Very Little Done, a Lot More to Do

Irish Independent
May 6, 2012

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/editorial/very-little-done-a-lot-more-to-do-3101353.html

The betrayal of trust that has led to the national broadcaster and self-styled watchdog of the citizen being found guilty by the BAI of the same 'groupthink' that characterised the rest of our discredited institutions is bad enough.

What should be of even greater concern, however, is that the station is behaving in the same manner as some FF minister caught with his hand in the 'greasy till'. All of last week's Fianna Fail-speak about "grave errors", "lessons learnt", "regrettable period in our history", and most importantly of all, from the viewpoint of RTE, the need to move on, does not disguise the fact that despite its current sheep's clothing of sorrow, RTE still runs with the ideological wolves.

RTE, however, should not be allowed to move on quite as quickly as it wants to. The libelling of Fr Reynolds did not, to borrow one of the favoured phrases of the Minister for Communications, grow like Topsy. It was instead merely the worse efflorescence of a systemic culture of arrogance, which reached its apotheosis in the even more disturbing Sean Gallagher/Frontline affair. RTE's Mission to Prey is just one sordid example of how that station has used its protected state to drive a liberal-centred Kulturkampf into the living rooms of a trusting citizenry. The station may publicly cherish its impartiality but the reality is best summarised by the Elizabeth Barrett Browning sonnet about "How do I love thee, let me count the ways".

It would take a long time to count the RTE agendas but we will list a few. Under a series of sleeping boards, RTE, as a station, has adopted a pro-public-sector worker, pro-social partnership, pro-FF when they were in office, anti-FF now that they are in Opposition, pro-Sinn Fein, pro-liberal secularist, europhile, appeasement process, pro-Palestinian agenda. A recent FoI request by Eamon O Cuiv also revealed that, like the old princes of the church who wisely preferred to exercise invisible power, RTE has systemically favoured contributors from those media elements that best reflect the cut of its ideological jib. Needless to say, we are not on the list of 'special friends'.

Responding to the BAI report, a somewhat shocked Pat Rabbitte noted that the station had "a lot more to do" if it was to regain the trust of the public. The minister was at a minimum understating the scale of the task. Tuesday's board meeting may, however, tell a tale on whether Mr Rabbitte has fully absorbed just how much moving on RTE will have to do.

Brady must go, now

After last week's revelations, the ongoing retention of Cardinal Sean Brady is an embarrassment . . . even for the Irish Catholic Church. Our 'wounded healer' can cite all the canon law he likes but nothing can disguise the taint of Nuremberg surrounding his defence. Apologists can plea all they want about 'guidelines', but 2,000 years of moral philosophy or remembrance of Christ's plea to "suffer the little children" should have provided quite enough guidance. The swirl of questions surrounding the cardinal is neither edifying nor sustainable. An act of atonement is needed, and quickly.