It’s been two days now since RTÉ announced its decision to outsource all of its young people’s programming to the independent sector. And at the time of writing, the broadcaster still has not provided a spokesperson to be interviewed directly about the decision.
But many others are having their say in public, including one legendary Young People’s Television presenter, Mary Fitzgerald, a woman with a long and illustrious CV, having worked in RTÉ for nearly 20 years.
“Today is Black Friday and it's a black day, from my perspective, for young people’s programmes in RTÉ. It’s a very sad decision, I’m very disappointed to see that it has been made. It’s the end of an era."
Mary will be known to a generation of children for her own show, How Do You Do, which was broadcast for seven years, as well as the much-loved Saturday morning slice of mayhem that was Anything Goes. She also worked on Action Station Saturday and Top Debate, great programmes, she says, produced by people working within RTÉ and “made with love and affection and with great care on small budgets.”
In the wake of RTÉ's decision to close down its internal Young People’s division, and outsource all of that programming to the independent sector, Mary is extremely unhappy. But, as she said to Sean O’Rourke on the Today programme, based on her experience, this would be true to form.
“It seems that no consultation took place at all. Unfortunately, that was my experience when I worked in RTÉ. Many of the programmes I worked on, which were very successful, were suddenly axed overnight without any explanation. You were told it was a “cost-cutting effect”. So it was really accountants on the third floor in RTÉ making decisions without any consultation with the people making the programmes.”
Outsourcing these programmes to independent production companies, says Mary, may lead to a loss in production values, as people will be asked to produce these programmes on very tight budgets.
On the other hand, said Sean O’Rourke, back in the 1970s and 1980s, RTÉ was something of a behemoth, a virtual monopoly in the broadcasting sector. These days, we have a thriving independent sector producing very high quality programming, so why not outsource? And in any event, he went on, in all large organisations, people will fight their corner saying they alone should be spared the axe, when costs need to be cut. So why not Young People’s Programming, as opposed to anywhere else?
“There are a lot of different sections in RTÉ. Sports, drama, arts, education, Irish language programmes, religious programmes. Why did they pick Young People's, if they wanted to cut back? It seems to me that it's the area where there would be the least amount of people making a protest, unless myself and Socky and Dustin and Bosco all stand outside the gates of RTÉ and have a rally.”
Actually, that’s not a bad idea. Dustin was on the Ray D’Arcy Show on RTÉ Radio One yesterday unimpressed with the decision. And word in the Twittersphere is that Bosco himself is tweeting away on this, equally annoyed. So watch this space!
To listen to the full interview, click here.