THIS week there was certainly one story dominating the news in Ireland – and that was the RTÉ payments-for-Tubridy scandal.
It’s hard to believe that with all the major issues happening in the world right now – a war in Europe, global climate-related weather disasters, and Russian politics in turmoil, we are so fixated on the salary of a celebrity presenter.
Of course, many people will point to the real crux of the matter – the buzzwords of the last decade – ‘trust’ and ‘transparency’.
It would appear that there were fairly stringent efforts to keep Ryan Tubridy’s real salary from the public and, indeed, from the Oireachtas when it queried the earnings of top RTÉ presenters.
And while what apparently took place, if allegations are proven, would appear to be a very definite breach of trust, which left ‘regular’ RTÉ staff feeling very let down, we must keep things in context.
Media firms love nothing better than finding a competitor on the ropes. And there has certainly been a rush to completely pummel that competitor in recent days. Several politicians who have been at the receiving end of RTÉ’s brilliant investigative journalism are no doubt savouring this moment too – for all the wrong reasons. So the phrase ‘kicking a man while he is down’ could refer to RTÉ itself, as much as the individual at the centre of the scandal.
But there now appears to be a massive hunt on to find whose names were on that sweetheart deal with sponsor Renault.
A ‘witch hunt’ may seem like a stretch too far for a description, but ask any of those in the current firing line in RTE’s light entertainment, sales, commercial and legal departments, and they are likely to feel that the phrase is somewhat under-egged, if anything.
Quite a few senior executives have ‘gone to ground’, others have ‘lawyered up’.
Several executives who have retired in recent years are bound to be looking over their shoulders this week, and putting their phones on mute.
Given that the role of the director general is akin to that of a company chief executive, it was inevitable that outgoing RTÉ DG Dee Forbes was going to be taking a lot of the flak once the media scrum outside Tubridy’s house died down.
The focus moved to Glandore this week, where Ms Forbes, a Drimoleague native, has a home.
Due to end her tenure as DG at the start of July, she ‘jumped the gun’ by tendering her resignation this week, with a strongly-worded statement hitting out at the board and their lack of support for her position. It signalled the start of a very bitter few days of finger-pointing by politicians, media pundits and her former colleagues, as the net widened on who was responsible for the controversial top-up payments to Tubridy.
On Tuesday, RTÉ appeared to lay the blame at her feet too.
But what has happened this week has been the kind of ‘pile-on’ that has become all too familiar since social media got its grip on us.
Having little knowledge of defamation laws, the general public has rushed online to offer their often-libellous commentary on the unfolding story.
Some politicians, who really should know better, have not held back either. It must be a horrific time for anyone at the receiving end of the vitriol and one can only hope that those close to them are giving them good advice to steer clear of the trolls.
But let us take a step back for a moment – nobody has died. A man who pulls in millions in ad revenue every year was paid more than we thought. Okay, so that over-payment may have involved secret deals and an economy of truths before a government committee.
And yes the figure of the over-payment in itself was more than most of us will ever earn in a year. And, yes, for sure it has rocked our State broadcaster, its employees, and shaken our belief in its trustworthiness.
But let us not forget that careers and reputations will be severely damaged this week – some fatally. So perhaps the adoption of a little perspective would be no bad thing.
