Sir, - There is another aspect of accent where the practice in RTE is a cause for concern. I am speaking of where the emphasis is placed in pronouncing certain words. While the correct pronounciation requires the emphasis to be on the second syllable, RTE newsreaders and reporters (with the honourable exception of Eimear O'Kelly and Ken Hammond), wrongly place the stress on the first syllable.
Here is a selection as pronounced by RTE:
Pro-testers; Con-tractors; Un-skilled; Add-ress; Sur-veyed; Dis-puted; Ro-bust; Cre-ate; Di-rector; Ex-clude; Re-searching.
I have even heard Ho-tel.
RTE has a wide audience. It follows that it has a big influence on how English is spoken. So the least that those in authority should do is to try to get it right. But the mispronunciations I have listed, and others in similar vein, have been going on for years, and continue unabated. Obviously, those speaking the words don't know any better. But, more depressingly, neither do those charged with monitoring the programmes. Or perhaps they don't care. They certainly don't seem to make any effort at correction. - Yours, etc.,
J. N. Tansey, Avoca Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin.