Managers have no right to dictate to RTÉ

GAELIC GAMES: THE RICKETY edifice of Gaelic games' media relations got another rattle with the bizarre news that a group of intercounty managers had been making representations to the director general of RTÉ on the subject of how the station deploys its staff. Moreover, these representations were backed up by an implicit threat, pointing out they had always made themselves available to the broadcaster.

So when a response to their letter had not been received by last weekend, a number of managers told RTÉ personnel they would not be taking part in post-match interviews, one citing “a dispute” with the broadcaster.

Apparently, the DG, Noel Curran, replied to the representations at the end of last week, but his letter would not have been received until a couple of days ago.

At the heart of the matter is the role of Brian Carthy in RTÉ radio’s GAA coverage. In fact, he has two roles – one as Gaelic games correspondent and the other as a match-day commentator. It is in the latter context the representations have been made. Since the mid-1990s, Carthy has provided regular commentaries and came to be viewed as second only to Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh in the match-day pecking order.

Accordingly, he may have had reason to believe he would be promoted to the position of lead commentator on Ó Muircheartaigh’s retirement, which took place last autumn.

Signs that RTÉ may not necessarily have seen it that way were evident when a number of television commentators – Ger Canning, Marty Morrissey and Darragh Moloney – were last year also assigned to radio duties.

Far from being elevated to fill the void left by Ó Muircheartaigh, Carthy has found his profile shrinking and last Sunday he was dispatched to Páirc Uí Chaoimh to report on the Munster football semi-final between All-Ireland champions Cork and Waterford, a less than prestigious marking which to no one’s great surprise turned into a turkey shoot.

The previous evening he had been on commentary duty for the other semi-final, between Limerick and Kerry.

Tyrone manager Mickey Harte stated his concerns and those of his colleagues when talking in yesterday's Irish Examinerabout the perceived demotion of Carthy.

“We just didn’t think that was good practice because we do believe that for Gaelic Games over the years there has been a distinctive voice on radio. And radio is an unique medium. It’s a highly challenging skill to deliver that in a way that paints a picture for people and I think you need to be steeped in the GAA to do that.

“We stated those very things and asked them (RTÉ) – respectfully, I might add – if they would give us a chance to have a chat with them to elaborate on how we felt.”

Harte, a close friend of the broadcaster, obviously feels strongly on the matter and so may not have thought about the optics from Carthy’s perspective – given his other role as Gaelic games correspondent – of managers, whose actions he has to report on and critically evaluate, being seen to intervene so publicly on his behalf.

No one could reasonably argue that Carthy is anything other than a diligent and fair-minded broadcaster, who is helpful and courteous in his dealings with both colleagues and those whose activities he covers, but there are other issues at stake in this controversy.

Firstly, Harte’s contention that Gaelic games need to have a new Ó Muircheartaigh is questionable. The idea that RTÉ radio’s coverage has to be organised in a continuum going back to Michael O’Hehir, with the commentator having some sort of Voice of the Nation status ignores the evolution of broadcasting since the days when radio was the only manner in which live matches could be experienced and Radio Éireann the sole medium.

Listeners may be used to lively commentaries and the odd flight into lyricism, but the modern trend is towards busier presentation, with summarisers, analysts and sideline reports in the midst of which the commentator performs the straightforward task of describing the action and communicating the essential detail.

In these more straightforward circumstances, the concept of “personality” broadcasting isn’t important. Secondly, what business is it of county managers how a broadcaster conducts its business?

Responding cautiously but unambiguously to the media on the issue, GAA president Christy Cooney said yesterday: “We have an outstanding relationship with RTÉ, as we do with all our media broadcast partners. I wouldn’t expect RTÉ to come in here and tell us who we should assign to what roles in here. No more than we would go into any of your newspapers and tell them how you should be assigned.

“That’s not our job. Our job is to manage the association to the best of our ability. RTÉ are aware of the standards we expect and once they deliver on that we’ll be very happy.”

What would be the public reaction if RTÉ tried to influence a team selection backed up by a threat not to cover the match in question?

The matter also raises further questions for the GAA in respect of its media policy on the games. Six years ago, a dispute in Cork led to non-co-operation with RTÉ at the Munster hurling final media night. That concerned players wanting to advertise soft drinks while doing interviews – something outlawed by legislation and an EU directive on product placement.

On one level, Croke Park is trying to conduct business like a professional organisation, concluding broadcasting rights and sponsorship deals, but on another it has no effective regulatory powers.

Players and managers are free to talk to media or not and there’s nothing that can be done about it. Christy Cooney refereed yesterday to a protocol agreed with the Gaelic Players Association under which players would present for interview, but they remain amateurs and cannot be forced to meet media.

When that freedom is exercised, companies are left frustrated with the GAA powerless to intervene. Nonetheless, whereas managers may not be ultimately obliged to play ball with media neither have they any right to tell the national broadcaster how to conduct its business. Presumably RTÉ have pointed this out firmly, but politely.