Madam, - Helen Shaw (Opinion and Analysis, November 13th) assures us that "in her past life" as "a former division head of RTÉ Radio" she was used to "getting extremely animated calls from government, departmental and ministerial press offices alleging one thing and demanding another".
She also assures us that the exclusion of one member of the proposed panel for last Friday's Late Late Show was merely "a judgment call". With the Government deciding on the level of licence fee for RTÉ it is not hard to conclude on what basis the "judgment call" was made. - Yours, etc,
A. LEAVY, Shielmartin Drive, Sutton, Dublin 13.
Madam, - I am glad to see there was no link whatever between the "rebalancing" of the Late Late Show panel and the subsequent decision to increase the television licence fee. - Yours, etc,
KEITH MARTIN, The Maltings, Island Street, Dublin 8.
Madam, - Having had two or three days to consider how to respond, it seems that RTÉ has now declared that an "editorial decision" was taken and that "television management had concerns about the proposed composition of the panel on the Late Late Show.
But is it a sine qua non of the Late Late Show that there should always be balance? There has been many a show where "balance" was not an obvious criterion of panel selection.
And then in your edition of November 13th we have a somewhat imperious statement from a former director of RTÉ Radio, Helen Shaw. She really should not be so blithely dismissive of those who do have some genuine worry about "dark forces censoring information".
As Bertrand Russell once famously remarked: "Censorship comes in many forms. It can be blatant and obvious. But it often takes the form of unwitting self-censorship, and needs to be guarded against in any democracy". - Yours, etc,
Dr CIARAN COSGROVE, Glenageary, Co Dublin.
Madam, - Why does RTÉ's managing director of television find it necessary or appropriate to review the list of panel members for a chat show? More to the point, why does he find it necessary to interfere at that level? Could it be that it is not necessary for any Government official to intervene, because RTÉ knows which side its bread is buttered on? - Yours, etc,
JOHN STAFFORD, Dargle Wood, Dublin 16.