Irish national broadcaster charged with bias against presidential candidate Sean Gallagher

RTE charged with bias again

McGuirk said, “The question they gave me was 10 million percent away from where I was, my initial question. I felt it was as if they wanted me to go in and gun down Sean Gallagher, to go in and slit his throat.”

In his call to the communications minister to order an inquiry and “full discovery” into that night’s Frontline, Gallagher said it was a “matter of urgency” that trust in the national broadcaster be restored.

Fianna Fail also called for a public inquiry into the bogus tweet and alleged coaching of audience members in the debate.

RTÉ has strongly disputed McGuirk’s versions of events. Its acting head of current affairs, Steve Carson, maintained the text of the question had been agreed with McGuirk before the show was aired. This was borne out, he said, by an effusive “thank you” email from McGuirk two days later.

RTÉ said on Monday evening that it has set up a full editorial review to examine the production of live audience-based programs in the wake of the Frontline controversy.

The station said it had also begun a “personnel investigation” in connection with the broadcast of a bogus tweet during the debate.

RTE credibility was put under the microscope last year when its Prime Time program falsely claimed a parish priest fathered a child by a teenage girl when he worked on the African mission.

The station has already apologized and settled the case in the High Court for a confidential amount of money believed to have been more than  €1 million.

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Nster.com