Questioner claims he was pressured to ‘gun down’ Gallagher
He contacted the programme the week before the live presidential debate in the hope of participating in the Monday night debate. In the early stages of his communication with Frontline staff, he suggested asking candidates their intentions about presidential pay.
However, he told a newspaper yesterday that, on the weekend before the debate, programme staff moved him on to a different question and wanted him to focus exclusively on Mr Gallagher. He claims he told researchers he was not involved in any political party, but also said: “I believe in Sean Gallagher.”
When he arrived at RTÉ studios on the night of the debate, he said, intent on asking Mr Gallagher how he would help create jobs, he was handed a printed question by the researcher with whom he had been dealing.
It read: “I’m sick and tired of hearing from Sean Gallagher about jobs. He created 100 jobs in the boom and most of them are gone. I think he’s too cute for his own good.”
Mr McGuirk says he was shocked and felt as if they wanted him to go in and “gun down Sean Gallagher, to go in and slit his throat”.
When his turn came, Mr McGuirk amended the wording and said: “Sean, in the boom time you created 100 jobs, and how many of them are still in existence? People are sick and tired of hearing about creating jobs, so how many of them are still there?”
RTÉ disputes the claim that words were put in his mouth. Acting director of current affairs Steve Carson said the question was based on statements and opinions he made.
“Extensive research, including with the production team looking through notebooks, shows that the question Mr McGuirk asked is entirely founded on statements, queries, questions that he mad to the researcher,” he told RTÉ.
Mr Carson said Mr McGuirk emailed the researcher two days after the debate to express his happiness with the programme and did not express any issue about the question or how it was prepared.
Mr Carson said the researcher phoned Mr McGuirk on the day of the broadcast. He had agreed with the draft wording of the question which was read to him, and which was later given to him on arriving at the studio. RTÉ said programme guests are given a typed copy of agreed questions in the interests of giving them a reference, to guard against nerves.
The statement read by solicitor Pamela Cassidy on behalf of Seán Gallagher:
Seán Gallagher made it clear last October that he would not challenge the outcome of the presidential election, and he offered his full support to President Michael D Higgins.
The revelations in the Sunday Independent regarding RTÉ’s Frontline presidential debate are deeply disturbing. This information, which has come to light since the BAI ruling last week relating to the Frontline programme and its production staff, raises the most fundamental questions about the trustworthiness and impartiality of our national broadcaster. Trust in RTÉ is at the core of our democracy. That trust has again been brought into serious question.
Today Mr Gallagher will be communicating directly with the minister for communications. As of this morning, he has instructed his legal team to examine these disturbing revelations.
The revelations in the Sunday Independent are by Frontline audience member Pat McGuirk, who says that RTÉ changed his submitted question and rehearsed him prior to the debate. These revelations are gravely alarming.
RTÉ is required by law to be independent, impartial, neutral and fair. RTÉ failed to reach this standard in the Frontline programme. RTÉ has failed to justify the confidence expressed only last week by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland that in contravening their duty of fairness towards Séan Gallagher in the crucial Frontline presidential debate of 24th October, 2011, RTÉ’s errors were not the result of male fides — bad faith.
There are many unanswered questions about the programme. RTÉ boasted that the Frontline programme could be a “game changer”. It now seems that RTÉ’s production staff were working towards setting the agenda, rather than facilitating a debate between the audience and the candidates.
The presenter has publicly claimed that he was unaware that the bogus tweet, which he introduced into the programme some 15 minutes after it was received, was almost immediately called into question by the Martin McGuinness campaign team. He failed to refer to it in the remaining 26 minutes of the live Frontline broadcast, or again in his radio programme the following day.
Who made the decision to keep the presenter unaware of the corrective tweet during the live broadcast, and again during the following day’s radio programme?
Did RTÉ set the agenda in a presidential debate staged as a debate between the candidates and the audience? Who makes these decisions within RTÉ? These are serious questions, and they need to be addressed by RTÉ.
Ultimately the issue is whether RTÉ compromised the democratic process. This is not about Seán Gallagher, but about the journalistic standards that should apply to our national service provider, and ensuring that future candidates do not face unfair journalistic practices.
RTÉ cannot now disregard the calls for a full and proper public inquiry relating to the production and airing of the Frontline programme. All records relating to the programme must be disclosed in a public arena and every member of the production team must make him or herself available for questioning in the appropriate, independent, forum. RTÉ have a case to answer.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
