Should Tom Savage quit RTÉ?: No

FIANNA Fáil believes in public service broadcasting.

We believe that the people of Ireland should be served by a broadcasting sector which is vibrant, competitive, entertaining and informative. The sector should produce programme material of the highest quality with a strong focus on the public interest and the provision of indigenous programming.

In this regard, the establishment of RTÉ by Fianna Fáil in 1960 was an important step forward. The organisation’s considerable achievements in news and current affairs broadcasting are sometimes taken for granted. Over time, RTÉ has worked hard to develop a bond of trust with the people of Ireland as a conduit of information, as a provider of entertainment, and as medium for the exchange of ideas.

That hard-won trust has been rocked by the Reynolds scandal and RTÉ’s subsequent handling of the affair. The direct cost to the taxpayer of the affair is likely to be close to €1.5m.

I was shocked at the ‘Mission to Prey’ programme. In common with the general public, I was appalled by RTÉ’s response to it. They continued to deny any wrongdoing until a paternity test in September proved them wrong. Indeed, Fr Reynolds was fortunate that such a scientific test could prove his innocence.

RTÉ broadcast a rushed, almost incomprehensible, apology to Fr Reynolds in October. It was subsequently forced to broadcast a second apology.

Everything I offer here is in the spirit of legitimate and constructive criticism. I am encouraged by the commitment given to members of an Oireachtas committee by director general Noel Curran and chairman Tom Savage that new guidelines are being introduced to ensure nothing like this will ever happen in the future.

Scrutiny of RTÉ and other public organisations is right and proper. However, the language of some politicians at the Oireachtas committee in their attacks on RTÉ and public-sector broadcasting came close to crossing a line. I find it dangerous when politicians gain traction and headlines in attacking and undermining public-sector broadcasting.

As a member of the Council of Europe I was tasked in 2004 with publishing a report on public-service broadcasting. In it’s preamble, the report stated:

“Public-service broadcasting is a vital element of democracy in Europe. Across the Continent, its future is challenged by political and economic interests, by increasing competition from commercial media, by media concentrations and by financial difficulties.”

These sentiments are even more valid today. I am a strong supporter of public-service broadcasting.

Such attacks on our national broadcaster set a dangerous precedent, and encourage others to engage in such reckless behaviour. Instead of holding Mr Savage and Mr Curran to account, many members of the committee seemed to have had an eye on creating headlines.

In the context of 24-hour news cycles, it is inevitable that politicians will do this. Calling for “heads to roll” and the use of inflammatory language might achieve that aim, but it does not amount to proper oversight and scrutiny of the organisation.

More specifically, I think that calls for the chairman, Tom Savage, to resign would do nothing to address the more fundamental challenges facing the organisation. It does not address the need for culture change in RTÉ.

The latter arises further to one of the most damning of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland’s findings, that relating to “groupthink” in the organisation. There are many people to whom this would not be surprising, but that does not mean it is right.

It is an insidious finding, and one which should be tackled head on. The notion that the resignation of a non-executive chairman would eliminate groupthink and change the culture in RTÉ is at best naïve.

What would be more instructive than heads rolling would be an audit of RTÉ’s news and current affairs output, as proposed by my colleague Éamon Ó Cuív. It would look to see if the groupthink culture was endemic across the entire spectrum of RTE’s radio and television programming.

It would take a random sample of programmes across the past year, and analyse them in terms of tone, choice of guests, choice of topics, choice of texts/tweets, etc. It would then examine them in terms of fairness, balance, and impartiality. Only then would we be in a position to chart the way forward for the organisation.

Investigative journalism is a vital cog in our democracy, the ability to call to account those who wield power in our society should not be undermined. I would hope that RTE, in addressing the failures uncovered by the BAI, would not be forced into introducing guidelines that would inhibit the ability of its journalists to seek out and question those who would use those guidelines against the public interest.

The Reynolds affair has left RTÉ a battered organisation. Restoring trust in the institution is vital, and politicians and public service broadcasters have a role to play in that regard. The seriousness of politicians who claim to support RTÉ and want to see it renewed will be judged in the coming weeks and months on their efforts, not on their ability to grab headlines.

* Pascal Mooney is a Fianna Fáil senator