World of Politics with Harry McGee

The Ryan Tubridy pay scandal has become the domestic story of the summer, giving politics a celebrity dimension. And inevitably, it became a feeding frenzy. It’s not a concocted story by any means. RTÉ has been haemorrhaging money for many years and staff have had to endure pay cuts during the recession and when the national broadcaster’s sums were not matching up.

Since the free spending (pre-recession) heyday of RTÉ when its then top broadcaster Pat Kenny was earning over €900,000 per annum, the salaries of the station’s top earners have been pared back considerably.

The majority of RTÉ’s top earners are self-employed and negotiate their broadcasting fees with RTÉ through agents. This includes those on the entertainment side of the station but also include current affairs and news presenters such as Miriam O’Callaghan, Brendan O’Connor and Claire Byrne.

Of the top broadcasters who are staff, a small number make it into the top ten – environment correspondent George Lee would fall into that category.

Tubridy, unsurprisingly, has been the top earner for many years. As the presenter of the flagship Late Late Show and of a mid-morning radio show, there were no bigger draws in RTÉ in terms of advertising and sponsorship.

That’s the thing about RTÉ. It flouts its credentials as a public service broadcaster. It receives huge amounts of public funds to fill that remit. But at the same time, it is a commercial broadcaster with a full spectrum of entertainment and commercially-driven shows, looking for advertising and sponsorship revenue.

The two vectors go in opposing directions sometimes. People like us who are involved in news organisations (the old newspaper industry) also have a public service remit and fulfil it without any public money by relying on advertising and sales revenue.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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