Irish broadcaster RTE accused of Democratic Party bias

Fine Gael senator claims direct line to Party HQ

PATRICK COUNIHAN,

IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Sunday, October 7, 2012, 7:56 AM

Updated Sunday, October 7, 2012, 7:56 AM

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RTE headquarters

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Irish state broadcaster RTE has been accused of a pro Democratic Party bias in the US presidential election.

Fine Gael Senator Paul Broadford made the claim in the Seanad (senate) chambers.

The Senator claimed: “An institutionalised pro-Democratic Party bias exists within RTE”

He added: “Having listened to Morning Ireland on RTE, I wonder why we pay to have an American correspondent.

“It would be just as easy for RTE to have a direct link with Democratic national party headquarters.”

His remarks were immediately contradicted by former Presidential election candidate David Norris.

Senator Norris said: “Nonsense. It was balanced. I heard every word of it

Bradford retorted: “It would be appropriate, if those at RTE want to report on the US election, that they do so in a balanced fashion and keep their bias to their private conversations.”

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WoundedKnee | Oct 08, 2012, 03:31 PM EDT

It's true. I hold no candle for the Republicans, but anytime I am in Ireland I am amazed at the one dimensional view of American politics of the Irish media and citizenry. They will engage in all kinds of contortions to justify their biases. For example, Guantanamo under Bush was, according to the Irish, utterly wrong and reprehensible. But Guantanamo under Obama? Oh, that's OK.

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Gearoid4 | Oct 07, 2012, 01:51 PM EDT

RTE does seem to have an inbuilt bias towards the Democratic party in it's reporting. Although regrettable, it can be explained by a couple of factors. The Democrats became the natural home of the Irish emigrants and their descendants in the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries, as against the nativist and anti-Catholic ideology which characterized elements of the GOP. Although over recent times, the Democrats have made their party a "cold house" for Catholics committed to the tenets of their Faith. The Democratic party is also the party of the most iconic Irish-American family of them all, namely the Kennedys, and this feeds into the affinity that Irish people have with them. The elitist management and staff culture in RTE would tend to be very much Leftist/liberal in terms of social and moral issues, and this would make them more sympathetic towards the Democrats than the GOP.

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