Is the narcissism of RTE employees getting out of hand?

c68zapdsm5i1ru

Idbatterim wrote: »

I agree with that. But the reason I would get the experts etc on and its perhaps even better not to get the politicians on, is to actually focus on how it is the politicians that are totally and utterly responsible Massively ramp up the pressure on them to do something. The politicians are taking the total and utter piss. But the media is failing the country too in my opinion...

I dunno. Prime Time and the Clare Byrne show do seem to get on panels of experts to comment on their exposes. The problem is that politicians come on with prepared statements and PR guff a lot of the time instead of showing any willingness to engage in a genuine debate.
But as a result of RTE's current affairs dept. we now have stricter inspections of care homes, for one thing. I think the outrage and debate does often start after a Prime Time Investigates programme and the politicians and agencies are shamed into action.

Hermy

Vladimir Poontang wrote: »

Marty Whelan...

Mediocrity personified.

jmayo

Jeffrey Bumpy Horse wrote: »

I dunno. Prime Time and the Clare Byrne show do seem to get on panels of experts to comment on their exposes.

One glaring example of how they rig debates with so called experts is anything discussing mass immigration into this country or us taking merkels castoffs.
They drag ar**holes like liam cunningham on to lecture us and about the only dissenting voice is the likes of Ian O'Doherty.
Even then he is given less time than the others ranged against him.



Also some of us remember this particular expert on Six one news telling people to fill their shoes with bank shares just as they were all about to go bust.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2q7bBVAo74

Jeffrey Bumpy Horse wrote: »

But as a result of RTE's current affairs dept. we now have stricter inspections of care homes, for one thing. I think the outrage and debate does often start after a Prime Time Investigates programme and the politicians and agencies are shamed into action.

Yes they have done some good with the stories exposing our care of the less advantaged like children, the old and the disabled.
That is about their only positive contribution.

See how one of the mouth pieces for the Garda is a prominent reporter and how he conveniently went missing when the cr** hit the fan about AGS trying to blacken the name of a whistleblower and how some journalists were pushing that line.

Silentcorner

WHIP IT! wrote: »

The "no standard media" have just this week brought down a corrupt tanaiste and they are far from finished yet.
Oh, that story, by the way was broke last week by Katie Hannon... of RTE

They always end up covering these kinds of controversies at the point where they can no longer ignore them....

They managed to miss decades of planning corruption in Dublin...

Michael Clifford in the Irish Examiner did most of the heavy lifting in the McCabe case...

Primetime is meant to be some kind of heavy hitting political chat show...where standards need to be at their highest...

It seems a long time ago now, but Primetime Investigates was booted off the air after a few episodes because they wrongfully claimed a Galway priest has gotten some girl in Africa pregnant...they were rightfully sued and who do you think picked up the bill? (They also did a hatchet job on Limerick City in the same series)

It has also been heavily speculated the Miriam is lining up a run for the Presidency and has been actively working toward that end for a number of years....if true she should be taken off air immediately!!

Let us not forget either the debacle that was the last Presidential Campaign debate (court case still pending)

Let me be more specific...RTE has no standards...it is national embarrassment!

probably mentioned already so sorry if I'm repeating this but recently it was revealed that RTE refused outright to divulge certain answers to certain questions which are a matter of public record , one of which was HOW MUCH did you pay Katie hopkins to go on the late late!!!

Can you imagine the balls of that c.u.n.t Dee forbes in Leicester house crying the poor mouth to get an increase in or a broadening of the licence so they can spend it on whomever and whatever the like whilst giving joe punchclock and johnny come lately the 2 fingers??? WTF!!!!!

and why is it her name sounds like D4 when you say it!!! hhmmmmmmmmmm interesting

Kivaro

Jeffrey Bumpy Horse wrote: »

I dunno. Prime Time and the Clare Byrne show do seem to get on panels of experts to comment on their exposes.

Clare Byrne is biased and it comes out on her show in spades.
If you don't share her liberal elite views, then you lose the opportunity to talk on her show. And she usually stacks her audience with a majority of like-minded individuals.

Brendan Bendar

Kivaro wrote: »

Clare Byrne is biased and it comes out on her show in spades.
If you don't share her liberal elite views, then you lose the opportunity to talk on her show. And she usually stacks her audience with a majority of like-minded individuals.

"Liberal elite views"?

What are they and why are they wrong as you seem to suggest?

Good examples would help as you seem very certain about your opinion.

...you take it from here K......away you go man

Agricola

The only things RTE do well are current affairs, the odd documentary of Irish relevance and sports coverage. These are essential to a high quality national broadcaster because no foreign media organisation is going to do it for us. To be fair to RTE, they do those well.

But since the rest of the schedules appear to be full of reality tv, cooking shows, self promotion vehicles for vacuous non entities, and god awful home grown soaps, theres a big arguement for RTE to cut it's cloth by maybe sticking to it's strengths. An awful lot of trash is produced in order to get ratings, ad revenue and keep the boys in jobs. What about cutting out all this rubbish, pairing the organisation down to the size needed to provide good quality news and sport and most important of all, finding a big enough cannon to fire Ryan Tubridy out of.

kravmaga

myshirt wrote: »

This Donal Skehan guy, who the f#ck is he?

For a long time before he was a celebrity chef, he was a man who would try his hand at anything and who RTE would readily give the platform.

Why?

Some D4 head born with a silver spoon in his mouth who hasn't grafted or done any physical days work in his life, plays around with tossed salads for a living apparently

theoneeyedman

RTE is a valuable tool in news management for the state, for instance Paul Reynolds acting as a de facto press officer for the Gardai.

It was years ago that I first heard my ould lad say they 'RTE carries more passengers then CIE', and the longer I'm on God's green earth, the more true it is.

Laois_Man

Agricola wrote: »

The only things RTE do well are current affairs, the odd documentary of Irish relevance and sports coverage. These are essential to a high quality national broadcaster because no foreign media organisation is going to do it for us. To be fair to RTE, they do those well.

But since the rest of the schedules appear to be full of reality tv, cooking shows, self promotion vehicles for vacuous non entities, and god awful home grown soaps, theres a big arguement for RTE to cut it's cloth by maybe sticking to it's strengths. An awful lot of trash is produced in order to get ratings, ad revenue and keep the boys in jobs. What about cutting out all this rubbish, pairing the organisation down to the size needed to provide good quality news and sport and most important of all, finding a big enough cannon to fire Ryan Tubridy out of.

But you see them do things like today where they have unveiled their new Washington correspondence. Why do RTE need a Washington correspondent? Or for that matter, a London correspondent or a Brussels correspondent. Its not as if they have access to any politicians or other news-makers in any of these places., What value did it ever add to have Catriona Perry doing her voice-over from a Washington studio instead of doing it from a booth in RTE itself, or doing a piece to camera with the White House in the background. The one time she got into the Oval office, all she could do was make The Donald horny!

Shur tiz no wonder they're broke!

Brendan Bendar

Aaah heeeyur !!

quintana76

Kivaro wrote: »

Clare Byrne is biased and it comes out on her show in spades.
If you don't share her liberal elite views, then you lose the opportunity to talk on her show. And she usually stacks her audience with a majority of like-minded individuals.

An old tradition in RTE. As old as the broadcast of the Angeles.

Muahahaha

Bridige de Courcy (Producer of Fair City) and Sheila de Courcy (Head of Childrens Programming) is another for the nepotism file.

Also I hear there are a bunch of guys in RTE called Stagers whose job it is to assemble and disassemble TV sets for the different shows. Many of them are paid over 100k for what is a simple job of moving bits and pieces around and slotting them together. At best this is a semi skilled job yet they are paid far better than anyone in the trades or in construction. Also getting a job as a stager in RTE is a closed shop- the majority in the position right now all come from the same family and no-one gets a job in the unit without their say so.

PLL

Searched Lottie Ryan on Twitter and found her on the cover of the RTÉ Guide - interview about her Italian wedding. You couldn't make this shít up.

Mena Mitty

Muahahaha wrote: »

Bridige de Courcy (Producer of Fair City) and Sheila de Courcy (Head of Childrens Programming) is another for the nepotism file.

Also I hear there are a bunch of guys in RTE called Stagers whose job it is to assemble and disassemble TV sets for the different shows. Many of them are paid over 100k for what is a simple job of moving bits and pieces around and slotting them together. At best this is a semi skilled job yet they are paid far better than anyone in the trades or in construction. Also getting a job as a stager in RTE is a closed shop- the majority in the position right now all come from the same family and no-one gets a job in the unit without their say so.

If this is what the handymen and women get paid, please please Muahahaha don't tell us what the set designers get paid. It'll ruin Christmas for a lot of us, especially those of us who spend €4 a week on a TV licence stamp.

Muahahaha

Mena Mitty wrote: »

If this is what the handymen and women get paid, please please Muahahaha don't tell us what the set designers get paid. It'll ruin Christmas for a lot of us, especially those of us who spend €4 a week on a TV licence stamp.

Lol I have no ideas what the set designers get paid but if the lads putting them together are on 100k you can only imagine

On the Lottie Ryan thing the word is she gets paid 80k a year yet her radio show only has 15,000 listeners. The ads on her show come no-where near paying her extortionate wages and her show is loss making. But not to worry, we have the taxpayer to subsidise her mediocrity :rolleyes:

RTE is completely bloated. They have 2000 staff to run two TV channels where the vast majority of the content is bought in from abroad and then repeated ad nauseum. To put this into perspective Channel 4 in the UK has 200 staff and they consistently produce award winning shows and documentaries.

GMSA

Has anyone mentioned the granddaddy of RTE Larry Gogan? The man should be retired with nearly 20 yrs. Googling says he is 83. I was working with a radio on tuned to 2fm in the background this evening and all he played were tracks from a (new)? U2 album. Only for the people doing the quiz, the show could be prerecorded from his bedroom. 2hrs on a Saturday is all he does I think. Big hoohaa about him playing the first Christmas songs for this year. What a privilege.:rolleyes:

Purple Mountain

Come on Secret Producer.. give us some Goss here..

Pithythefool

On the one hand...........we are a relatively small group of people in a small country, so realistically there are hard limits on what we can produce. You are just not going to get a "game of thrones" type production, and I think theres a lot of unfair expectation when you can simply press a button and see a programme that costs way too much compared to our outputs. Some of the stuff RTE does is very high quality, RELATIVELY speaking. Just not enough of it, because...

on the otherhand............the "celebrities" of Ireland seem to equally think that they are entitled to the lifestyles of their peers from much larger, wealthier countries. The likes of some presenter getting a million quid yearly salary is sheer madness. Nevermind all the love-in stuff like interviewing each other etc.

Theres a common problem between the two, expectation is not matching reality. Reduce one problem to help alleviate the other problem.

Sorted.

ED E

Sean ORourke. Always shows up, never pulls his punches. Loves to call Mary Lou out on her crap.

Clone him, 24/7 loop on Radio 1. Done.

Sac O Spuds

GMSA wrote: »

Has anyone mentioned the granddaddy of RTE Larry Gogan? The man should be retired with nearly 20 yrs. Googling says he is 83. I was working with a radio on tuned to 2fm in the background this evening and all he played were tracks from a (new)? U2 album. Only for the people doing the quiz, the show could be prerecorded from his bedroom. 2hrs on a Saturday is all he does I think. Big hoohaa about him playing the first Christmas songs for this year. What a privilege.:rolleyes:

He does 4-6 on Sunday as well. 4 hrs in the week. The type of show that could be hosted by a trained monkey. But they feel obliged to keep a slot for him as he is one of "the founding fathers" of 2FM. The Just A Minute quiz is associated with him too. One word; Nostalgia.

ToddyDoody

I love the way they just gave Gerry Ryan''s daughter a job because of who her father was - the late Gerry Ryan.

server down

I think we’d lose a sense of being Irish if we lost RTE. There’s very little to distinguish us culturally anyway, but sporting moments or grieving up with glenroe ( or similar), the you show, or our own news service are part of the collective psyche.

The problem is RTE doesn’t give us enough such moments. Not that we have a public broadcasting service.

tomwaterford

Irelands fittest family is pure brilliant though

Brendan Bendar

tomwaterford wrote: »

Irelands fittest family is pure brilliant though

Tell me you are being cynical.

tomwaterford

Brendan Bendar wrote: »

Tell me you are being cynical.

Nah...I think it's good

Entertaining like....tough going that is

Brendan Bendar

tomwaterford wrote: »

Nah...I think it's good

Entertaining like....tough going that is

Fair enough ...wouldn't touch it mesel, but if that is your bag.... Hey!

What can I say.

Thargor

Take for example Vogue Williams, RTE ramming her down our throat, "documentaries", reality show appearances, Late Late interviews, probably a radio show in her future like the ridiculous nepotism that got Lottie Ryan her job for life.

But then if you actually ask the public what they think of her, like say writing a book and putting it front and centre in every bookshop in the country... they dont want her, 800 copies sold:

https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books/popular-author-vogue-williams-book-sold-883-copies-but-still-bagged-popular-book-awards-nomination-36372489.html

But that doesnt matter a bit, she has contacts in RTE, her parents are part of the scene, she'll be well looked after by the RTE crew no matter what happens.

dirtyden

Muahahaha wrote: »

Lol I have no ideas what the set designers get paid but if the lads putting them together are on 100k you can only imagine

On the Lottie Ryan thing the word is she gets paid 80k a year yet her radio show only has 15,000 listeners. The ads on her show come no-where near paying her extortionate wages and her show is loss making. But not to worry, we have the taxpayer to subsidise her mediocrity :rolleyes:

RTE is completely bloated. They have 2000 staff to run two TV channels where the vast majority of the content is bought in from abroad and then repeated ad nauseum. To put this into perspective Channel 4 in the UK has 200 staff and they consistently produce award winning shows and documentaries.

A quick google says Lottie Ryan’s show has 200k listeners. Whilst not my cup of tea she does appear to be popular.

The Rape of Lucretia

dirtyden wrote: »

A quick google says Lottie Ryan’s show has 200k listeners. Whilst not my cup of tea she does appear to be popular.

That means nothing. Play the angelus for two hours and there would still be listeners. Anyone who has a minimal grassp of the English language and can watch a producer through a window cuing music, given one of those slots will have an audience. It just comes with them, presenter regardless.

thedeere

In on the ding and out of the dong for two hours.

dirtyden

The Rape of Lucretia wrote: »

That means nothing. Play the angelus for two hours and there would still be listeners. Anyone who has a minimal grassp of the English language and can watch a producer through a window cuing music, given one of those slots will have an audience. It just comes with them, presenter regardless.

Of course it means something, her breakfast show has increased market share. I think you possibly don’t get how these things work. Generally tv companies will pay people who they think might get them more listeners and hence more advertising revenue.

Posters on boards never liked Gerry Ryan and now by association his daughter. Personally I would not listen to either of them but they are popular.

GMSA

dirtyden wrote: »

A quick google says Lottie Ryan’s show has 200k listeners. Whilst not my cup of tea she does appear to be popular.

Yeah and paper never refused ink. Listenership figures are pure fiction.

The Rape of Lucretia

dirtyden wrote: »

Of course it means something, her breakfast show has increased market share. I think you possibly don’t get how these things work. Generally tv companies will pay people who they think might get them more listeners and hence more advertising revenue.

Posters on boards never liked Gerry Ryan and now by association his daughter. Personally I would not listen to either of them but they are popular.

Sure, sympathy card nepotism does attract some listeners and make it commercially viable. But still doesnt mean she is any good, or got the gig on merit.

Muahahaha

dirtyden wrote: »

A quick google says Lottie Ryan’s show has 200k listeners. Whilst not my cup of tea she does appear to be popular.

My bad, I hadnt realised she changed slots earlier this year. It was on her previous show at weekends she only had around 15,000 listeners, I remember reading the JNLR results last year and thinking how low it was compared to her bloated salary

The Rape of Lucretia

Muahahaha wrote: »

My bad, I hadnt realised she changed slots earlier this year. It was on her previous show at weekends she only had around 15,000 listeners, I remember reading the JNLR results last year and thinking how low it was compared to her bloated salary

Its the slots that matter. Not the slotted.

Sean O'Rourke and Pat Kenny are both terrific broadcasters. I'm a big fan of O'Rourkes because he doesn't seem to have a big ego and yet he does his job very well, is incisive in questioning, comes across as interested and engaged etc. Gerry Ryan in his day was good too in my opinion, not boring anyway - pure Celtic tiger era!

BuilderPlumber

Have been noticing this for years. All these handpicked media people are a smug and self important lot. RTE and the papers are equally responsible for a lot of this with their employees thinking they are gods or royalty. The sad fact is the people are not given a say and drivel is marketed to us and the gullible fall for it. Here are a few examples:

Gerry Ryan's daughters: RTE make sure they are promoted because of their father.
Louis Walsh and his boybands: You can see the destruction of Irish music start with the ascension of this man and his bands. RTE make sure Walsh and Westlife were pushed for years. Nicky Byrne is an RTE employee. Walsh has been in charge of the Eurovision here for years and despite the fact that his chosen acts have done the worst ever, he is still supported.
Bill Cullen: For years, he was pushed by The Late Late Show/Tubridy Show. Airtime given to a smug businessman who had the nerve to tell people to work for nothing.
Modern 'country music': This drivel mostly sung by ex boyband members (what else) was pushed bigtime in recent years on RTE. Meanwhile good music including proper country music didn't get a look in.
Nasty commentators: Ian O'Doherty, George Hook, that Katie one, etc. spouting their horrid made up for TV agendas just to make controversy a form of 'entertainment'. Sadly, some people will actually believe these fakes are for real and then behave this way.

RTE always interview themselves of late. That is all seems to be on the chatshows now. Next thing you'll see is Tubridy interviewing Ray D'Arcy and vice versa.

Larbre34

Pat Kenny is not a terrific broadcaster, he's a glorified newsreader, about as incisive and considered as the wall. He is neither natural or personable and Im delighted the tax euro is no longer paying him.

RTE should be completely restructured and reformed, its number of direct employees should be slashed and its activities outsourced under competitive processes. Small boards of commissioning editors in the most important areas of programming are all that should remain and all presenters and producers should work either for the providers or tender themselves for contract work. The station should not be stuck with employed "talent" who are neither productive nor popular. Over time this would reduce the pensions obligation too.

Montrose is a sylvan luxury they cannot afford, it should also be closed and sold entirely, the debts cleared and the balance invested in a modern, compact, office HQ in a commercial city location like the Docklands or East Point, that could host TV news broadcasts and radio studios, but with all heavy studio activity undertaken by contractors out of town. Ive seen this model up close at TVNZ in Auckland.

Im happy enough that a state broadcaster should remain in place, im happy enough to see the likes of Morning Ireland, overhauled current affairs and investigations and quality free to air sport continue, but they should always be scrutinised and evaluated.

BuilderPlumber

Larbre34 wrote: »

Pat Kenny is not a terrific broadcaster, he's a glorified newsreader, about as incisive and considered as the wall. He is neither natural or personable and Im delighted the tax euro is no longer paying him.

I agree 100%. Pat Kenny's programme legacy will tell you all you need to know. His Late Late Show had a lot of the usual drivel we still get. The Frontline is easily one of the worst TV chatshows ever. His more recent chatshows were not anything wonderful either. If Kenny was a terrific broadcaster, he'd have made these more interesting and chosen better subject matter.

johnpatrick81

€3.5million was all they spent on travel last year lads....our license fee is being put to great use!!!

Brendan Bendar

Larbre34 wrote: »

Pat Kenny is not a terrific broadcaster, he's a glorified newsreader, about as incisive and considered as the wall. He is neither natural or personable and Im delighted the tax euro is no longer paying him.

RTE should be completely restructured and reformed, its number of direct employees should be slashed and its activities outsourced under competitive processes. Small boards of commissioning editors in the most important areas of programming are all that should remain and all presenters and producers should work either for the providers or tender themselves for contract work. The station should not be stuck with employed "talent" who are neither productive nor popular. Over time this would reduce the pensions obligation too.

Montrose is a sylvan luxury they cannot afford, it should also be closed and sold entirely, the debts cleared and the balance invested in a modern, compact, office HQ in a commercial city location like the Docklands or East Point, that could host TV news broadcasts and radio studios, but with all heavy studio activity undertaken by contractors out of town. Ive seen this model up close at TVNZ in Auckland.

Im happy enough that a state broadcaster should remain in place, im happy enough to see the likes of Morning Ireland, overhauled current affairs and investigations and quality free to air sport continue, but they should always be scrutinised and evaluated.

Jeez Larry, it's Christmas man.

Rumpy Pumpy

Brendan Bendar wrote: »

Jeez Larry, it's Christmas man.

The Yuletide log mustn’t have arrived yet. If you get my drift.....

retalivity

I saw Pat Kenny last Friday while I was sitting outside Sheehans on Clarendon st, presumably he was going from DOB towers to the westbury for dinner/drinks etc. He is absolutely huge - tall and starting to get a bit wide as well

nuac

Muahahaha wrote: »

Bridige de Courcy (Producer of Fair City) and Sheila de Courcy (Head of Childrens Programming) is another for the nepotism file.

Also I hear there are a bunch of guys in RTE called Stagers whose job it is to assemble and disassemble TV sets for the different shows. Many of them are paid over 100k for what is a simple job of moving bits and pieces around and slotting them together. At best this is a semi skilled job yet they are paid far better than anyone in the trades or in construction. Also getting a job as a stager in RTE is a closed shop- the majority in the position right now all come from the same family and no-one gets a job in the unit without their say so.

Perhaps they will do a programme on them?

TomOnBoard

Stonedpilot wrote: »

RTE, where truth goes to die.

AND WHERE THE COST OF THE TV LICENSE WILL NEVER BE ENOUGH....

pleas advice

Ploughing week is bad enough, and then you have the 'Fun on the Farm' week, and every second 'guest' on the Late Late is in some way connected to RTE...
but all of them pale into insignificance in comparison to the complete RTE circlejerk that was 'Weather Week'

_Whimsical_

BuilderPlumber wrote: »

I agree 100%. Pat Kenny's programme legacy will tell you all you need to know. His Late Late Show had a lot of the usual drivel we still get. The Frontline is easily one of the worst TV chatshows ever. His more recent chatshows were not anything wonderful either. If Kenny was a terrific broadcaster, he'd have made these more interesting and chosen better subject matter.

Pat never excelled on TV but his radio shows over the years have been brilliant, on a par with the best in the world at times. He's incredibly intelligent, quick, incisive, always very well researched, he can turn his hand to anything fact driven, politics to science. His radio shows have always spanned a huge array of subjects and they're genuinely good mostly, I've never heard him caught out or sounding incapable of meeting what's presented to him. He's often as good at the subject he's doing as any specialist podcast devoted to that niche area. I can't really think of any other broadcaster who is a proficient.

Hector Savage

Yeah and that Philip Boucher Hayes, such a champagne socialist, moaning about inequality and the housing crisis while driving around in one of his three 120k Land Rovers !!!

* Yes I'm jealous cos I don't have a Land Rover ...