Defund RTE

GT89

I see in the UK there is a campaign to defund the BBC why not do the same for RTE. The constant left wing bias annoys the hell out of me and the over paid talentless presenters there has been clear bias on display when it comes to things like Brexit, Trump and Coronavirus no voice from the other side. Turn it into a subscription based service like Sky or Virgin and if it dosen't make money close it down

https://www.defundbbc.uk/tv-press-radio/

Junkyard Tom

There has never been a greater need for a national public service broadcaster. Reform RTE, don't remove it.

Rodney Bathgate

Junkyard Tom wrote: »

There has never been a greater need for a national public service broadcaster. Reform RTE, don't remove it.

I though ‘defund’ didn’t mean abolish / remove it?

(Not saying you said it did say it etc. but that seems to be the claim when supporters of ‘defunding the police’ are questioned about what happens after.)

Junkyard Tom

Rodney Bathgate wrote: »

I though ‘defund’ didn’t mean abolish / remove it?

(Not saying you said it did say it etc. but that seems to be the claim when supporters of ‘defunding the police’ are questioned about what happens after.)

Yeah fair enough.

ampleforth

Remove TV Licence and just leave them all and see how it goes...

MrMusician18

The other side to Coronavirus? dafuk??

James Brown

Defund as it refers to the police is taking some of the budget and moving it towards mental health and social work etc.

RTE needs to open up to hiring from the public and cease the inbreeding.

GT89

MrMusician18 wrote: »

The other side to Coronavirus? dafuk??

Having people like the Professor Delores Cahill and Marcus De Brun who have different view about the lockdown and masks for example instead of constantly having Luke O'Neill and Sam McConkey on the air would be a good start. Allow us to talk about thing like Hydroxyclorquine aswell

MrMusician18

GT89 wrote: »

Having people like the Professor Delores Cahill and Marcus De Brun who have different view about the lockdown and masks for example instead of constantly having Luke O'Neill and Sam McConkey on the air would be a good start. Allow us to talk about thing like Hydroxyclorquine aswell

How do you know those two acedemics have different views?

GT89

MrMusician18 wrote: »

How do you know those two acedemics have different views?

I've heard them on Youtube and Bitchute

quokula

GT89 wrote: »

Having people like the Professor Delores Cahill and Marcus De Brun who have different view about the lockdown and masks for example instead of constantly having Luke O'Neill and Sam McConkey on the air would be a good start. Allow us to talk about thing like Hydroxyclorquine aswell

I think sticking to the facts and not giving a voice to nut jobs from YouTube is exactly why we need a public service broadcaster.

nj27

I vote for a defunding of RTE ahead of free blowies.

Overheal

Sounds just like other countries want to get in on defund culture to be trendy.

jimmycrackcorm

ampleforth wrote: »

Remove TV Licence and just leave them all and see how it goes...

Sure - all we will get is endless re-runs of Friends and other imported programmes.
When RTE does a prime time investigates that has the whole country talking then there are no complaints. Simply put, we do need a national broadcaster that does doe public service broadcasting.

ted1

Berties_Horse wrote: »

Sink or swim, the hacks won't last long if the public abandon them in droves. Lottie Ryan and Amy Huberman would be cast out in a hurry.

It’s not a commercial station , by its definition it would sink. There’s a big PSB element.

If it sunk where would the news come from ? Rupert murduck? Dennis o Brien ?
Do kids educational programs bring in review ? And so on

ronivek

Defunding is not the same thing as removing.

The linked campaign seems to be about achieving the following:

• Decriminalising the license fee.
• Removing the link between the license fee and non-BBC broadcasters and content; in other words you don't need a TV License to watch channels such as ITV or foreign broadcasts.

Which don't sound like particularly unreasonable demands; especially if you don't actually consume BBC services.

One interesting point to note is that some 75% of the BBC's income comes from the license fee; but only 50% of RTE's income comes from the license fee. So it's not like RTE is riding a license fee gravy train; especially when compared to the BBC.

As to the comments about RTE's bias: the RTE is the state broadcaster and as such reflects the views of most of those in the state. If you're constantly finding yourself gnashing your teeth at their coverage you're likely sitting at one end or the other of the political and/or conspiracy theory spectrum.

BonnieSituation

ronivek wrote: »

Defunding is not the same thing as removing.

The linked campaign seems to be about achieving the following:

• Decriminalising the license fee.
• Removing the link between the license fee and non-BBC broadcasters and content; in other words you don't need a TV License to watch channels such as ITV or foreign broadcasts.

Which don't sound like particularly unreasonable demands; especially if you don't actually consume BBC services.

One interesting point to note is that some 75% of the BBC's income comes from the license fee; but only 50% of RTE's income comes from the license fee. So it's not like RTE is riding a license fee gravy train; especially when compared to the BBC.

As to the comments about RTE's bias: the RTE is the state broadcaster and as such reflects the views of most of those in the state. If you're constantly finding yourself gnashing your teeth at their coverage you're likely sitting at one end or the other of the political and/or conspiracy theory spectrum.

They're not unreasonable demands on the face of it, but realistically will decimate the funding of the BBC.

Another example of a stealth "defunding" was when the Tories forced the BBC to pay up for the free oap licences that the Tory govt promised. This was a handy way of getting kudos for a policy from the grey vote and removing funding from the BBC without abolishing the licence fee. Basically just another stealthy way of getting the job done without raising the heckles of Guardian readers.

Anyone who thinks they want a world without RTÉ or public service broadcasting in general should give pause to the ****e served upon Canada and (non-SBS and some -ABC) Australia.

Having the BAI as a buffer also helps.

In short, it's a nonsensical idea usually championed by "freedom loving contrary right wingers".

James Brown

BonnieSituation wrote: »

They're not unreasonable demands on the face of it, but realistically will decimate the funding of the BBC.

Another example of a stealth "defunding" was when the Tories forced the BBC to pay up for the free oap licences that the Tory govt promised. This was a handy way of getting kudos for a policy from the grey vote and removing funding from the BBC without abolishing the licence fee. Basically just another stealthy way of getting the job done without raising the heckles of Guardian readers.

Anyone who thinks they want a world without RTÉ or public service broadcasting in general should give pause to the ****e served upon Canada and (non-SBS and some -ABC) Australia.

Having the BAI as a buffer also helps.

In short, it's a nonsensical idea usually championed by "freedom loving contrary right wingers".

Canada has the CBC. No licence too.
We need RTE but it's long overdue a culling.

fran38

quokula wrote: »

I think sticking to the facts and not giving a voice to nut jobs from YouTube is exactly why we need a public service broadcaster.[/QU

So, you've heard their point of view on youtube I take it?

Risteard81

quokula wrote: »

I think sticking to the facts and not giving a voice to nut jobs from YouTube is exactly why we need a public service broadcaster.

Nothing claimed by the State about COVID is true.

YellowBucket

Defunding Public service broadcasting is just the mantra of the British tabloids and media moguls from what I can see. They more or less drive the U.K. political agenda and if it wasn’t for those pesky public service broadcasters like BBC and aspects of C4 wouldn’t it be lovely, for Boris and the chaps?

RTÉ has issues but if you compare its content to what goes out on a lot of similar size and often even bigger and better funded broadcasters, it’s really is quite good.

We should certainly look at ensuring that money actually gets to programme makers and not just spent on layers of admin and overhead but throwing away public service broadcasting here would be a huge mistake.

It’s often the kitchen table where Irish debates happen and it’s not the private bubbles of like minded opinions that occur on social media either.

My view of it is it needs to be reformed to maximise the money actually getting into production of tv and radio. They do far too much stuff that’s nothing to do with that and they really need to trim the fat in all areas that aren’t directly connected to broadcasting.

Annasopra

GT89 wrote: »

Having people like the Professor Delores Cahill and Marcus De Brun who have different view about the lockdown and masks for example instead of constantly having Luke O'Neill and Sam McConkey on the air would be a good start. Allow us to talk about thing like Hydroxyclorquine aswell

Nah. They're nutjob conspiracy theorists.

Kivaro

Defund them.
Defund them back to oblivion.
And then start again and create a functional national broadcaster without the bells and whistles.

Let's replace the current RTE quango with an entity that serves the people, instead of what is happening now ............... where the people are forced to serve an overpaid and biased State media.

Pa ElGrande

You are asking all the wrong questions.

How much is an hour of your time worth? put a figure on it.

Do you need traditional broadcast media (free to air TV and radio) in your life?

How many hours of traditional broadcast (free to air TV and radio) do you consume every year?

breaking that down further:

How many hours consumed by you is content provided by RTE?

How many hours consumed by you is content provided by independent broadcasters based in the Republic or Ireland?

How many hours consumed by you is content provided by services based in another country (e.g BBC)?


Do you have a paid subscription to cable service that carries TV and radio broadcast? - how much do you pay for this?

Do you have a paid subscription to satellite channels? how much do you pay for this?

Do have a paid subscription to internet stream services? (Netflix, Spotify and many others)

When you add up your current outlays for broadcast media services, how many hours does your household need to work per annum to pay for it this?

If you are a pensioner or other welfare dependent that is excluded from having to pay the RTE tax and free to air broadcast media was removed tomorrow how much of your income would you allocate for these services if they were paid subscription only?

Would you prefer a different consumption model? pay per hour of broadcast media consumed? pay based on quality of broadcast media consumed? would a basic service (news,weather and afternoon chat shows suit your consumption and time allocation better)


All this talk about RTE salaries, RTE content, RTE lack of talent and RTE bias is pointless since you are not RTE shareholders or RTE board of management and therefore the decisions about what content is broadcast and when is not yours. Unless you are a prisoner you control how you spend your time and income, rather than calling for de-funding RTE put a price on your time spent consuming it versus other things you could be doing on your life (i.e what is the opportunity cost of watching RTE or TV in general).

dan1895

Is "defund RTE" not just something anonymous accounts on Twitter with little Ivory Coast flags and words like "Patriot" on their profile say?

ThunbergsAreGo

Why is the word defund everywhere?
Its like people can't think for themselves anymore

mickuhaha

I would be all for removing the TV licence and having the funds come directly from government. It also needs major reforms in all areas. I also don't see why it needs to be as big as it is for what content we get from it. It needs an external review and a cap on pay. Plenty of other countries have a small public service station with other private stations. The main aim of a public service station should be to provide impartial news and programs relating to local culture ect.

boombang

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

Sure - all we will get is endless re-runs of Friends and other imported programmes.
When RTE does a prime time investigates that has the whole country talking then there are no complaints. Simply put, we do need a national broadcaster that does doe public service broadcasting.

I see your point, but the problem is the worthwhile programmes RTE produces are so few and far between. Occasionally it produces excellent quality TV, but that's between loads of junk with no public service remit. Furthermore, when there are important issues to investigate, it often only provides the most superficial of analyses: I'm thinking of coverage of most economic issues, plenty of social affairs, crime and corruption and longerview analyses of politics.

pjohnson

I think Lottie Ryan and Ryan Tubridy would have a more useful opinion than any conspiracist crank on "bitchute"

biko

RTÉ was set up to be dual-funded, with the idea being that roughly half of its money would come from the television licence fee and half from advertising.
In 2018, advertising pulled in €150 million, and out of the €221 million collected from the current TV licence system €189 million went to RTÉ.
This gave RTÉ total revenue of €339.1 million 2018. Its total operating costs, however, were €339.8 million, and once a depreciation and amortisation charge and other factors were taken into account, it made a loss of €13 million.

We can defund it in the sense that licence money is revoked. It can still survive on 150 million/year if it makes cuts.

fits

Just renewed the license there. Think they’re doing a great job at the moment.