in their own graven self-images.
Over the last decade this agenda has seen RTE become enthusiasts for every sector of government policy, including the controversial social partnership.
Sadly, if you lie down with dogs you rise up with fleas, and the sense that RTE was yet another semi-state organisation that was running wild has been intensifying for some time.
The growing concern that, to borrow a famous phrase from George Colley, an over-mighty RTE is suffering from an epidemic of 'low standards in high places' means it is not unreasonable to call for a public inquiry into the infamous '€5,000 tweet' that played a big part in ending Sean Gallagher's Presidential election bid, and into the culture that informed the decision to use it. Presidential elections are relatively inconsequential, but, if RTE was willing to apply such low standards there, can we believe they would not engage in similar acts in a general election?
It is important that any inquiries do not compromise the editorial independence of fine journalists such as Ingrid Miley, George Lee, David Davin-Power, Miriam O'Callaghan and Pat Kenny. One of the defining features of most wars is that soldiers get shot and generals get pensions. When it comes to any inquiry into RTE's internal wars, this means any investigation, if it is to be effective, should start at the top.
And it should stay there.
Originally published in
