Public service - A vital tool in protecting democracy

IN a world where information was never more readily available an effective, independent, reliable and properly funded public-interest broadcaster is a vital player in the public life needed to sustain a strong democracy.

Without this vital piece in the mosaic of challenge and accountability, robust debate and the provision of credible information, we would be far less able to play an informed part in an active democracy. The existence of a strong public-interest broadcaster is as good an indicator, as good a defining quality, of a democratic society as any. That is why it is so very important that RTÉ fulfils that primary role. Our national broadcaster is facing many challenges and has made some progress in confronting them.

Tuesday night’s speech in Dublin by RTÉ director general Noel Curran, in which he said the station may lose some of its most popular broadcasters because of a 30% pay cut, alluded to another small step in that difficult journey. He also acknowledged that, like the rest of us, RTÉ had made many mistakes, including paying their top presenters too much, being too conservative and lacking in transparency. RTÉ is not alone in this and those three issues more or less define everything that has gone wrong in this country.