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| Sam Smyth |
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| Miriam O'Callaghan |
Two big media stories reported in The Irish Times this
morning. In the first, Denis O’Brien, who owns the two radio stations Today FM and Newstalk , has
rejected claims by Eamon Dunphy that he interfered in the editorial workings of
Newstalk and that he “hated journalism”. O’Brien says he’s being subjected to “a disturbing trend of
nastiness and cynicism” by the south’s media since he dropped presenter Sam
Smyth (late of this parish) from Today FM.
The second media story concerns RTÉ. Press Ombudsman John Horgan is going to
carry out a review of RTÉ’s editorial process. This follows the airing of a
‘Prime Time’ programme (presenter one Miriam O’Callaghan) which claimed that a
Fr Kevin McReynolds had had sex with a minor and fathered a child by her while
he was working in Kenya. Fr McReynolds denied the claim and prior to the
programme going out offered to take a paternity test. RTÉ ignored his offer and
aired their programme. Fr McReynolds has since taken the paternity test, proven
his innocence and is now taking a High Court libel case against RTÉ.
Both cases show how murky the workings of the southern media
are. I like Dunphy – he’s a far better soccer commentator than anyone I can
think of in England – but on this one, like most of the south’s media, he’s
barking up the wrong tree. Presenters don’t like being dropped, especially if
they’ve been presenting a particular programme – in Smyth’s case a politics
programme – for a long time. If you’ve listened to him, you’ll know Smyth has a
slight speech impediment but that’s not why I’m glad O’Brien dropped him. I’m glad because (i) Smyth was dull and
(ii) on any topic about the north, he was, um, what shall I say, not my favourite commentator (there, I think that keeps me on the right side of the law). His many mates in the
media may consider him a terrible loss; I suspect the rest of us will struggle
on without him.
The RTÉ story is truly shocking. This wasn’t just a case of
being biased or dull – this was a case of wrecking a man’s life. We now know that Fr McReynolds was
innocent of the crimes RTÉ’s Miriam O’Callaghan presented him as guilty of.
Even worse, RTÉ and presumably O’Callaghan refused to let Fr McReynolds defend
himself before they smeared filth all over his reputation. Which raises three points: how many
other bogus charges of clerical sexual abuse are there, did the question “Do you go to
confession?” cross O’Callaghan’s mind as she presented this glaring example of
all that’s wrong with southern journalism, and will anybody lose their RTÉ job
for their part in this despicable frame-up? I don’t know the answer to the first two questions but I’ll
bet I know the answer to the last. It’s No.
It is clearly quite right that Fr Mc Reynolds is taking R T E to the High Court.It is outrageous that proper journalistic procedures were not followed in the first place.You feature Miriam O Callaghan in your blog but her name doesnt appear in the Irish Times article.As I understand it programmes such as these have a raft of researchers,producers etc.Should blame not be equally allocated to them?Could your focus on Miriam have anything to do with the hard questions she was putting to Martin during the Presidential debate? If Sam Smyth has a slight speech impediment more power to him for doing so well in the competitive media industry.The fact that he is not your favourite political commentator would commend him to many others!
ReplyDeleteHa ha ha - I think you could be on to something with that last observation, Anon...I KNEW I had a role to play - you've helped me identify it. Go raibh cead maith agat...
ReplyDelete