is RTE's reporting on the Islamic World Vs The West biased?

ballooba

Just wanted to know people's thoughts and views on this?

Victor

Well what do you think yourself? Please refer to the rules for the politics board before posting soemthing like this, the mods and regulars don't like it.

I'm not saying we want your full and final opinion before we vote, but even if you set some parameters, it would be a lot better.

[edit]Wow, you even voted against your own topic[/edit]

ballooba

Didn't think i had voted. Must have clicked by mistake (don't think i did even {montrose crowd are even hacking into my ip }).

Anyway, sorry should have read the rules.

Where i am coming from is that I was watching Late Late a couple of weeks ago and Pat Kenny seemed to dismiss any anti-war points without much debate.

Also that RTE ran what seemed to be a sensationalist piece about how we rely on US trade, featuring pictures of the Boston Scientific plant, and how we are turning our back on the US by stating an anti-war stance. they seemed to be saying that if we say we are anti-war we are saying we are anti-US.

Hope this is explanation enough?

[edit] now I've voted [/edit]

mike65

I had'nt noticed any bias, and RTE used to be full of stickies!

Pat Kenny can run his show as he pleases, pretty much and the news report on Irelands reliance on US investment/markets is merely stating whats bleedin' obvious I'd say. Though as I don't remember seeing said piece I can't comment on the tone.

Mike.

Vuk

I would say that RTE's reporting on international issues remains pretty much unbiased.

However domestic issues are a different matter, RTE know which side of their bread is buttered on.

Originally posted by ballooba
Also that RTE ran what seemed to be a sensationalist piece about how we rely on US trade, featuring pictures of the Boston Scientific plant, and how we are turning our back on the US by stating an anti-war stance. they seemed to be saying that if we say we are anti-war we are saying we are anti-US.

Interesting piece, the refuelling at Shannon issue is a domestic one, as is the issue of our neutrality.
I have said it before, that US investment relies upon on the incentives given. This coming war and foreign investment is about money not morals and any one who thinks otherwise is delusional or encouraged by the recent increase in the cost of TV licences.......approved by the government.

PH01

Lets see some evidence of this - lets have some examples.

will skill III

All things considered, yes it is (well strictly it's news coverage), because they are basically in the pocket of fianna fail...look at the skinner-esque reward/deprivation stuff going on with RTE and fianna fail/pd..RTE hound P.Flynn, Lawlor, etc etc Sheila Dev refused the tv license increase, rte comply with favourable election coverage, allowing ff press office to set the news agenda every day during the election...reward: lurvely license increase,no more Sheila D....fianna fail/pd have taken the "enlightened self-interest" viewpoint (as expressed by Wille o'dea on q and a the other night); dont risk pissing off the US for silly idealogical reasons when the upshot could be very material in buisness/jobs/investment terms; in real terms this means an implicit bias in ff policy towards our supreme US masters...having said that, irish newspapers (non-independent news and media) were lauded by the muslim population here for balanced coverage post 9/11; rte have people who do ask real questions (anyone hear aine lawlor take on richard perle?) but the prime-time team are weak, and 6.1 news has eased off big-time on isreal-bashing, and vincent brownes tv show has just been axed...

Cork

that US investment relies upon on the incentives given

Incentives are one factor.

Colleges and Work force would be another.

Atitude towards the US - Would be another.

We are taking US foriegn direct investment for granted. It is very competitive to get investment from the US.

neutrality.

Ireland is complying with UN resolutions. We have a soverign government. There is far too much pontificating about neutrality.


RTE should also probe SFs atatude towards what is going on.

Vuk

Originally posted by Cork
Incentives are one factor.

Colleges and Work force would be another.

Atitude towards the US - Would be another.

We are taking US foreign direct investment for granted. It is very competitive to get investment from the US.

I agree with all your outlined factors and indeed with the decreasing order of importance in which they are mentioned. My point, has always been that US/Eire relations will not be affected if we are just defending our right to neutrality, which anyone can do, without a change of attitute to the US.

Ireland is complying with UN resolutions. We have a soverign government. There is far too much pontificating about neutrality.

One can argure the point that, Bush is a lone gunman(plus his loyal sidekick Blair) who has stated he doesn't need UN resolutions and in fact ,the movement of troops through our nation is part of a War, proclaimed by Bush over a year ago, ie a War on terrorism which constitutes a violation of our right to neutrality.

Snowball

Originally posted by Victor
[edit]Wow, you even voted against your own topic[/edit]

What people vote should be private and only used for official reasons not just a mods curiosity

bonkey

Originally posted by Snowball
What people vote should be private and only used for official reasons not just a mods curiosity

Vic is not a mod of politics, so he cant see any more than any other user. Besides....even us mods dont get a breakdown...I'd say youd need to be an admin for that.

Id imagine that as second poster, he would have seen one post, and one vote, and added...ummm...one and one together?

jc

Victor

Personally, I think RTÉ make a reasonable job of a near impossible task. While individual pieces may have a particular slant or bias, overall I think it works. That said, I think too many journalists (Irish & elsewhere) shy away from hard questions and hard comment (David McWilliams and Fintan O'Toole may be exceptions).

Originally posted by bonkey
Vic is not a mod of politics, so he cant see any more than any other user. Besides....even us mods dont get a breakdown...I'd say youd need to be an admin for that. Id imagine that as second poster, he would have seen one post, and one vote, and added...ummm...one and one together?

Exactly. How did you know bonkey, did you use your leet mod control panel to check my brain waves.

Originally posted by Snowball
What people vote should be private and only used for official reasons not just a mods curiosity

I thought you condemned people who made one line responses?

Bateman

Tintin O Fool, oh please.

RTE's enthusiasm to present the Islamic world as a solid, authoritaruian block stinks, and only encourages Clash of Civilisations attitudes, which is what the government (all of them) want. So rather than being biased, its condescending.

DadaKopf

Yes.

*cough* examples of RTÉ bias please?? anyone...
I can tell you the other day, I had 2fm in the background and heard every news bulletin from about 2 untill 7pm.

Their main headline was the increase in permissions being sought by civilian airlines to carry U.S arms through shannon.

Considering that this is a hot topic, at the moment, that bit of investigative journalism wasnt the actions of a totally U.S biased network!

They are very balanced imho and to say otherwise is nit picking in the extreme.
mm

rien_du_tout

Did any1 watch the late late show on friday nite? Hmmm..... I know its pat kenny but someppl still watch it!, including me....

so Minister Brennan was questioned quite well be a fella in a smart lookin suit. God, what a hippie thinking that its wrong to start an unnecessary war! Anyhoo, he conveyed his thoughts well and asked a question which seemed to really get into Séamus Brennan, He asked how he would personally feel, having aided the US planes, if they went on to kill many innocents that war would inevitably bring........ and I dunno if any1 else got the feeling, but it seemed to me that Brennans response was basically that he has to do what he's doing and he cleared himself of some guilt by repeating the fact that its within UN regulations or whatever. I actually felt sorry for the guy. He looked like he had a conscience. I know what the government are doing isnt out of hate for Iraq or anything like that..... but I would liken it to keeping shut when you see a bully about to attack a victim.

Why shouldnt the government ask for there to be a UN resolution specifically granting permission for use of force b4 letting any country use Ireland as a landing pad?

seán

Originally posted by rien_du_tout
Did any1 watch the late late show on friday nite? Hmmm..... I know its pat kenny but someppl still watch it!, including me....

so Minister Brennan was questioned quite well be a fella in a smart lookin suit. God, what a hippie thinking that its wrong to start an unnecessary war! Anyhoo, he conveyed his thoughts well and asked a question which seemed to really get into Séamus Brennan, He asked how he would personally feel, having aided the US planes, if they went on to kill many innocents that war would inevitably bring........ and I dunno if any1 else got the feeling, but it seemed to me that Brennans response was basically that he has to do what he's doing and he cleared himself of some guilt by repeating the fact that its within UN regulations or whatever. I actually felt sorry for the guy. He looked like he had a conscience. I know what the government are doing isnt out of hate for Iraq or anything like that..... but I would liken it to keeping shut when you see a bully about to attack a victim.

Why shouldnt the government ask for there to be a UN resolution specifically granting permission for use of force b4 letting any country use Ireland as a landing pad?

seán

A couple of things in relation to this:
The governments line on Shannon now, is" we're only doing what we've done for years..." and with the latest up roar from some, they've tightened the enforcement of regulations regarding civilian chartered airplnes carrying weapons through Shannon.
They are being pragmatic, legally co-operating with the U.S, whilst quite rightly being able to claim, that these troops are going through Shannon on a "U.N" mission.
After all the U.S and the U.K have been in the middle East for ages now already enforcing U.N no-fly zones.
The fact that it takes circa 200,000 troops to be there, in these uncertain times is immaterial aparently:D

The U.S is not currently at war with Iraq or any U.N country for that matter, so we are not siding with them by allowing re-fueling in shannon, merely helping them enforce U.N mandates.
We weren't infringing our neutrality when we were on the Security Council, the body which imposed disarmament rules on Iraq, neither are we, when forces to potentially impliment U.N resolutions are on their way to the middle East. The quandry for the government is of course, if the U.S and the U.K go ahead with a unilateral war aginst Iraq.
Then they will have no choice, but to stop the Shannon re-fueling.

But if there is a second resolutiuon after 1441, which can clearly authorise, military action against Iraq, then the peace protesters haven't a leg to stand on regarding their demands for a stop to U.S re-fueling in shannon.
Their best anti-war course of action then would be to protest at the U.N in New York or at the various embasies of the members of the UNSC.

Really in my opinion, sadam has the most influence still on what is going to happen.He has within his power the ability to prove,that he has no weapons, or if Colin Powell shows convincing evidence on Wenesday, that he has, Sadam can show some humility and deliver them up. Or give a convincing explanation to the weapons inspectors.
Regarding Séamus Brennan looking perturbed on the Late Late, yet following the Government line on the matter, this is more pragmatism, it's politics.
mm

Cork

Originally posted by Man
sadam has the most influence still on what is going to happen.He has within his power the ability to prove,that he has no weapons.
mm

I 100% agree with this post. The report compiled by Dr. Blix was quiet damning on Saddam. He has got to satisfy the UN with regard to the weapons he has or has not.

The UN report clearly puts it up to Saddam.

He knows what he has to do to avoid war.

bonkey

Originally posted by Cork
He has got to satisfy the UN with regard to the weapons he has or has not.

And exactly how does he do this?

If (and I admit its a big if) Saddam did destroy his VX and Saran - or whatever he is purported to have been known to have - but lacks teh evidence to prove it...how does he satisfy the UN? He cant show them weapons, and there remains no way to prove you dont have something.

As I pointed out in another thread, the US' line of "trust us, he has weapons" is deliberately intended to ensure that Saddam is facing a lose-lose situation.

jc

Cork

Originally posted by bonkey
And exactly how does he do this?

As I pointed out in another thread, the US' line of "trust us, he has weapons" is deliberately intended to ensure that Saddam is facing a lose-lose situation.

jc

Well the Iraqi dictator has got to assure the UN rather than the US.

Iraq's chief arms monitoring body said Sunday Baghdad was keen to resolve any pending disarmament issues when top U.N. inspectors visit next weekend.

Well - Better late than never.

"We are keen to resolve any pending issues from UNMOVIC's point of view," Amin said.

This too is welcome news.

"We agreed ... to encourage the scientists to go through private interviews but we can't force them," he said.

But at least they have agreed to encourage their scientiests.


[link

I think Iraq may be coming around to cooperating with the UN. They need to do this. It is about time that they decided to do this.

I do not know - what proof Dr. Blix will require. But this is something that Dr. Blix has to determine.

I know - you have pointed to various sinarios but It is about time - we all started having trust in Dr. Blix.

In his report last week - he called a spade a spade.

I think - He may run of of patience with Saddam. But, I think Saddam needs to buck up & start actively co-operating with the UN.