RTÉ's religiously biased coverage of Ferns report?

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ClubMan

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Maybe it's just me but I found the RTÉ coverage of the report (e.g. the analysis from Joe Little, Religious and Social Affairs Correspondent, yesterday and today) very strange in terms of the emphasis that it put on how the Catholic Church can improve matters and its standing and where it can go from here in involving lay people (e.g. parish councils etc.) in the running of its affairs . To be honest I found this a bit distasteful in that it deflected from the real issues about how Catholic Church and state institutions colluded to cover up and perpetuate the widespread abuse that was perpetrated, never mind the impact on the victims.

To be honest I have found a very strange angle in a lot of RTÉ reporting lately that seems to insinuate Catholic religious bias into general news items (e.g. the gratuituous and pointless parting shot of the crucifix at the end of last night's report, previous coverage of the Meath school bus crash when the reporter signed off saying something along the lines of "at times like this people can only turn to prayer" and other coverage of religious affairs such as the selection of the new Pope etc.).
 
Yes I agree with your observations. In addition to Joe Little, David Quinn seems to be popping up everywhere on RTÉ as well.

A few years ago when Swimming was in the news I didnt notice the RTÉ Sports correspondents doing the coverage.
 
ClubMan said:
Maybe it's just me but . .
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I doubt it's just you but I suspect yours is a minority view in general but possibly a majority on AAM. Maybe you should complain to RTÉ or as you might say yourself 'Give it up for the holy souls'. :)
 
Why do you think that keeping irrelevant religious bias out of news reporting would necessarily be a minority view?
 
ClubMan said:
Why do you think that keeping irrelevant religious bias out of news reporting would necessarily be a minority view?
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I don't. I think that your view of the coverage as 'distasteful' and your view that there is a lot of RTÉ reporting lately that 'seems to insinuate Catholic religious bias into general news items' is a minority one.
 
Quote: "Media bias towards religion is most obvious in countries where the media is controlled by the state, which is in turn dominated by a particular religion."

The separation of Church and State still has a long, long way to go in this country...

[broken link removed]
 
Fair enough. Doesn't make it less valid for being (if it is) a minority opinion though.
 
The separation of Church and State still has a long, long way to go in this country
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...and in most others.

When Ken Bigley was murdered, ITV & BBC coverage of the reaction in Liverpool focused on the mourners in the Catherdral there.

When mass shootings in the US have been covered by their media, they inevitably focus on gatherings at places of religious worship.

To be honest I have found a very strange angle in a lot of RTÉ reporting lately that seems to insinuate Catholic religious bias into general news items (e.g. the gratuituous and pointless parting shot of the crucifix at the end of last night's report
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Well imagine the furore if RTE had attempted to juxtapose a symbol of one of our minority religions at the end of that report?

As the Catholic Church was to say the least inextricably linked to the sex abuse cases in Wexford, I thought this symbolism was kind of obvious myself, even though I didn't see the report.
 
Part of the problem as I see it is that RTÉ has tended to cover this story as mainly a religious rather than a criminal issue. Obviously there are significant religious and social overtones to it but ultimately the main issue here is surely the crimes that were committed and the cover up by religious and state institutions that allowed them to be carried out and to continue even after attempts at alerting the authorities to what was going on were made?
 
ClubMan said:
Fair enough. Doesn't make it less valid for being (if it is) a minority opinion though.
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Agreed.
I feel that RTÉ news coverage in general is more lazy than biased.
 
Is it a criminal story, in the sense that few, if any, criminal prosecutions have resulted ?
Are RTE occupying some sort of journalistic high-ground here ?

Let me be clear - I believe that what happened in the Ferns diocese was criminal, but maybe there's another reason why RTE took that editorial position ?
 
TarfHead said:
Is it a criminal story, in the sense that few, if any, criminal prosecutions have resulted?
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Therein lies potentially the most "criminal" aspect of it! But I wouldn't hold my breath for any hard-hitting investigative journalism from RTE's side... :rolleyes:
 
Food for thought , ClubMan,thanks.
Why is RTE paying the same person for the same job in the same position since decades an ever increasing wage? Why do they want to have a reporter in the place instead of a journalist? And why is the viewer accepting this standard of "coverage "?
 
I saw some the coverage on the tv yesterday and tonight. I saw nothing wrong with it. It's a very complex story and it was not in any way sympathetic to the Catholic Church, in my opinion.

They reported the conclusions.
They showed file pictures of the abusers.
They showed the current guy who seems to be genuinely trying to fix things.

And most of all, they gave it plenty of time.

They also had a programme some time ago "Cardinal Errors". They had a piece on Goldenbridge some years ago.

Vincent Browne covered it extensively last night.

Brendan
 
A lot of criticism for RTE today here in AAM.

Tonight's report included pictures and sound of Charlie Bird knocking on the door of Comiskey's house and being given the short shrift (Receptionist on intercom: "Hello Charlie, he's not here", or words to that effect). Could he not just have said that Comiskey was unavailable for comment?

And Joe Little's sycophantic comments on the steps the Church are taking to protect children in the future, "even before approval from the Vatican" (gasp!) - as opposed to, for example, suggesting that the church should not be allowed to police itself - made my stomach turn.
 
HI Extopia

And Joe Little's sycophantic comments on the steps the Church are taking to protect children in the future, "even before approval from the Vatican" (gasp!)
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I understood that the various orders were reorganising themselves and that this did require Vatican approval. It was not a simple matter. The Dublin diocese went ahead without Vatican approval.

The Church does not police itself so why should Joe Little suggest that they should not be allowed to? They are subject to the same policing as the rest of the community, although the justice system in the past has treated them very lightly.

I am not defending the Church. But I am defending RTE. They are reporting fairly on the matter.

Brendan
 
I presume the reference to "policing themselves" might be to the fact that the Catholic Church arguably sees Canon Law and the Pope/Vatican as superior to state law and the state/government and this leads to conflicts of interest such as those that were central to many of the abuse scandals? Even last night a church representative on Prime Time fudged the answer to a question about how conflicts between Canon and state law are dealt with and which takes precedence.

I was just thinking about this a bit more. With any other serious corporate scandal news organisations would surely endeavour to interview the CEO to get his/her view on the issues. Why then do we not get to hear directly what the Pope has to say about this stuff so?
 
Joe Little said something about the church acting without Vatican approval to appoint what I presume are meant to be independent individuals who will monitor church activities (and presumably act to prevent sexual abuse) in each Diocese. This is what I mean by the church policing itself. While any proactive stance by the church, however late, is welcome, I would suggest that the church has proven that it cannot be relied upon to act the public interest when its own integrity is called into question.

Another thing we must remember in relation to RTE and the Irish media in general is that the whole Ferns hullabaloo stems from the outcry following the 2002 documentary "Suing The Pope" - made by the BBC.

The RTE response since then hasn't been too bad overall. But they should have been leading this story, not following it.
 
ClubMan asked:

With any other serious corporate scandal news organisations would surely endeavour to interview the CEO to get his/her view on the issues. Why then do we not get to hear directly what the Pope has to say about this stuff so?
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If there is a problem in IBM Ireland, the Irish media will try to interview the Irish CEO, not the worldwide CEO.

The abuse of children has been a worldwide problem and I think that both popes have addressed it. The current Pope was the head of the Inquisition, and I gather that he dealt fairly firmly with the priests who were accused of abuse. I don't know where I picked this up and it may have been a biased judgement which I am reporting.

RTE is very conservative from a legal point of view. They are frightened to put their neck out. However I don't think that they are motivated by a desire to protect the Catholic church or hierarchy.

Brendan

Brendan
 
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