A chara, - As someone who firmly believes that the current television licence fee is probably half what it should be, I would like to take issue with certain arguments proffered by RTE's Joe Mulholland, (Opinion, January 7th). To try and liken RTE with the BBC is akin to comparing apples and oranges. It is not comparing like with like. It would be more appropriate to make comparisons with broadcasters of a similar size and revenue generation in Denmark, Austria, Norway or Finland.
First and foremost I challenge his contention that the BBC "is the most powerful, and probably the best public service broadcaster in the world". Where is the evidence to support such a fanciful claim. This statement totally ignores the massive contribution to public service broadcasting, in all its forms, by state television networks in North America and Europe, many of whom are larger and more quality driven than the BBC. However, Joe Mulholland cannot be blamed for this imprecision. Since we rarely get a glimpse at what non-UK broadcasters produce, how are we to judge? As someone who watches a great deal of television, and who has spent some 20 years of his adult working and living in continental Europe and North America, I agree that the BBC probably does make the best news programmes.
That said, I would contend that the upmarket American networks produce the best comedy, drama series and children's programmes, that Germany's state networks produce the best investigative journalism programmes, that the French produce the best arts shows, and that the Finns make the best nature documentaries.
While Joe Mulholland correctly alludes to the dangers posed to RTE by the encroachment of English television channels, he fails to mention why RTE is losing Irish viewers to the BBC, ITV and Channel 4. RTE could start by acknowledging the richness and variety of Irish accents, urban and regional, when recruiting its presenters. There are times when I am unsure what country it is broadcasting from.
In my view, part of the reason is RTE's flawed quest to imprudently, and endlessly, ape English television to the point where RTE1 and Network 2 are starting to look and sound like TV channels broadcast from London. How many shows currently running on RTE1 and Network 2 are plain and simple copies of programmes run on ITV, the BBC or Channel 4? Not alone that, but where would RTE's international coverage be without its arch rival, the BBC? To fulfill its public service directive RTE will need to invest more in its international network of staff reporters. It is laughable that it relies on just three correspondents, in Brussels, London and Washington, to cover "world events". There are national newspapers in Denmark and Estonia which have larger foreign staff networks.
In my view, Joe Mulholland's contention that RTE1 has suffered because it is in the shadow of English TV stations does not hold water. All we have to do is look at same language markets elsewhere in Europe. Austria's state network ORF is more than holding its own despite its proximity to Europe's economic powerhouse, Germany, which boasts over 200 terrestrial, cable and satellite channels, 80 per cent of which can be seen in Austria. The same is true for the Belgian public service broadcaster BRTN, and its relationship to France, Europe's second biggest national broadcast arena.
To resolve the outstanding issues impacting on its future, RTE needs to do some soul-searching. It needs to go back to its roots, and rediscover what being a public broadcaster really means. It needs to increase, rather than curtail, its network of regional studios and broadcasting output on countrywide issues. It needs to reflect all facets of the country in which it operates in, instead of turning its back on the Real Ireland, the Hidden Ireland we rarely get to see on the Dublin-centered RTE these days.
Until such a time as RTE's board and management elects to recognise and embrace all facets of the Real Ireland, as opposed to some sanitised, anglicised version of it, the State broadcaster will continue to fall badly short of its public service mandate to a changing, all inclusive, and modern Irish nation. - Is mise,
Gearoid O Dubhedir, Monaleen, Co Luimni.