IRELAND
Irish Independent
By David Quinn
Saturday April 07 2012
If RTE was really as impartial as it claimed, then why the need for new interim Journalism Guidelines issued by the station this week?
After all, if it was the very model of fairness that it claims to be, and the Fr Kevin Reynolds defamation was simply an unfortunate lapse, then these new guidelines should hardly be needed at all.
All the station would need is a new rule that says if you make a scientifically falsifiable claim against someone — like you fathered a child — get it scientifically tested first. But the problem at RTE goes very much deeper than this and involves a generalised and systemic bias.
However, in the new guidelines there is a hint or two that a tiny bit of a realisation might finally be dawning on some people at the station that it really does have a problem.
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