Media

Can RTE change its cosseted culture?

There used to be a vigorous, challenging, intellectual vibe about RTE in the late 1960s and into the 1970s. But now it is home to a culture of complacency. By Vincent Browne.

Cathal Goan, the outgoing director-general of RTE, is a fine man: personable, intelligent, well-read, good company.

Had he the decisiveness and general managerial ability to be head of RTE at a difficult time? Certainly in some cases.

In other cases, maybe not.

Discussion outlines the 'corrosive' effect of social media

A prominent media expert warned yesterday of the dangers for media organisations in using social networking sites which have the potential to be "corrosive" to media authority. By Joe Galvin.

Richard Delevan, a journalist and managing director of McConnells Integrated, said there was a "cultural conflict between old and new media". He stated there was a lack of understanding among traditional media as to how to fully exploit social networking sites.

George Lee: From backbench politician to backroom reporter

As George Lee’s detachment from party politics is questioned, Fine Gael’s former poster boy will have moved from the backbench to RTE’s backroom when he returns to the national broadcaster next month. By Joe Galvin.

Next month, George Lee will return to RTÉ after his brief and unsuccessful dalliance with politics. Already, before he has even begun, he has been criticised for partisanship.

Pat Kenny is a waste of public money

On Monday night The Frontline, RTE’s flagship current affairs show, broadcast a special programme on the state and direction of our health service. 

Advertised for a week in advance, the programme promised to tell us if our health system is on the right track or going backwards?

RTE to spend over €200,000 on Storyland competition

Today, the five finalists in RTE’s ‘Storyland 2’ competition showcase the first episode in their series of     film shorts. The webisodes are screened exclusively on the RTE Storyland website. Each of the finalists has a dedicated page on the site, including blogs, details of the cast, crew and characters, image galleries and links to social media.

Media choose sensation over insight in Haiti reportage

If Haiti was visited by an “apocalypse” or “Dantean” horror in the aftermath of the earthquake of January 12, then there was one news story that perfectly captured it.

The streets of Port-au-Prince, the devastated capital, were littered with roadblocks made of corpses. Earthquake survivors, out of either anger or trauma, or perhaps Caribbean voodoo superstition, had piled bodies high across the streets, in protest at their neglect.

Kenny heckler should have targeted Cathal Goan

Pat Kenny's heckler on The Frontline last Monday night, Alan O’Brien of Bluebell in Dublin 12, was focusing on the wrong target. Kenny is not primarily to blame for his arrangement with RTE, under which he was paid close to €1 million per annum during the boom and is now paid more than €600,000.

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