RTÉ Audience Council Communique
Thursday, 28th January 2008
Present:
Present: Alison McCullagh, Northern Ireland (Chairperson); Paul M. Kinsella, Leinster; Ruth Gallagher, Dublin; Niall Madigan, IFA; Sheena Walsh McMahon, Leinster; Eilis Boland, Northern Ireland; Patrick O’Leary, Equality Authority; Pádraig McGinn, Connaught/Ulster; Valerie Keegan, IBEC; Stephanie O’Callaghan, Arts Council; Ian Malcolm, RTÉ Authority; Mary Gallagher McBride, Connacht/Ulster; Macdara Doyle, ICTU; Beverly Hanly, RTÉ, Secretary to Audience Council
Regrets: Mark Connolly, Dublin; Des Sheridan, Community and Voluntary Pillar; Paul McDermott, Irish Sports Council; Anne O’Donnell, Office of the Minister for Children; Eddie Sheehy, City and County Managers’ Association;
Absent: Anthony Kelly, Munster
RTÉ: Tom Quinn, RTÉ Group Secretary, Adrian Moynes, Managing Director Radio, Dermot Horan, Director of Broadcast & Acquisitions and Michael Gately, Senior Programme Viewer
Welcome
At the outset, the Chairperson welcomed Macdara Doyle, the recently appointed ICTU representative to the Council.
Resignation
The Secretary informed the Council that the Foras na Gaeilge representative on the Council, Maolsheachlainn O Caollaí, had tendered his resignation. Foras na Gaeilge have been written to seeking a replacement.
Election of Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson
As there was only one candidate for each position, the following were elected unopposed: Alison McCullagh (Chairperson) and Des Sheridan (Vice-Chairperson). Before handing over to Alison, the outgoing Chairperson, Paul Kinsella, thanked RTÉ for its support during his term and wished Alison well during her tenure. On behalf of RTÉ, Adrian Moynes wished to place on record the organisation's thanks to Paul for his commitment during 2007. Alison then took over in the Chair, saying she was looking forward to working with members during the coming year.
Presentation from Acceptance Viewers
Dermot Horan, Director Broadcast & Acquisitions and Michael Gately, Senior Programme Viewer, were welcomed to the meeting.
Dermot gave an overview of the role of the Programme Acceptance Viewer. He pointed out that all acquired programming and commissioned programming is viewed. In-house productions are not as they will have been monitored throughout their production. TG4 has always had, and continues to have, its own Acceptance Viewers.
Michael then gave a very interesting and in-depth presentation.
He pointed out that Viewers do not simply watch programmes and films, they examine them very carefully to vet for any possible offence which might be caused due to language or content which might cause distress or instigate legal action. It is also important to ensure that any claims made, e.g. in medical dramas, are accurate. As tapes come from all over the world, they are also checked to ensure that they are of a high standard technically. He noted that 10,834.5 hours were examined last year.
Programmes are then coded accordingly so they are scheduled at a suitable time. The codes are: CH - children; PS - Parental Supervision and MA - Mature Audience.
It was pointed out that every effort is made to have the same Viewer view programmes for the same slot throughout the year so any possible inconsistencies with what the audience might be expecting in that slot would be highlighted.
In response to queries from members, it was confirmed that Viewers are all RTÉ staff with a high level of experience; they view all acquired and commissioned programmes; it was acknowledged that Acquisitions staff may not have had the opportunity to view an entire programme or may have been depending on promotional material when deciding on a transmission slot and therefore on occasion a Viewer might identify potential difficulties which would necessitate a different transmission slot than that originally envisaged. It might also be their view that a programme should be legalled by RTÉ's very experienced team of in-house lawyers.
Usually, however, a problem is realised at an early stage. It was also pointed out that RTÉ acquires a number of American series and those that are network produced adhere to very high standards regarding content.
In response to a query if there is any control over the speed at which end credits roll, it was explained that particularly in the case of feature films credits might run to 7 or 8 minutes and viewers simply lose interest and switch over and commercial income is lost, therefore the decision is taken to shorten the credits. The exception, however, is when the film is either made in Ireland or has a major Irish theme/interest when the full credits are run.
Secretary's Report
The Secretary updated the Council on corporate activities since the meeting in November and reported on the feedback received from the executive to points raised at that meeting. It was noted that the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources has consented to extend the term of office of the current Council for a further year, or such shorter period, as is necessitated by the enactment of the forthcoming Broadcasting Bill.
Revised Standing Orders and Recommendations for the Future
Tom Quinn advised the Council that the Authority had, at its meeting November, endorsed the Recommendations for the Future and agreed to implement them insofar as is practicable. The Standing Orders had been revised accordingly. After discussion, the Council agreed to adopt the revised Standing Orders. These will now be posted on rte.ie. In response to a query, Tom confirmed that the views of those Representative Bodies who had replied to the Director-General's letter, had been incorporated into the Final Report 2004-2007 and the Recommendations for the Future, pointing out that regrettably only a small number of responses had been received.
It was agreed that a 'think in' on priorities for the coming year would take place at the meeting in March. Members were requested to put some thought into this and submit ideas in advance to the Secretary.
Recent Programming
There were compliments for the following Television programmes: George Lee in China; Charlie Bird on The Ganges; Death Duties; Grandpa Speak To Me In Russian by Louis Lentin and Rowan Gillespie: Sculpting Life.
Programmes on Radio which came in for praise included the Radio 1 documentaries which are consistently of a high standard; live music and concerts.
Programmes which were not as well received included the Katherine Lynch series and the confusion over marking in Celebrity Jigs and Reels on Television. Regarding Radio, concern was expressed about the late transmission time of the Late Debate.
It was confirmed that Operation Transformation is performing well across RTÉ's services. Details of how the website element is working were requested.
Referring back to comments made at the last meeting, it was agreed that international events over the recent past, particularly in Pakistan and Kenya, had been well covered by RTÉ.
Reference to RTÉ's quality coverage of the Iowa Caucus in the US Presidential Election gave rise to a wider discussion vis a vis the perception that the Irish media (not just RTÉ) is skewed towards the Democrats and that the Irish people are pro Democrat. It was suggested that this may be due to the particular dynamics of the Democratic campaign. The Council were assured that RTÉ is always mindful of the need to provide balanced coverage.
In response to a query about RTÉ's coverage of the upcoming Referendum on the Lisbon Treaty and a request that consideration be given to making some programmes on our European neighbours - "how do they live", "do they think like us on certain issues" - it was pointed out that while our Correspondents do try to do as much as they can, resources are limited and so it is not always possible to do as much as we'd like.
The decision to cease transmission on Medium Wave was raised and it was explained that the technology offers poor value for money, is environmentally unsound, out of date and with poor quality reception and audio. No other Irish station broadcasts on MW. The closure will not affect RTÉ Radio 1's existing FM or LW 252 national services. Also, RTÉ radio is widely available on number of other platforms giving the listener a wide choice.
The fact that RTÉ had been singled out as being the only broadcaster which was sensitive in its coverage of the recent tragic fire in Omagh which claimed the lives of an entire family was noted.
Next Meeting
The next meeting will take place on Thursday, 6th March 2008.