RTÉ journalists say ‘inaction’, and not the current crisis, has ‘crippled’ the organisation

The issue of funding public service media needs to be addressed “as a matter of urgency” journalists at RTÉ have said following a union meeting at the broadcaster on Tuesday.

In a statement issued after what was described as “a well-attended” meeting of the organisation’s National Union of Journalists’ Broadcasting Branch members, the group said it was “inaction that has crippled RTÉ, not the current crisis” and called for “an end to political cowardice” on the issue of the organisation’s funding.

[ RTE’s ‘barter account’: Minister expects to receive interim report on account within the week ]

The journalists said they “would be concerned if politicians sought to use the current crisis to further delay decisive action”.

“We agree with the now widely held view that the licence fee system is a broken model.

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“Public Service Media needs to be funded sustainably through public funding and we are calling for public debate on a replacement that is fit for purpose for the 21st century,” they said.

“We have seen what can happen when a public service broadcaster is forced to rely overly on commercial interests in order to survive. If the broadcaster is to return to its core purpose – to remain an independent and trustworthy service for the Irish public - then this long-running issue of funding needs to be addressed by Government.

“The fall-out from the current crisis means this is now urgent. We cannot wait any longer.”

Branch chair Emma O’Kelly said afterwards there was “a weariness” among the journalists over the governance scandal at RTÉ.

[ Fintan O’Toole: RTÉ should have seen a crisis coming for decades ]

In a meeting that had lasted more than an hour, she said however, the name Ryan Tubridy, had not been mentioned once. Rather, she insisted, people were focused on the underlying financial issues at the organisation and on how it can be more sustainably funded in the future.

“Even if we look at the current system of the licence fee, it has not been increased since 2008, that’s 15 years ago. So we have something of a problem when people speak of RTÉ requiring a bailout. It got €15 million in interim funding last year and will need money again but that is because of Government inaction which predates the crisis.

“Now, we are not suggesting at this stage that the licence fee is increased or anything silly like that because everyone recognises that that is a model that needs to be on the way out; what we want to see is a sustainable funding model, proper adequate funding for public service media and also, in a broad sense, cultural change in the organisation that we work for.”

Asked how the broadcaster’s journalists believe that process is shaping up, she said: “It’s early days. Kevin Bakhurst is still new in the job, he has been doing a lot of firefighting, he has clearly shown that he is decisive but it is too early yet to see the bigger picture yet. It’s just too early.”

She said those attending the meeting had been unaware of the decision by members of the Oireachtas Media committee to invite Mr Bakhurst and members of the RTÉ board to appear before them next month.