04/09/2014 19:05:08 mediaman
The four o'clock Sports News on RTE Radio provided a classic example of the RTE mindset. The bulletin led with the news that Johnny Sexton was holding a press conference to announce his transfer back to Leinster. As breaking news it deserved to be first item on the sports news. No argument. However what followed was pure pantomime. When the rest of the items were dealt with the Reporter excitedly repeated the Johnny Sexton story in case he said someone had missed it at the start of the bulletin (two minutes earlier). Have you ever heard any other sport being treated in that way? It was the RTE Sports Department's way of telling the nation that a major rugby story (which by the way has been flagged for weeks now) is so important it deserves to be mentioned twice in the same bulletin. Now that is bias. That's often the case where big news story is repeated. It had been rumoured for weeks but it was only rumours and story deserved recognition it got
RTE do it to plenty of sports within reason
04/09/2014 19:24:24 tinrylandman
fabio if I am wrong in my surmation show me as I do know that Ulster rugby have been going province wide to promote the team to both Catholic and ProtestantThey do. They've had sessions in all counties in pre season over past few seasons and to all clubs. They don't segregate based on religion and only fools would say they look to do anything like that

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 04/09/2014 20:26:00    1648134

All Ireland hurling final weekend
Quick mention of Sexton signing contract then plenty of news on the hurling. Marty Morrissey in Holycross, Eamon O Shea plus several tipp players talk about the game...

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 04/09/2014 21:25:23    1648179

biggest game of year in the sport so if there wasnt they really would be having a laugh

fabio8 (USA) - Posts: 2182 - 04/09/2014 21:33:58    1648192

Keeping Sunday sport free in the north is a Protestant/Presbyterian tradition accepted without question by many sports organisations. In addition to rugby, soccer and hockey also refuse to hold games on Sundays at the behest of their Protestant/Presbyterian members. This Sunday Observance Act attitude is long outdated. Rugby needs to distance itself from the backwoodsmen who insist on tying rugby into one conservative, religious group. In rugby The All Ireland League operates the same never on a Sunday agenda. No amount of clever PR men/women can hide the truly reactionary nature of these sports bodies.

mediaman (Antrim) - Posts: 355 - 04/09/2014 21:52:54    1648210

04/09/2014 21:25:23
ormondbannerman
All Ireland hurling final weekend
Quick mention of Sexton signing contract then plenty of news on the hurling. Marty Morrissey in Holycross, Eamon O Shea plus several tipp players talk about the game...
04/09/2014 21:33:58 fabio8
biggest game of year in the sport so if there wasnt they really would be having a laughYes some here will still try say RTE are biased in everything related to sport....
04/09/2014 21:52:54 mediaman
Keeping Sunday sport free in the north is a Protestant/Presbyterian tradition accepted without question by many sports organisations. In addition to rugby, soccer and hockey also refuse to hold games on Sundays at the behest of their Protestant/Presbyterian members. This Sunday Observance Act attitude is long outdated. Rugby needs to distance itself from the backwoodsmen who insist on tying rugby into one conservative, religious group. In rugby The All Ireland League operates the same never on a Sunday agenda. No amount of clever PR men/women can hide the truly reactionary nature of these sports bodies It is accepted without question due to the make up of the population across large parts of the North. It isn't outdated and rugby doesn't need to distance itself from such practice.

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 05/09/2014 12:03:56    1648341

a bias does exist in my opinion...people have brought up countless examples to support this..bringing up an isolated feature on the biggest game of the year hardly helps the argument all that much does it?..the issue people have is that this is not the norm for rte on gaa as there is only big coverage for the finals

fabio8 (USA) - Posts: 2182 - 05/09/2014 15:07:15    1648455

RTE regularly makes news out of no news to ensure a place for rugby in its bulletins. Non story No.1. 'The Irish/Leinster/Munster team isn't training today ahead of its weekend match against ------.' In what sense is this news?

mediaman (Antrim) - Posts: 355 - 05/09/2014 19:03:01    1648579

look at the press the independent are giving 'little' connaught rugby for instance

fabio8 (USA) - Posts: 2182 - 05/09/2014 19:28:44    1648590

Tonight's nine o'clock news epitomised everything that has previously been said about RTE's biased coverage of football and in this instance hurling. A report on the Kilkenny team selection began with pictures of two players, one from Kilkenny and the other from Limerick, squaring up to each other in a particularly aggressive exchange. What those images had to do with Sunday's game is hard to fathom. It was undoubtedly a deliberate attempt to portrait hurling in a negative light. Remember first someone in RTE had to decide what aspect of hurling to introduce the item with (obviously a negative image was selected) then someone in RTE had to very deliberately trawl through the archives to find a negative clip and then someone in RTE had to edit it and someone else had put the package together. None of this happens by accident. What we saw tonight was deliberate abuse of hurling. It ignored the skills and went straight to the aggression/violence. In simple terms it was a 'hatchet job' on hurling. Time supporters woke up to this manipulation and cried halt.

mediaman (Antrim) - Posts: 355 - 05/09/2014 21:47:29    1648638

Can wait to see Up for the Match - another anti GAA propaganda show by RTE. And they way the RTE went around all the national schools in Tipp and Kilkenny and organised to have all the kids in their county colours..only interested in the negative alright. Im sure you think Sky coverage is better Murdoch mediaman?

bad.monkey (USA) - Posts: 4663 - 06/09/2014 09:11:03    1648658

Yeah but bad monkey, answer his point about the rte news clip of a fight in the Kilkenny-Limerick match being used as the backdrop to the Kilkenny team being announced. Do you believe that clip was any way warranted? I remember seeing something similar before a Mayo-Meath match I think, where they were showing clips from the brawl from the 1996 final. Totally uncalled for.

ballydalane (Kilkenny) - Posts: 1258 - 06/09/2014 09:38:26    1648667

Mediaman and Ballydalane are right. Would RTE preview a rugby match with footage of a spear tackle or an eye gouging? Or of FAI thing with footage of Rovers supporters attacking people?

hurlingdub (Dublin) - Posts: 6978 - 06/09/2014 09:46:21    1648668

A "particularly aggressive exchange"? Thankfully hurling refs will let players doing some sorting out and let aggressive exchanges go as they can use their discretion. Who'd want to watch a hurling game without physicality? Compare it to football where the ref rarely lets the game flow like in hurling. Seeing some aggressive physical encounters in hurling and the ref letting the game flow is more enticing than watching stop start football reffed mainly by indecisive refs with more cards than Hallmark.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 8189 - 06/09/2014 10:22:01    1648675

Ballydalane the clip was grand just outlined the passion and physicality of the sport, probably encourage more people to watch the final. RTE have a huge build up to the final this weekend on tv and radio - all overwhelming positive, some people just need to be outraged by any old thing. If mediaman thinks that was a "particularly aggressive exchange" I suggest he doesn't watch the final or he won't sleep for a week!

bad.monkey (USA) - Posts: 4663 - 06/09/2014 10:47:55    1648682

I see even the Sunday Independent have had a go at RTE news GAA coverage, highlighting the fact that Saturday mornings sports news on the radio didn't bother to mention that Jim McGuinness had stepped down as Donegal manager the night before. Considering Ferguson stepping down as Man Utd manager was the main story on the national tv news the day it happened, it certainly seems like some unusual editorial decisions are taken in Donnybrook.

Soma (UK) - Posts: 2630 - 05/10/2014 10:49:02    1660271

The true measure of RTE's bias will become blatantly obvious now that the football and hurling finals are over. The Jim McGuiness fiasco is only the beginning. The only football or hurling stories to gain RTE prominence for the next six months will be those involving violence. Eight months now without a single live match on RTE. Does any other national broadcaster anywhere else in the world treat their country's most popular sports in such a dismissive manner. Now is the time to be even more vigilant than ever.

mediaman (Antrim) - Posts: 355 - 05/10/2014 18:43:37    1660431

bit strange that the most high profile manager in gaa stepping down was not regarded as news worthy?

fabio8 (USA) - Posts: 2182 - 05/10/2014 19:27:25    1660461

What live premiership games are BBC showing the UK mediaman

tinrylandman (Carlow) - Posts: 387 - 05/10/2014 19:32:11    1660464

bbc would love to show prem games...were simply outbid for them..stop looking for somebody to wind up tinylandman

fabio8 (USA) - Posts: 2182 - 05/10/2014 20:00:10    1660487

You might be able tell us Tinrylandman how many hours BBC dedicate to soccer each year, and how this compares to RTE and their broadcasting of GAA?

Soma (UK) - Posts: 2630 - 05/10/2014 21:14:23    1660532