Informed 09


colleagues its comfortable and it adds to the team spirit. Tat comradeship is sadly gone. Tere is a new Corona reality. Te correspondent parks alongside the satellite van at the right angle to see the editing monitor. We select the right clips of interviews, discuss picture selection, separately, metres apart. When the script is writen it’s time


Fran parks by the satellite van


On the Road with RTE’s Fran McNulty


It’s a strange conversation, your editor calls you aside. She asks if you’d mind not coming into the office anymore. Would you be willing to be part of a group to work remotely for the foreseeable future. It means either one thing, your office etiquete has become too much for your colleagues or there’s a need to keep some people in reserve, safe from Covid-19, or not in the office to infect other staff. It was when one of the managing


editors of RTÉ News asked me to leave the office that it was immediately apparent that this crisis was very real. It is to the credit of the Irish national broadcaster that these conversations were happening in early March, way ahead of the current focus on curbing the spread of Coronavirus. Within 12 hours I was out of the


newsroom. Since then I have been working out of my home and my car. In many respects it’s not new for a specialist correspondent, we should be


on the road, meeting people, talking to contacts and geting stories on air. An immediate challenge was


technology. In my 20 years in journalism, I have never faced such change, such a different way of working. My job as the national broadcaster’s agriculture & consumer affairs correspondent sees me travel to every corner of Ireland. I can broadcast live on radio from my iPhone, I no longer use radio sound recording equipment, it’s all done on a telephone handset and using 4G connectivity. On big stories I have the tremendous support of satellite van operators, on smaller stories I edit television packages in the front seat of the car and send material using an internet connection. Te change is liberating and allows the


story to become the priority. Normally when we work with satellite


crews we sit in the back of a van, cheek by jowl, editor and reporter side by side. Te camera operator comes in for chats. It’s a very small space, but with great


to lay down the voice. Te satellite operator hands a sterilised microphone through my car window, he records my voice and when finished I sterilise the microphone and hand it back. If we exchange discs they must be wiped down with medical-grade sterile wipes. Te engagement with interviewees is also counter intuitive. We must be far apart, oſten to the point where it is difficult to hear each other. And no shaking hands. It goes against everything we are taught about bonding with people and engaging. In the past few weeks I’ve been in supermarkets, marts, busy streets and shopping centres. Everyday you feel exposed. We wear gloves, constantly use alcohol gel and when necessary wear additional protective gear. A visit to a closed farmers’ mart in Granard, County Longford, made it real. Te mart empty; farmers who were stressed turned up regardless. Audiences for news are growing. Te public is turning to the public service broadcaster for accurate, trusted news. In an era where spurious WhatsApp message can become gospel, there was never a greater need for honest, verified news coverage. It is a mark of pride to be part of that. To be a journalist is to serve the public, on the front line telling the store of living with Corona. As regional newspaper titles let staff


go, amidst a huge crisis, we should value what public broadcasting can do for us. If only the crisis of funding that haunts RTÉ and others could be resolved. Perhaps now that the value of PSB is realised, the powers that be will take it seriously.


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