Former communications minister Pat Rabbitte did not mince his words when describing RTÉ as a "recruitment sergeant" for the far left and Sinn Féin on the water charges issue.
In a politically charged speech, made with the approval of the Labour Party leadership, Mr Rabbitte accused the national broadcaster of being "lopsided" and abandoning its usually high standards.
Labour TDs also vented at its parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday. They were particularly exercised by a Prime Time report on Tuesday night that featured all three Socialist Party TDs.
There has also been simmering resentment among Labour Party TDs and Senators of what they consider was disproportionate coverage given to water protesters at the party’s annual conference in Killarney earlier this month.
But do the charges stack up?
Has RTÉ abandoned its slide-rule approach and skewed its coverage towards smaller parties who represent – in electoral terms at least – a small portion of the population?
An empirical analysis of RTÉ news and current affairs programmes on TV and radio during March shows there is some substance to the argument, on the basis of the frequency of appearances.
Survey
The survey was conducted across 12 programmes:
Morning Ireland
,
Today
,
News at One
,
Drive Time
,
Marian Finucane
,
The Late Debate
,
This Week
,
Saturday with Claire Byrne
,
The Week in Politics
,
Claire Byrne Live
and
Prime Time
.
Only substantial contributions – one-on-one interviews, or dominant voices within a recorded package – were counted.
The results show that Fine Gael had the most appearance at 36, followed by Independents and smaller parties with 31, Fianna Fáil with 26, Sinn Féin with 25, Renua Ireland with nine and the Green Party with two.
But when the Independent cohort was broken down well over two-thirds of the appearances (17) came from just three individuals: Paul Murphy, Ruth Coppinger and Richard Boyd Barrett. That is almost equal to the entire number of appearances by the Labour Party this month.
Some of the other prominent Independents who have protested against water charges, Catherine Murphy, Clare Daly and Mick Wallace, were also accessed by RTÉ, but not always on the water issue – Daly and Wallace both appeared in court in Clare to answer charges of trespassing in Shannon Airport.
Still, the three Socialist Party TDs and Mr Boyd-Barrett comprise only 2 per cent of representation in the Dáil. On that basis, it could be argued that they were afforded disproportionate prominence by RTÉ news and current affairs.
Grounds for complaint
Indeed, Sinn Féin may have some grounds for complaint here, its spokespeople have been interviewed less on this issue, despite being a much larger party.
The Labour Party might have cause to be aggrieved as well given that it is lagging behind the two main opposition parties, as well as the Independents. All the more so, considering that the party had its national conference in Killarney earlier this month. A quarter of the party’s appearances occurred in the first few days of March.
There is no election on and appearances will be dictated by events or by the news agenda. It is inevitable that the parties who have taken the most strident role against water charges will be afforded prominence – but even on that criteria, the number of interviews and appearances seems high.
While Fianna Fáil’s total of 26 looks strong, at least eight of those who appeared were either defending the party against bad poll results, being asked did the party have any future, or else they were internal critics of the party leadership.
Sinn Féin’s figure is respectable but there are extenuating factors. It held its Árd Fheis during March and also found itself at the centre of political storms.
It must also be taken into account that some parties (Government in the main) turned down bids from programmes for interviews from RTÉ news and current affairs programmes. * This article was amended on March 28th, 2015
Correction: RTÉ
An article in last Friday’s edition, on allegations of RTÉ being ‘lopsided’ in its coverage of water charges, stated that a Prime Time report featured all three Socialist Party TDs without any dissenting views. In fact, the report included a video clip of Minister Alan Kelly and RTÉ’s political correspondent outlined the for and against opinions. The Irish Times accepts that its analysis was not exhaustive.
Reference was made in another article to Claire Byrne of RTÉ wishing Paul Murphy TD good wishes on a water charge march. RTÉ has pointed out that Ms Byrne was referring to Mr Murphy being delayed in getting to the march due to speaking to RTÉ.
