Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin’s call for heads to roll at state broadcaster RTE over the Prime Time Priest libel has received support from journalist Eoghan Harris.
Archbishop Martin told the Irish Independent newspaper that those responsible for the libellous claims against Fr Kevin Reynolds must be held accountable.
Fr Reynolds has already won a figure believed to be over $2million in libel damages after the TV station claimed he had raped a teenage girl in Kenya in 1982, impregnated her and subsequently abandoned both the mother and her daughter.
Bishop Martin, the second ranked senior cleric in the country, is the most high profile critic of RTE’s handling of the case yet.
As the state broadcaster awaits the reports from three separate investigations into the libel, one of them ordered by the government, the Dublin archbishop has hit out strongly at the decision makers who let the Prime Time Investigates special go to air.
“In a similar situation, a bishop would be told to voluntarily resign rather than temporarily stand aside,” said Bishop Martin after four RTE staff involved with the show stood down pending the various investigations.
Eoghan Harris writing in The independent states:
“The inquiries into the Fr Reynolds scandal are too restricted in their remit. The presidential election Frontline, which fell for a Sinn Fein agenda, shows that Reynolds was not a once-off.
“We need a comprehensive review of the culture, received wisdoms and editorial practices of RTE news and current affairs.
“For 30 years I tried to get the public to pay attention to the peculiar mind-set of RTE news; as a television producer in the 1980s, a columnist in the Sunday Times in the 1990s, and in the Sunday Independent since 2000.
“Apart from that long apprenticeship, the Reynolds affair did not surprise me for two reasons. First, like the Roman Catholic Church, RTE news regards itself as a muchloved secular church, has long held effective monopoly in Ireland, has aged into arrogance and has delusions of infallibility.
“And like the church, it just doesn’t get it when it does wrong. Instead of grovelling, it goes on about what a great job all the good broadcasters are doing.
“Second, RTE news has always been reluctant to reflect on its own theory and practice. Back in 1987, in Television and Terrorism I showed that RTE news did not have an adequate theory for dealing with Sinn Fein spokespersons should Section 31 be lifted. For which I was roundly abused by RTE reporters.”
Read more on Archbishop Martin at: http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Archbishop-of-Dublin-attacks-RTE-bosses-over-Prime-Time-priest-libel-case-134585023.html#ixzz1f6KrB9it
Read more by Eoghan Harris at:
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/eoghan-harris/eoghan-harris-reynolds-not-a-onceoff-at-lsquounfairrsquo-rte-2947021.html