There’s been no one like Charles Mitchell
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Maurice O’Doherty in his somber tones announcing another atrocity in the North was a grim part of childhood in the early 80s
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Saw Dobbo cycling with his daughter on a crosser in 1997 and my thoughts were that he was quite tall.
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Back off lads. Dobbo is height fluent. Farewell sweet prince.
RIP, didn’t know he was sick
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Which fella is Dobbo?
The tall short debonair guy with the long face and a devil may care attitude.
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I’d hazard a guess at 5 ft 10 and a half inches
Ran beside him in the Dublin Marathon in 2016, he’d be 5’6" tops
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He rode point to points back in the late 80s but did his shoulder in a bad fall
End of the gravy train as RTÉ chief Kevin Bakhurst gets strict on side deals for well-known personalities
A new era is dawning in RTÉ. For a number of years, the broadcaster struggled to keep pace with the emerging world of social media sponsorships and the evolution of brand deals.
The work its publicly-funded employees did for the broadcaster and the lucrative commercial deals they enjoyed outside of RTÉ straddled a blurred line.
While RTÉ always had policies that sought to regulate and manage these brand deals, the enforcement of them seemed loose.
The nucleus of the scandal that engulfed the broadcaster last year involved the undeclared payments made to Ryan Tubridy. However, the practice of brand deals became a collateral crisis of its own.
At a time when the public’s sensitivity to gravy trains enjoyed by RTÉ personalities was heightened, this put their noses out of joint even further.
Licence-fee payers were annoyed that they were – as they perceived it – paying for a platform that employees of the station were then using as a springboard for lucrative side deals with brands.
But in an email to staff yesterday, RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst made it clear that the broadcaster will now publish a register of interests every quarter.
It will show the name of the person, the brand deal they signed, and a rough idea of how much they were paid for it. It’s a transparency measure that may scupper a number of side hustles for certain personalities.
Lottie Ryan publicised a Toyota car in a video recorded in RTÉ’s car park
For a long time, RTÉ has had a policy which required any of its presenters to get written permission before engaging in “external activities”. But whether this permission was always sought or always given came into question in the heat of last year’s scandal.
Some of the more lucrative brand and sponsorship deals enjoyed by its most famous on-air presenters attracted the ire of the public. And when questioned about them, RTÉ wasn’t always able to explain whether it had given such brand deals its blessing.
For example, the broadcaster refused to confirm last summer whether presenter Kathryn Thomas had permission to appear in a controversial advert that suggested driving a hybrid Land Rover was environmentally sustainable. Attempts to get a record of requests from broadcasters and whether such requests were approved under Freedom of Information were also eschewed.
There was also the case of morning presenter Doireann Garrihy posing in the 2FM radio studio with Flahavan’s porridge products
One of the most interesting parts of the new crackdown on brand deals is the fact that Mr Bakhurst decided to remind staff of the “fundamental rule that under no circumstances should RTÉ locations, studios, equipment, brands (including programmes), social media links be used to promote outside commercial interests, ventures, or activities”.
He added that this “applies to staff, contractors and invited studio guests, panellists, etc”.
While this has always been a clear rule, it was poorly enforced – as seen by Lottie Ryan’s involvement in a video promotion in the broadcaster’s car park for a free Toyota car she had been given.
There was also the case of morning presenter Doireann Garrihy posing in the 2FM radio studio with Flahavan’s porridge products. It was part of a private brand deal she had struck with the breakfast brand.
Many young presenters – particularly those on 2FM – were hired by RTÉ because they had already built up their own strong brand and social media following. It was part of the broadcaster’s strategy for attracting younger audiences.
There has been come criticism of the fact that presenters who were benefiting from licence-fee funded salaries were able to use RTÉ as a platform to earn lucrative commercial deals on the side, through their Instagram presence.
Doireann Garrihy’s promotional post for Flahavan’s on Instagram
It will be interesting to see whether a new focus on not using RTÉ’s campus or branding for outside sponsorships has any influence on brands that strike such deals with young, publicly-funded broadcasters.
The one external venture that did not seem to be explicitly addressed in the email from Mr Bakhurst was the practice of publicly-funded radio presenters also running their own commercial podcasts outside of RTÉ.
While people such as Garrihy and The 2 Johnnies are hired as radio presenters, their own podcasts exist as separate commercial ventures. This is a practice that has caused some disgruntlement within RTÉ.
In the wake of the secret payments controversy, significant public and media attention was paid to RTÉ personalities who were enjoying lucrative side gigs.
It was broadly seen as an issue that affected entertainment presenters – news and current affairs broadcasters seemed to have more sense.
But some of the new measures may affect RTÉ’s most high-profile journalists. This will relate to the likes of public appearances and other external work.
Speaking at book launches, being asked to write newspaper columns, participating in judging panels and even appearances at charity events will all have to be declared.
It is clear that a scandal-shy RTÉ is determined to err on the side of caution.
That is a shocking photo of Lottie, she looks like a macnas creation in it
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Is she a little person?
How will this affect The 2 Johnnies Pints in a Field?
A face like a bag of hammers
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The ultimate Nepo-baby
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The likes of the rubber Johnny’s and your wans sister having private podcasts and live shows running along side their radio gigs is really crossing the line.
Doireann Garrihy gets some doing on Tattle
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