IN THE three weeks since my name last appeared on this column there was a relatively vigorous debate in these pages about RTE and the public service remit; there was also a spicey little row, hardly unrelated, about the relationship between the IRTC and the Government.
Although my hack's intuition took me on holiday for these troubled times, the listening I did during this interval was not entirely unrelated to these topics. At my mother's gaff in New Jersey, the independent, public service station from New York, WBAI, is rarely switched off and, for starters, to judge by the trenchant comments in this space by Uinsionn Mac Dubhghaill, it was offering better information on BSE than Ireland's national broadcaster.
WBAI is funded principally by its listeners: it raised over $1 million in its February telethon, and can afford decent broadcasts thanks to this cash, the sharing of material with a handful of other Pacifica network stations around the US and a lot of volunteer work.
However, the point about WBAI offering a deeper analysis of BSE is not simply that RTE is nobbled by Government funding, jobs for life, etc. Genuine editorial independence is a journalistic quality that's as hard to come by in the private sector as in the "public service"; it's at least as scarce in the US as in Ireland.
Put simply, most journalism cultivates a relationship to power - of the State, of private bodies - that is great for gathering information, but awkward for presenting views profoundly at odds with the interests of that power. Journalists become "insiders" and take on the status quo views of their contacts under the unconscious guise of "common sense" or "the greater good". It's not a conspiracy - just an occupational hazard. WBAI dodges it by being an outsider, explicitly catering for minority viewpoints, avowedly avoiding strictures of "responsible broadcasting" (i.e. service to power).
As a small player in a media saturated market with myriad segments, it can afford to do so; in the process, it's generally the most vital thing on New York's airwaves (an easy enough distinction to achieve, it must be said).
Whereas in RTE "minority interest" programming - apparently means a 15 minute consumer or health package (and endless rows over specialised music shows), the nature of its listenership means WBAI cane move through various ethnic, political and lifestyle areas and hold on to an audience.
And it wins loyalty by some spectacular devotion to such minority tastes. Easter Sunday was Billie Holiday's 81st birthday, so the station marked it by playing her music all day long. No, not interspersed with other stuff. Just her music - nothing added but informative annotation. Alleluia!
The previous day, on the station's deep green weekly show,
Radio Free Eireann, you could have heard about other ways to mark Easter. Just imagine An Phoblacht's Easter Commempration listings being read on RTE!
Auntie Beeb paid her respects with The Easter Rising (BBC Radio 4, Wednesday). Fintan O'Toole's documentary took the by now traditional revisionist tack of really - "having a go at 1966 - the 50th anniversary celebrations - rather than 1916 (though the rebels' disregard for civilian casualties meritted a mention).
O'Toole went further than I can remember anyone doing elsewhere, however, in seeming to blame the Troubles on events in 1966. Gusty Spence, one of his main interviewees, was driven to take part in UVF murders be "threatening" parades and speeches in Dublin and west Belfast, it appears. And the IBA leadership that came in to mark the anniversary went on to dominate the Provos ever since.
For a journalist who might generally be regarded as a historical materialist, O'Toole was out on a limb. Did his explanation convince a British audience, I wonder?
Kevin Reynolds's documentary, By George (RTE Radio 1, repeated Wednesday), took an unusual approach to the gay community in Dublin. Avoiding definitive statements, it was basically a rambling monologue from singer and clubber Junior Larkin - including a long make up session as he was transformed into drag icon Kylie O Reilly. Larkin may not have been as amusing to listeners as to himself, but - in spite of sentimental passages with his mammy - Reynolds's long gaze was not about evoking pathos, I think, but about informing, about making matter of fact what a larger society prefers not to know about. It was a worthwhile effort.
