news
Rally for RTÉ funding in wake of pay scandal
NUJ members at RTÉ and other unions have protested to demand more government funding for the Irish public broadcaster. RTÉ faces uncertainty over its finances and a damaged reputation after large payments were made to a TV show host. The new director general
Kevin Bakhurst spoke to union members at a rally organised by the NUJ Dublin broadcasting branch and backed by Connect and SIPTU. Branch chair Emma O’Kelly said the rally was aimed at the government, who needed to reform public service broadcasting. This couldn’t be ‘delivered on the cheap’, she said
She pointed to the NUJ’s record of demanding proper
financing of public service broadcasting based on a sustainable funding model. Séamus Dooley, NUJ Irish secretary, (pictured) said many in politics and the commercial sector were opposed to public service broadcasting and that the government must be courageous in defending RTÉ. Bakhurst told a
PA IMAGES / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
and Ofcom executive, told public accounts committee members it was ‘completely unacceptable’ that the public and politicians had been misinformed by previous management over the pay. “The public were misled as
were you as public representatives. That is completely unacceptable. I want to assure you that lessons have already been learned and actions are already being taken,” he said. Part of the controversy
parliamentary committee that RTÉ had suffered “one of the most shameful and damaging episodes” in its history, after undeclared payments made to former Late Late Show host Ryan Tubridy. He received €345,000 (£296,000) over what the broadcaster declared as his pay from 2017 to 2022. Bakhurst, a former BBC
Agency staff move defeated
A LEGAL challenge brought by the NUJ and other unions has defeated the UK government’s efforts to allow agency workers to fill in for employees on strike. The challenge was coordinated by the TUC with ASLEF, BFAWU, FDA, GMB, NEU, POA, PCS, RMT, Unite and Usdaw.
The government had proposed a change in agency worker regulations allowing them to fill staff positions during strikes. Unions had warned of the danger of this, including where agency staff had not received training to fulfil a role. The TUC said the move
stemmed from payments made by RTÉ to Tubridy in a ‘tripartite deal’ with Renault, which sponsored the show. Bakhurst said that RTE shouldn’t be “brokering or facilitating” commercial arrangements with contractors, and the fees in these contracts “are too high”. The former RTÉ director
general Dee Forbes subsequently resigned over the pay deal.
could undermine industrial disputes and the fundamental right to strike. The government failed to consult fully or heed advice. The judgment states “the approach… was to commit to the revocation of regulation 7… the advice to [Kwasi Kwarteng] was that it would be of negligible short-term benefit and probably be counterproductive”.
inbrief...
DIGITAL EUROPEAN GUARDIAN TO START The Guardian is to launch a digital European edition in the autumn – its first new foreign edition in eight years. This will create 11 editorial roles and the paper’s European correspondents will contribute. The edition aims to meet a need for “trusted, independent English- language news that connects with European readers”.
YEMENI JOURNALISTS UNDER ATTACK A report by the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate has revealed 40 media violations. These include eight arrests of journalists, plus eight incidents of targeted threats and three physical assaults. The report highlights the hostile environments media workers are in.
IRISH NEWS EDITOR GOES AFTER 25 YEARS Irish News editor Noel Doran is to step down after 25 years. He is believed to be the current longest-serving daily newspaper editor in the UK and Ireland. Before, that title would have gone to ex-Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre who served 26 years. Doran has overseen more than 7,000 editions of the Belfast-based paper and will continue to have a ‘close association’ with it.
Ad revenue at Tory U turn on conference fees
JOURNALISTS attending the Conservative Party conference in October will no longer be charged a fee, following protests from the NUJ and the media industry. The union has welcomed a decision by the Tories to scrap
accreditation fees for journalists attending the assembly later this year.
Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, had denounced the decision as ‘cynical and shameful’. She said it was a clear erosion of press freedom and urged a rethink of the policy, highlighting the effect it would have, effectively filtering attendees. The £137 media accreditation fees will be refunded to those who have made the payment. The News Media Association, Society of Editors, News Media Coalition and Foreign Press Association had all criticised the charge, and a Council of Europe ‘Alert’ had called for a reversal of the policy.
twitter drops 50%
Twitter’s cashflow remains negative because of a near 50 per cent drop in
advertising revenue and heavy debt, Elon Musk said in July. This fell short of his expectation in March that Twitter could be cashflow positive by June. In a tweet replying to
speculation about recapitalisation, he said: “Need to reach positive cashflow before we have the luxury of anything else.” Musk said in another tweet that Twitter had not seen the increase in advertising revenue that had been expected in June. In addition, Twitter Spaces has not generated revenue yet.
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