RTE to appear before Committee re bogus tweet

RTE’S director general Noel Curran and chairman Tom Savage are expected to appear before an Oireachtas committee within weeks to answer questions the Sean Gallagher affair and the bogus tweet, the Irish Independent has learned.

The station chiefs have already agreed to appear in connection with a €1m libel settlement with priest Fr Kevin Reynolds.

 

Now they are also to be quizzed about ‘The Frontline’ presidential debate which was aired days before the election. Pundits believe the fallout from the programme may have cost Mr Gallagher the presidency.

 

Meanwhile, an allegation that the audience was manipulated in the final election debate of the presidential election campaign will be discussed by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland today.

 

The authority is scheduled to meet on the investigation into the Prime Time libel of Fr Kevin Reynolds and will also discuss the Sunday Independent report that an audience member was ‘forced’ to ask a particular question about Mr Gallagher, sources said.

 

RTE has revealed that live broadcasts and audience participation will be the focus of a full editorial review in the wake of the controversy.

 

There is now an investigation into programme staff on duty that night, to establish who knew what, and when.

 

“In order to protect the integrity of that process, as is normal for such matters, it is not appropriate to comment at all on matters directly involving named personnel,” the broadcaster said in a statement.

 

The Cabinet is likely to discuss RTE’s handling of the controversy at its meeting today.

 

RTE also revealed that it has invited former head of news and content at UTV, Rob Morrison, to assist in reviewing the issues raised by ‘tweetgate’.

 

Earlier, Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte said he had seen no evidence that would provide the basis for a further inquiry into the treatment of Sean Gallagher during the live presidential debate last October.

 

But pressure is still mounting from within the Coalition and the opposition for an additional investigation into the affair.

 

Last night following the ‘Nine O’Clock News’, RTE broadcast a statement outlining the BAI finding that it had treated Mr Gallagher unfairly.

 

The statement noted the nature of the complaints against RTE — including that ‘Frontline’ viewers were “not made aware of information that was available to the programme makers”.

 

The statement also noted the BAI’s findings that broadcasting “unverified” information from an internet source was “unfair to Sean Gallagher”.

 

Fine Gael‘s Andrew Doyle, who is chairman of the Oireachtas Communications Committee, said he expected it would write to RTE to ask in Mr Curran and Mr Savage.

 

“We have a meeting this week and I’ll request that we write to RTE asking them to come in as soon as possible,” Mr Doyle told the Irish Independent.

 

“I’ve already had a number of members on to me looking for this. It’s not looking for scalps, we’re looking for answers.

 

“Although I didn’t vote for Mr Gallagher, he was the victim on an unconfirmed tweet on the ‘Frontline’.”

 

He said Mr Curran and Mr Savage could be brought in within weeks, with late March or early April a possibility.

 

The BAI last week ruled that Mr Gallagher had been treated unfairly by the broadcast of the bogus tweet.

 

Message

 

The message was read out by Pat Kenny during the ‘Frontline’ presidential debate last October — claiming that Sinn Fein would hold a press conference the next day with a person who gave a €5,000 fundraising cheque for Fianna Fail to Mr Gallagher.

 

The BAI said there were “no apparent efforts” to verify its source and accuracy. A later tweet from Sinn Fein clarified that the initial tweet was not actually from the party, although this was not highlighted during the ‘Frontline’.

 

A massive libel settlement, understood to be more than €1m, was paid to Galway priest Fr Kevin Reynolds last year after ‘Prime Time Investigates’ incorrectly claimed that he had fathered a child in Africa.