RTÉ Authority discusses internal report on High Society programme

The RTÉ Authority has discussed an internal document entitled RTÉ Television: Editorial Process Inquiry on the recent series High Society.  The inquiry was initiated by Noel Curran, Managing Director of RTÉ Television, following the broadcast of the series and expressions of disquiet in relation to some aspects of it.

 The Authority members welcomed the report and in particular noted the direct and frank approach adopted.  The honest recognition of shortcomings in the development of High Society by RTÉ and the constructive steps being taken to ensure there will be no recurrence in other programming allows the Authority to endorse confidently the actions proposed.

 Mary Finan, Chair of the Authority, said:

 "This series was commissioned to focus attention on the issue of middle-class cocaine abuse in Ireland.  The Authority believes it has achieved this objective and notes that this view is shared by a number of experts who work directly with drug abusers.* Unfortunately recent events have shown all too clearly that the central thesis of these programmes about the prevalence of cocaine abuse in Ireland is grounded on tragic fact. While acknowledging some shortcomings in RTÉ's editorial processes, the Authority accepts that the measures being put in place, with some already initiated, should ensure that such shortcomings will not recur.  We are satisfied that, following what was a wide-ranging inquiry, this issue was confined to one series and is not endemic in RTÉ Factual."

 KEY FINDINGS

 The key findings identified were:

 RTÉ's established editorial controls were not sufficiently exercised in the case of High Society.  This was the first, and to date only, documentary series that RTÉ Factual has undertaken in this style, which relied heavily on dramatisations of anonymous source material. 
 

The RTÉ Television series was based on a published book High Society. The publishers and their lawyers have stated that they know the identities of all interviewed in the book and stand over its veracity.  RTÉ accepts these assurances.
 

In a sensitive documentary series of this nature, however, a greater level of access to, and interrogation, of the source material should have been sought by RTÉ.
 

As part of this thorough-going inquiry, RTÉ has interrogated all aspects of the editorial processes and procedures in other series managed by RTÉ Factual, and is satisfied that there is no evidence of endemic failure to adhere to established editorial guidelines.
 

In highlighting a major national social problem, the public interest was served by the broadcast of this series as attested to by a body of professional specialists in this field.
 

RECOMMENDATIONS

 As a result of this inquiry, a number of changes to programme commissioning procedures and internal editorial practices will be introduced. Among the recommendations endorsed by the Authority are:

 ·         RTÉ Television is to put on hold the making of any factual programming which is largely dependent on anonymous contributors and re-enactments, pending an interrogation as to whether such programmes are appropriate in a factual programming context.

 ·         New guidelines will be introduced for any programme that relies heavily on an external publication as its primary source.

 .       Workshops for programme-makers on RTÉ's recently revised Programme Makers Guidelines and on the new BCI Code of Standards will be accelerated where they have not already taken place.

 RTÉ, as Ireland's public service broadcaster plays a key role in informing the Irish public about a wide variety of current issues through its various media and through different strands of programming.  High Society has stimulated a national discussion on the damage that cocaine use and abuse is causing our society.  The RTÉ Authority also reviewed and discussed the powerful Prime Time Investigates programme on this topic broadcast on Monday, Dec 10th and expressed its support for RTÉ's  continuing role in focusing attention on difficult, and at times, unpalatable stories that it believes are in the public interest.

*Notes for Editors

 A number of experts have professed formally to RTÉ that they found the series' personal narratives to be convincing and recognisable from their drug related work. Among their comments were:

 "I am dismayed that this pioneering and long-overdue piece of public service broadcasting was hijacked for reasons.that have merely delayed and distracted from the soul searching and urgent debate that this nation.must begin."

Dr. Chris Luke, Consultant in Emergency Medicine, Cork University Hospital.

 "There was good, valid, public health educational value.It's unfortunate that the issue has been sidetracked because the programme performed a valuable function. Many people seemed to have recognised themselves in it and have since approached us for help"

Stephen Rowen, Director, The Rutland Centre, Dublin.

 "There was definitely merit in doing it. It was an informative programme. I feel it was supportive in highlighting a major issue that the country seems to be relatively blind to. Anything that contributes to that sense of awareness nationwide is to be valued."

Colin O Driscoll, Psychologist, Forest Therapeutic Centre, Wicklow.

 "The feedback I've had from family, friends and the general public was that it was good..It was all very accurate. I think it hit a raw nerve."

Fiona Walsh, Regional Drugs Co-Ordinator, Western Region, HSE.

 "There was nothing in these programmes that surprised me."

Gerry Hickey MBACP, Counsellor and Psychotherapist.