It Needs To, But Will It?

Jim Duffy ✍ The Irish have a very timid understanding of security and defence and governments are easily intimidated by fanatical devotees of neutrality and their reducing of every debate to pointless chants.

RTÉ is the same. Just look at the mass coverage the station gives to Paul Murphy when Murphy demonstrates a spectacular lack of basic understanding on the topic. In an article earlier this week RTE gave Murphy one third of the article in comments despite demonstrably not knowing what he is talking about.

Why is PBP given so much disproportionate coverage in general on RTÉ? It is on 3% in polls. It lost a seat on the general election, yet RTE pretty much gives it equal coverage with SF despite SF being seven times more popular than PBP. It gets more coverage than all the bigger parties in opposition.

I know there is a history of political bias in RTÉ, as when RTÉ current affairs was basically a branch of the Workers Party. Now it appears to be a branch of PBP, with Paul Murphy and Richard Boyd Barrett pretty much having guaranteed seats in any debate, with Labour, Independent Ireland, Aontú and the Social Democrats struggling to get one invitation occasionally.

⏩ Jim Duffy is a writer-historian.