The story we’re about to discuss is not the most important story in the world – in the grand scheme of things, it’s relatively tame. But I still thought it was worth covering, because it’s such a perfect example of the extent to which RTÉ is Government Pravda propaganda masquerading as actual journalism.
This week, regular readers of RTÉ will have seen the following article:
Parties urged to co-opt women to vacant local authority seats
This article is all about the “See Her Elected” campaign, or “SHE” – an organisation whose self-stated mission is to increase women’s representation in Irish politics. Although, to call them an “organisation” might be a little bit generous, and we’ll get to that in a moment.
But first, for now, let’s take a look at the actual article and see what they’re saying in this piece:
…And RTÉ goes on at length about this. It quotes the head of the SHE campaign extensively on why it’s important that more women are inserted into political office, and the need for parties to co-opt more women, and yadda, yadda, yadda.
Now, you might agree with that, or you might not – some people may argue that we do need more gender quotas, while other people would say no, we just need to elect the best person for the job, regardless of gender, or race, or identity politics. I’m personally of the latter view – though I’m not going to get into that right now, because that’s another discussion altogether.
For now, the point is, RTÉ is presenting this as if it was some kind of grassroots campaigning organisation called See Her Elected that was calling for this outcome. If you were to read this article in isolation, you’d probably say “Oh, some feminist group is out there pushing for political change in this area. Fair enough.”
But is SHE a grassroots campaigning group? Well, you tell me – here are some crucial details that the RTÉ article strangely happens to omit:
Firstly, the See Her Elected campaign is 100% funded by the Government, and has been since its conception in 2019. The Government provide literally every cent to keep this campaign afloat.
And secondly, it’s comprised of literally two people, hence why I say I’m not sure if I’d call it an “organisation”. One of them is a former Parliamentary Assistant to a Fianna Fáil TD.
And yet RTÉ is presenting this as if it’s some kind of organic campaigning group, without ever mentioning the deep inextricable ties this group has to the Government.
So stop and think about what you’re being presented with here: RTÉ itself is funded to the tune of €725 million by the Government. It’s their broadcaster.
And so you are reading a totally Government-funded media outlet, reporting on a totally Government-funded campaign group made up of two people, and one of whom used to be an assistant to a Government TD. And yet, you’re supposed to read this and think it’s actual news you’re being fed, as opposed to Kabuki theatre State propaganda.
And this might not be such a big deal, if it wasn’t for the fact that it happens all the time. RTÉ will constantly have on someone from, say, The “Notional” Women’s Council of Ireland to give their hot take on an issue of the day, without telling you that said organisation receives over 90% of its funding from the Government and would go bankrupt overnight if politicians decided to stop funding them. Their airwaves are full of completely astroturfed groups who only survive on taxpayer money because they say what the Government wants them to say. And then we’re all supposed to listen and take it in as if we’re seeing genuine news playing out in front of us from ordinary people with organic opinions.
You know, while we’re on the subject I have to say: no disrespect whatsoever to Paul Reynolds, who I have nothing against personally and whose main wheelhouse is crime, not politics. But everyone was praising him this week for asking hard questions of The Monk after the recent election, saying “This is brilliant, this is real journalism!”
I might suggest that it’s very easy for RTÉ to be brave when it comes to the lowest of low hanging fruit imaginable – that is to say, a literal alleged gangland crime boss and total political outsider who has no sway over their financial future whatsoever. Asking Gerry Hutch a tough question doesn’t cost them much – what’s Hutch going to do, shoot a journalist outside the general election count centre?
By contrast, I dare any RTÉ journalist whose focus is politics to keep that same energy when dealing with the Taoiseach, or the Tánaiste, or Ursula Von Der Leyen – in other words, people who actually have power and sway and might be able to cause RTÉ some trouble.
Of course, they’ll never do that – they’re far too busy reporting on Government initiatives run by ex-Government staffers while receiving Government money to criticise the Government.
The fact that you are forced to pay for such a shoddy organisation is nothing short of a travesty.