RTÉ News

Well said

It's the piecemeal aspect to their production design that's perhaps the most irritating (after the cheap element of course) aspect of RTÉ News and Current Affairs.
When you think about it, compared with the UK where it's a major deal when things are changed, here it's not at all, number one cause nobody cares, and number two because it happens every five minutes!
There's no major thought, planning, effort, expertise and financial clout injected into design - it's just done on an ad-hoc basis upon the whim of the Director of News or the D of Programming or D Television, who sitting at home one evening think to themselves that the place could do with a bit of tarting up.

And when it is done, the of cheapest materials are used, and the most basic of set units that can be chucked together in studio from the warehouse out the back by two people in 20 minutes. This is what is so embarrassing about the sets especially, whatever about other prod values - they look exactly as they are: wheeled in bits of crap, put in position and locked down - that'll do grand.

The lack of planning was also evident in Prime Time by the fact that up until a few months ago they'd have a new desk made nearly every time you watched in an effort to cope with the different demands and seating arrangements required. The most ridiculous of all were large boards of surface, proped up on what must have been a metal frame, with of all things a black curtain stretched around it like a flippin valance on a bed! Like those yokes hotels use at weddings to cover up what are mere sheets of chipboard and steel! It was so parochial and gimcrack I just fell of my seat laughing!

Couple more images here of the newsroom. I just love this image - it says it all really

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y37/RTE1TV/Guests.jpg

And here's one including all the scuffmarks on the floor. Last night on the Nine the lit cyc area in the red box was blown, resulting in a dark patch in the set:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y37/RTE1TV/WidePost-Break-Line.jpg

This happens quite a lot, or alternatively the set and subjects are all lit so brightly that the exposure is turned down resulting in the comparitively dimly lit background being virtually devoid of light, looking dead and lifeless.
You see it a lot on News Two with the tight shot of the newsreader just after sitting down introducing the 'here's Vivienne Traynor with more of today's news' report. The background usually looks like it's been turned off - wouldn't surprise me in the least if they turned it off during reports...

It's a very good point about the morning bulletins - it is quite literally the case of not wanting to 'have to go to the effort' of turning on the lights in the studio and the equipment in the gallery. It's ridiculous.
At least the late night audiences of late have been saved the indignity of the broom cupboard Pres studio in favour of the barely better SOCR (wich doesn't have the black line except for Fridays for whatever reason), but as you say it still does exist for morning/noon bulletins. The shadows are the greatest joke of all - to refer to student production again, you'd be slammed for that pathetic effort in an exam or project, the most basic rule of lighting, just a complete and utter joke, no wonder RTÉ has the reputation it has - I spend my life trying to defend the organisation but stuff like this just makes it impossible.

I remember Angus McGrianna was in the broom cupboard a few months ago (should be locked in there by all accounts ), and my mother was watching. Even she said "that shadow there is very bad isn't it - you'd think they could do better than that"!!!

On the point of other people noticing these things, isn't it just extraordinary how so few people seem not even to notice, let alone care about this?!
I've raised it with so many people I know - themselves interested in media and production, and they always just say you're being a crank (true anyway ), but really...I dunno...
There was a letter in the Irish Times before Christmas just mentioning in passing that Six One cannot go by without a cock-up, but that's all I've ever seen or heard outside of people here!

It seems that RTÉ has the general attitude that its 'too much hassle' and 'not worth the bother' of putting a bit of effort into their news presentation. I believe this is because the majority if Irish television viewers will switch over to Sky News or BBC News 24 or ITV News or whatever when they want to watch the news. It is obvious that this is the situation because why else would Sky News have started up Sky News Ireland?

If RTÉ want to poach back some of these viewers, they will have to get their act together. Irish viewers are now accustomed to watching excellent news services such as Sky News and therefore expect such a service to be provided by their own national broadcaster here in Ireland. However, when they switch back to RTÉ News, its like going through a time warp back to the 1990's. RTÉ is not going to win the 'ratings war' with such a feeble and unprofessional effort. In this day and age it beggars belief that TV3 and Sky News Ireland are each providing an Irish news service which is far better than that of the state's own national broadcaster.

And this notion of 'average viewers' not noticing the difference is nonsense. If they don't notice the difference, why is half the country watching British news?

Perhaps people do notice, but it's rarely commented on.

I don't know that RTÉ is losing out to Bristish news - people watch them for different reasons, but generally not one in favour of the other - rather I assume most people watch both: UK for international news and RTÉ for home news.

Whatever about Sky having better production values than RTÉ considering they have the 'expertise' of the greater organisation behind them, but TV3 also being streets ahead proves without a doubt how incompetent RTÉ are. Comparing the two just in prod values, you'd never think that RTÉ is the one establised for nearly 45 years, and secondly is the station with the greater financial clout, indeed many times that of TV3, not to mention has many many times its audience as well.

I've often wondered the logic behind one of their operations. The crappy SO bulletin put on after The Late Late Show presumably has a sizable chunk of its c550,000-600,000 audience - perhaps even the same as a low Nine or Six One audience, and certainly a multiple of the One audience. And yet the appaling SO facility is still used for this, while the full blown studio, complete with lights tspecially turned on , is used for the comparitively negligable One News!

After Sept 11th, and upon the invasion of Iraq, the late Friday bulletins came from the proper studio for quite a few weeks afterwards, one of them in particular where many weeks later the studio was still in use. The difference was marked. I was dreading them switching back to the SO, which inevitably happened upon management finding out that too much cash was going into the meter to keep the lights on

Is it really too much to ask that a crew stay on past dinner time to use the full studio? Obviously a full crew of about 5 people are needed to run it, but so what?! It's a cost that must be lived with to produce an acceptable standard - as TV Room says, IT'S 2005!

Or even a decent SO facility be built?!

I have to say Telefis I totally agree with what you've said. I have neither the knowledge of TV production or the attentiveness to notice all of the things you have, but I still agree, because all of the things that are wrong with RTE News combine to form a general feeling of shoddiness that is apparent to anyone.

The worst thing about it is that RTE do generally provide a great news servive, it's just that TV3 do a better job of dressing theirs up. TV3 News is basically trash, a series of 2 minute reports, pointless phone polls and "And Finally..." animal stories. Not to mention two ad breaks in a 25 minute programme. And there is virtually no difference between the 5.30 and 6.30 bulletins. Yet they are gaining viewers, simply by not being RTE.

Totally agreed. Rather than British stations gaining from RTÉ, as you say it seems TV3 is, particularly amongst young people.
Despite it being complete trash in content, and featuring appalling reporters of the just-out-of-journalism-course variety with cringe-inducing earnest D4 whash and righsh accents more intent in featuring themselves than the content of the story - it is slicky produced and generally well designed.
Particularly its reports - whatever about them being a paltry two minutes and featuring feck all in analysis, they are mostly exceptionally well edited. Their audio is absolutely perfect, clean and efficent, as are the visuals, edited with a nice pace and relevance to the V/O etc.
Likewise the studio element is frankly fantastically produced in terms of vsion mixing and cueing and presenters efficient delivery to camera, speaking in the knowledge that VTs will come in on time and will reflect the tone of what they're saying and how they say it. Though the presenters all have a tendency to shout in TV3 for some reason - maybe the noise of the M50 or something

In contrast, RTÉ's reports are an effort to watch. Their audio is so often utterly appalling, atmos sound like traffic noise etc drowning out the reporter's V/O, particularly Paul Cunningham who has one of the worst report records ever.
And the soundtracks are hacked around like attacked with a chainsaw - one shot having blasting sound, the next completely dead.
Most reports feature pictures of borderline relevance to what is being spoken, just the usual wallpaper shots of any kind pasted in and thrown together with a V/O - esp court reports, shot of the dome of the Four Courts, then the portico, then the shot through the balusters of the bridge, then the statue of Moses, the the Tricolour flying above, then the tilt up from the river...

A lot of this is down to the fact that many reporters if not all now edit their own reports - works great for the most part in other organisations cause the reporters are great editors. In RTÉ they haven't a notion what they're at - not a notion. Very simply they are not televsion people, how are they even supposed to know what works and what doesn't? They're put through a couple of hours of a training course showing the best way to churn out a report on time, and then left to their own devices.

Also reporters' delivery to camera is woeful in too many cases - people like the new business editor David Murphy, or Samantha Librari, and dare I say even even Charlie Bird as being one of the worst of culprits.
Either they can't act natural, or compensate by shouting as with Charlie, or are just usless full stop.

And other ridiclous practices like having the boom coming into the bottom of the shot during delivery - constantly constantly happening. The camera ops can't even be arsed to tell the reporter to lower their hand by two inches. It's sheer laziness, resulting in the to-camera illusion being broken. Whoever comes back to base with a shot like that ought to be hauled over the coals - there is absolutely no excuse for such shoddy practice.

And the worst of all - the holding of the mic with the RTÉ foam block on it . The lowest of the low stations in the UK do not do that. If there is a single thing out of all that ought to be changed with RTÉ News it is that practice. Cheap, distracting and just plainly unprofessional.
There is a DOG at the top - there's no need for it. Even if there was no DOG there'd still be no need for it!

But yes, as you say pickle, by and large they do provide an excellent news service - maybe a little more analysis is needed - but their coverage of stories and regional clout is most impressive.
It's important to seperate content from presentation with RTÉ - and not just in news

Well what you expect from a company, whos parent company, have put the word trash into TV news.

Did anyone see the Nine O'Clock News tonight with Ken Hammond?
Lucky you if you didn't!

He had to 'interview' crime correspondent Paul Reynolds in-studio, and for each of his scripted questions, he quite literally read them off his page!!! The whole time in shot he glanced down three times, on one occasion for a couple of seconds to read what was on the page, and in the process tried desperately to sound casual and-off-the-cuff

I was so embarrassing to watch - definitely the worst 'Kenism' I've yet seen. His links to Seán Wheelan in the Netherlands were equally contrived

Have to step in and defend RTÉ.

Yes this is a TV presentation forum and RTÉ's presentation leaves a lot to be desired. But it does provide more news than any other Irish TV broadcaster:

RTÉ News and Current Affairs:
* Four main news bulittens in English: One, Six-One, Nine, and News on 2.
* Two main news bulittens in Irish: Nuacht RTÉ and Nuacht TG4.
* The short summaries.
* Breaking news coverage during big events.
* Prime Time twice a week.
* Questions and Answers
* The Week in Politics.

TV3 News:
* Three main news bulittens, two of which have only a half-hour break between them. (5:30pm, 6:30pm, and News Tonight)
* The Political Party.

Sky News Ireland:
* Two main news bulittens, half the content of which typically comes from the UK parent service.

This is not to mention the superior network of corspondants RTÉ has compared to the other two.

I'm not condoning their sometimes shabby presentation - but they do provide a far more comprehensive and superior service. I don't recall TV3 or Sky providing much in the way of coverage of the last general election (I know Sky News Ireland was not yet around) other than scheduled bulittens - RTÉ provided a comprehensive election service.

Agreed with every word, the 'other side' of news, the important side , does get neglected by definition on a presentation forum, and is especially important to bear in mind when talking about Irush television news.

And as said before:

The RTE News DOG was used during tonight's 'Nationwide'. Thought it was an error at first but it reappeared after the ad break. Are we going to be seeing this on all RTE News And Current Affairs output I wonder. It'll blend in so well with the Prime Time astons!!

Yes, unfortunately, some things never change. That's one of the big problems with the RTE TV news presenting team. With the exception of Bryan Dobson, none of them appear capable of thinking on their feet. Interview situations, are, as you say, incredibly contrived and bland in the extreme.

I had the misfortune of catching good old Aengus today on the One O'Clock News. Good grief!! I don't think he managed to get through a a single sentence without fluffing it. And will someone please tell that guy to ditch that dreadful pinstripe suit that he never seems to leave off him these days.

TV Three may appear to have a policy of going for eye-candy presenters...but, in fairness to them, they're very capable from what I've seen. Quite competent. And as you say, from a technical perspective, TV Three's programmes are much more slick than RTE's offerings.

RTE's TV news operation needs a long overdue shake-up. Do you think if we say this often enough, it'll spur them into action?!?

Ah Aengus Aengus Aengus

I actually turn off the news now when he comes on - he's really just too irritating to watch and listen to, and embarrassing at that. The only reason he is employed is that he can speak fluent Irish - that is the only reason he still has that job. His standard of newsreading is appalling - very simply he ought to be sacked. He's not good enough.

And yes the pinstripe! Does he not have anything else in his wardrobe?!
And pinstripes don't go well wth news anyway - too much of a distraction, esp when combined with the stripey lined background.
Also they're naff

I've often been surprised by Ken's questioning as he was a journalist/reporter for RTÉ News in the past. You'd think that he'd be able and/or allowed to come up with his own questions.
As you say Bryan is the only one remotely capable of asking questions - though Eilenn Dunne can hold her own too, albeit rather mundanely, as displayed duing the Pope coverage. It's embarrassing that Bryan is quite literally dragged out of bed/house/holiday to cover any breaking story.

Always reminds me of the FBI moving in to take over local police forces in American films - when a story breaks some idiot like Aengus is left in the newsroom babbling away, then about an hour later after the Newsroom has made an emergency call on the red Dobson Hotline, Bryan comes sauntering into the newsroom and says 'right guys - out. I'll handle this'

It is ridiculous nobody else is capable of handling a situation, literally no-one outside of Dobson, with Una O'Hagan & Eileen Dunne being able to get by. O'Hagan can be good if she's on location for Six One.

Doyle is pretty good at making scripted questions sound natural - but that's as far as her talents seem to stretch, and the standard 'question reply, question reply, Seán thank you for joining us' format makes the whole process so stilted and contrived.

She also comes across as a machine the way she says to camera 'and we're joined now by our Europe Editor Seán Wheelan', and the she pauses and there's a cut to a wide. Then in silence she turns the chair to face the monitor like she's being operated by some external force, gets herself in position, and then asks the question! It's all so ridiculous - she ought to rattle off the question as soon as she introduces the reporter.
She has improved a bit of late. Her turning to a different camera at weekends can also be very dodgy.

It's silly things like this that draw attention to the makey-uppey illusion of television, and what makes RTÉ News so clumsy, clunky and parochial in presentation compared with everyone else.
Even the tiny (though well-resourced) BBC Newsline is streets ahead of RTÉ.

Just on a point raised before, that blown bulb in the set has been gone for weeks now and still hasn't been replaced, and the floor has been manky all of this week