Sir, - We have been told that Milosovic and his cronies control Serbian state television but we don't know who controls RTE. Dana was banned from Kenny Live on May 1st, in case she announced her candidacy for the European Parliament on the show and would be given an "unfair advantage". However, according to Mr Joe Mulholland, Dana is now "entitled to announce her candidacy on RTE but before that it didn't fall into our editorial structure" (The Irish Times, May 7th). Amid a fog of words about April, the May Bank Holiday and so on, Mr Mulholland, managing director of RTE Television, wanted to impress on us that RTE is a model of impartiality, scrupulous in its even-handedness.
Pardon me while I giggle. Is this the same RTE which gave the late Brian Lenihan, a well-known politician, a show all to himself in 1990 when it was widely rumoured that he would be a presidential candidate, though he had not yet announced his candidacy? This Late Late Show was an extended encomium to a man who was still active in politics, with Mr Gay Byrne as master of ceremonies and the "old pals act" the main feature. No problem.
In the light of Mr Mulholland's statement, RTE should now consider whether it is feasible at all to have any guests or panelists on radio or television. What an appalling vista would open before our eyes were it to happen that, during the wrong phase of the moons or when there is a neap tide, one of them declared an interest in running for public office.
Perhaps a contestant on Winning Streak could seize the moment and confide to Mike Murphy that he or she had a burning ambition to become a councillor, a TD or any other permutation of politico. With family and supporters in the audience unfurling banners with slogans testifying to the wonderful qualities of the contestant and would-be politician, a constitutional crisis could not be far off.
I would be reluctant to agree with the cynic who said that "politics is show-business for ugly people", but RTE has done more than its share in convincing a number of publicity-mad TDs and Senators that they are celebrities. There they are on Tonight with Vincent Browne; here they are on the panel of Questions and Answers; and one even popped up on an RTE travel show some years ago. What more is there to say about "unfair advantage"? - Yours, etc., Maureen O'Donnell,
Haig Gardens, Boreenmanna Road, Cork.