IRELAND
Offaly Express
Published on Thursday 3 May 2012
RTE has been hit with a 200,000 euro fine over its defamatory Mission to Prey programme which libelled a Catholic missionary priest.
The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) investigation into the Prime Time Investigates programme found it broadcast serious, damaging and untrue allegations about Fr Kevin Reynolds by wrongly accusing him of raping a minor and fathering a child while working in Kenya 30 years ago.
RTE admitted the defamation was one of the most significant errors made in its broadcasting history and that the material should never have been broadcast.
The state broadcaster has already pulled the award-winning production off air for good over the programme, which was aired on May 23 last year.
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