Angry O’Neill will hit back at ‘imbalanced’ RTÉ
As the national broadcaster last night defended its coverage of the issue, GAA sources have informed the Irish Examiner there will be consequences for RTÉ following their robust interviews with O’Neill and director general Páraic Duffy.
O’Neill told press reporters yesterday the GAA would not make a complaint to the National Broadcasting Authority about the line of questioning on RTÉ One’s PrimeTime, Six One News and 2FM’s Game On.
However, it is understood RTÉ could be made to pay for the comments in the future. It’s not yet certain whether that will happen during the current media rights agreement or the next round of talks in 2017.
Yesterday O’Neill was intent on registering his disappointment with RTÉ about what he termed their “aggressive” and “unprofessional” approach.
He told members of the press: “Last (Tuesday) night’s performance by RTÉ was shocking. The imbalance was shocking and you must recognise that yourselves.
“I think people who are in the media yourselves who know about balance, who know about fair play, ye know that what happened last Tuesday night was not fair. The tenor of RTÉ’s attitude — these are our partners. These are the people that we have done the deal with to go globally and we’re taking them globally.
“I felt disappointed. I think we’re entitled to feel disappointed. There was no part of the RTÉ coverage across their entire platform that was balanced.
“I think the star of the show was PrimeTime in fairness. Where they got people in the audience... Where did they get them?”
O’Neill added tongue-in-cheek about the tone of questioning by David McCullagh and Miriam O’Callaghan on PrimeTime: “In fairness to them, if there was anything negative they could throw at us that they didn’t throw at us. In fairness, you’d have to applaud that!”
RTÉ managing editor of current affairs David Nally rejected O’Neill’s criticism. “We’re very surprised by Liam O’Neill’s comments, I must say. We’re very satisfied that the coverage of this issue on RTÉ was fair and impartial and that the GAA got a very fair shake.
“If you take PrimeTime, for instance, I think nine people spoke in studio on this subject. Five of them spoke in favour of the GAA and the Sky deal, three against and one was neutral. So how that can be singled out as an example of a programme that was against the GAA? I find that hard to understand.”
As for McCullagh and O’Callaghan’s questioning, Nally said: “It’s the job of an RTÉ current affairs presenter when interviewing somebody one-on-one to ask hard questions, the questions that the audience would like asked. That’s an opportunity for the interviewee to answer those questions and get their message across to the audience.
“So that should not be misunderstood as some kind of bias against the person who is being interviewed, and I think the viewers at home do understand that.”
Meanwhile, the GPA said inter-county players will not be paid by Sky Sports for interviews: “They are not paid to be interviewed on RTÉ but certainly if they are promoting Sky’s coverage of Gaelic games that’s a different matter,” said spokesman Sean Potts.
“Our players are not contracted to the game, they play voluntarily, for the love of the county, for the love of the jersey.”
Sky already appear to have launched a charm offensive with a new Twitter handle, @skysportsgaa. “We are disappointed to hear that not all @officialgaa fans support #SkySportsGAA — but who can say it was love at first sight with your wife. We have invested in the GAA and will promote its games from grassroots to elite levels. We will earn your trust and support.”
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