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COMMUNICATIONS MINISTER PAT Rabbitte has said that there were no resignations sought or offered by the board of RTÉ this morning following a meeting in the wake of the BAI’s report into the Mission to Prey programme.
RTÉ said that Rabbitte had indicated there should be no changes on the board following the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland’s report into the Prime Time Investigates programme which libelled Fr Kevin Reynolds.
According to RTÉ Radio, Rabbitte said that he was was satisfied that the board fully appreciates the seriousness of the situation and said that no excuses were offered during the meeting this morning which lasted over two hours.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting he described the Mission to Prey programme as an “egregious error”. Quoted on RTÉ Radio, he said there was “no attempt by the board of RTÉ to defend what happened”.
“The chairman described it as inexplicable and indefensible and some other members of the board used a lot stronger terms. I’m satisfied that the board fully appreciates the seriousness of what has happened,” he said.
“The board attempted to offer no excuse for what happened. The board accepts that it ought not to have happened and that it did damage not just to the reputation of Fr Reynolds but did damage to the reputation of RTÉ.”
Rabbitte had called the meeting in the wake of the BAI’s findings that RTÉ had breached the broadcasting code in its production of a programme which defamed Fr Reynolds. RTÉ later retracted and apologised for allegations made as well as paying damages to the priest.
The State broadcaster was fined €200,000 by the authority with the reporter who worked on the story, Aoife Kavanagh, resigning from RTÉ following the report’s publication.
As well as axing the new Prime Time Investigates format, new journalism guidelines were introduced at the station. RTÉ said on Friday that “a great deal has changed in recent months” and pledged that “more will change as we embed the new structures”.
On top of Kavanagh’s departure, programme makers Brian Pairceir and Ken O’Shea were transferred out of the news and current affairs department in RTÉ while producer Mark Lappin now works for CNN in London. The former Head of News, Ed Mulhall, took a retirement package.
Following the publication of the report carried out by former BBC executive Anna Carragher on Friday, Rabbitte described the Mission to Prey programme as “a shoddy, unprofessional, cavalier, and damaging piece of work”.
No one accountable – that’s a shock
They are mostly non-exec directors and not micro-managing. The board is accountable to Rabbitte and as far as I can see this was a PR exercise.
The mafia at work again! Ireland’s a kip!!
You wouldnt believe lack of accountability could happen in Ireland would you?
I wonder was the issue of revealing the “source” raised? This source has cost the licence payer €200,000, an insurance company that has to pay out damages and the jobs of some of those involved in the programme making. The identity of this person should be revealed. There is no journalistic priveledge here.
Now lads promise me you won’t do that again
No we won’t
Ok let’s kill an hour or so having coffee
Job done
A year ago:
Do you apologise to Smyth’s victims?
It isn’t going to happen (use impersonal, remove ‘I won’t’ from formulation))
A year later
Do you apologise to Smyth’s victims?
I do
That’s fine so. Keep going till you’re 75
Grand.. Fancy a coffee?
Job Done
The Code of Business Conduct for the RTE board states three principles:
… the establishment of an agreed set of ethical principles;
… the promotion and maintenance of confidence and trust in RTÉ including the protection of the good name of RTÉ
… the prevention of the development or acceptance of unethical practices
Why bother with such a code if failing to maintain it results in no action being taken!
That picture above makes Rabbitte look like Wallace and Gromit!!
Government:nobody resigns Catholic church:nobody resigns RTE:nobody resigns You see when people see this its hard not to be angry,ireland doesnt want to change
If noel curran was bbc director general when this happened he would be gone because he would be pressured from british mps and the british public,ladies and gentlemen you pay noel currans six figure salary,while all you guys try to keep your esb and heating to a minimum,it always bemuses me to see people protest bin water and property taxes and sinn fein and ula and the likes but they never protest against the tv licence,bit strange that!!!
I’m sure he will explain all during his next interview on the Late Late Show .
Same old policies jobs for the boys and as we all know they cannot be sacked.
Hmmm…systemic failures, lessons learned for the future, no individual held accountable and public calls for sackings deemed unhelpful. How Fianna Fáil-esque! It’s very simple. If the Board of Directors knew about the Primetime Investigates episode ‘Mission to Prey’ and did nothing, they should resign. If they didn’t know about ‘Mission to Prey’, they should resign. Just like the Banks’ Board of Directors’ failure to properly oversee their respective credit committees, the RTÉ Board of Directors should resign as a matter of principle.
The Rabbitte will huff and puff and nothing will be done, all for show.
Ahhhhhhh
Surprise!
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