{"id":161629,"date":"2023-06-29T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-29T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mediaintel.asia\/?p=920588"},"modified":"2023-06-29T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-06-29T00:00:00","slug":"these-are-dangerous-times-for-rte-with-government-hardening-its-stance-towards-broadcaster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/2023\/06\/29\/these-are-dangerous-times-for-rte-with-government-hardening-its-stance-towards-broadcaster\/","title":{"rendered":"These are dangerous times for RT\u00c9 with Government hardening its stance towards broadcaster"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"MediaIntel.Asia\"<\/a><\/div>\n

RT\u00c9 interim deputy director general Adrian Lynch (left), commercial director Geraldine O'Leary (second right), chief financial officer Richard Collins (right) and strategy director Rory Coveney arriving at Leinster House on Wednesday to appear before the Oireachtas media committee to speak in relation to the controversy around Ryan Tubridy's misreported salary payments. Photograph: Brian Lawless\/PA Wire
\nGood morning,
\nThe RT\u00c9 controversy is now one week old, and every day new and meaningful information is coming out. One of the truisms of crisis communications is to get everything out there, rather than allowing new facts to feed the media cycle. But new facets of the controversy keep emerging, further corroding the public\u2019s trust in RT\u00c9 and compounding the damage done with the Government.
\nJust one example: Yesterday, RT\u00c9 chairwoman Si\u00fan N\u00ed Raghallaigh was conceding \u201cshocking\u201d governance failings, but during the meeting with the Oireachtas media committee, she disclosed that she had first of all sought former director general Dee Forbes resignation, before suspending her, and then convening a disciplinary process, only for her to resign anyway \u2013 the acceptance of which put her beyond the reaches of Oireachtas committees. And N\u00ed Raghallaigh neglected to tell Minister for Media Catherine Martin she had sought the resignation. A week ago, the broadcaster wouldn\u2019t even breathe Forbes\u2019 name as it confessed to the payments \u2013 yesterday, it was describing for the first time that her resignation was sought. Almost every day in-between, new facts have come out about her departure. It is just one example, there are more (the apparent inability to get to the bottom of, or even properly explain, \u20ac120,000 supposedly paid to Tubridy from 2017-2019 is another) \u2013 here\u2019s more of what we learned yesterday.
\nThe net effect of all this has led to a hardening of the Government\u2019s stance towards RT\u00c9. While on Monday and Tuesday, the Coalition was probably looking for a way to start repairing the broadcaster, but there is now a view that more needs to come from the organisation, with Martin saying as much after the hearing, and the Taoiseach beforehand.
\nREAD MORE
\nThese are dangerous times for RT\u00c9, which faces the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) this afternoon.
\nBest Reads
\nMiriam Lord on who may or may not be under the bus, RT\u00c9 supporting the (dark) arts, and much more.
\nColm Keena assesses the committee session.
\nConor Gallagher on how a criminal case is highly unlikely.
\nArthur Beesley\u2019s analysis is here.
\nAway from the Montrose fiasco, the ESRI was laying down a pre-budget marker on tax cuts:
\nPlaybook
\nThe Taoiseach is away in Brussels for the European Council today and Friday, where he will be discussing Ukraine; security and defence; the economy; migration; and relations with China. Correspondents were waiting with bated breath for an indication on whether EU leaders would also get an update on the Tubs situation.
\nBack at the ranch, the big draw, of course, is the PAC having its bite of the RT\u00c9 cherry at 1.30pm and you can follow our live blog for the latest on that this afternoon.
\nElsewhere, the disability committee will meet with representatives of the Irish Deaf Society on the World Report on Hearing at 9.30am. The Human Rights and Equality Commission and equivalent bodies in the North are before the Good Friday Agreement committee to hear about the impact of Brexit on rights on the island of Ireland. That\u2019s at 1.30pm.
\nAt the same time, Minister of State Malcolm Noonan is bringing legislation on heritage to the housing committee, while the public petitions committee will hear from the ombudsman for the Defence Forces, also at 1.30pm.
\nThe full schedule is here.
\nIn the Seanad, commencement matters are at 9.30am, followed by the order of business. At 11.30am, the upper house will consider legislation giving effect to EU consumer rights directives.
\nThe full Seanad schedule is here.
\nIn the D\u00e1il, Wednesday starts with oral questions for Simon Coveney and Norma Foley, before Leaders\u2019 Questions at midday. There is a minute\u2019s silence for Ukraine before questions on policy or legislation at 12.35pm. The second stage of the legislation giving effect to windfall taxes on energy companies comes before the house at 1.45pm, before topical issues at 6.25pm. Green Party TD Francis Noel Duffy is using private members\u2019 time in the evening to bring forward a Bill on the liability of builders and developers in relation to defective dwellings.
\nThe full schedule is here.
\nA quick clarification: yesterday this digest published today\u2019s D\u00e1il proceedings billed as Wednesday\u2019s \u2013 apologies for that.<\/p>\n

This data comes from MediaIntel.Asia's Media Intelligence and Media Monitoring Platform<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RT\u00c9 interim deputy director general Adrian Lynch (left), commercial director Geraldine O'Leary (second right), chief financial officer Richard Collins (right) and strategy director Rory Coveney arriving at Leinster House on Wednesday to appear before …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":253,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[144,586,671,176,194],"tags":[10352,10315],"class_list":["post-161629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-china","category-economy","category-finance","category-human-rights","category-news-chinese-law","tag-european","tag-media-intelligence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161629"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/253"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161629"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":161630,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161629\/revisions\/161630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}