Irish broadcaster RTE seeks to 'rebuild trust' after libel episode

Journalists at Irish public broadcaster RTE are to undergo further training and be issued with new editorial guidelines, after a major legal error that has led to two resignations and a significant out-of-court libel settlement.

RTE said the range of measures aimed to "rebuild trust", including "improved editorial controls", the setting up a new editorial standards board and a revised complaints procedure.

It comes after the broadcaster settled a libel claim brought by a priest who was falsely accused of raping a minor and fathering a child in Kenya 30 years ago.

Father Kevin Reynolds accepted a significant out-of-court settlement over the defamatory claims, made last May in RTE's flagship Prime Time Investigates programme. In a statement issued this week, the broadcaster announced that the programme strand would not be returning.

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland has completed its investigation into whether the programme breached the broadcasting code and is expected to produce a report shortly. RTE could be fined up to €250,000.

RTE said that Ed Mulhall, the broadcaster's head of news for the past 14 years, had taken retirement. Mulhall, who had worked at RTE since 1979, is the second person to leave the news division in the wake of the editorial slip-up, after current affairs editor Ken O'Shea who is moving to a new role in the organisation.

Director general Noel Curran said in a statement: "The publication of these new structures and guidelines is, we hope, a key step in an important direction.

"The range of measures in these documents represents RTE's determination to make our journalism stronger, fairer and more transparent, and to reiterate our commitment to journalism as a core public service."

"Mistakes will happen in broadcasting and in journalism, no matter what changes are made. Programme makers must be and will be supported in making challenging programming. It is our intention that through these guidelines and other changes, and through their application by every member of the organisation, we will set the standards bar even higher for ourselves."

"Through these new measures and structures and their robust operation, programme makers from the most junior to the highest level will clearly understand and accept their responsibility and role in rebuilding RTE's reputation for very high quality journalism.

"It is only through great programming that we will rebuild whatever trust we have lost with our audiences. We are determined to achieve that."

All RTE editorial staff will be issued with and trained in new journalism guidelines which have been developed over the last three months. A new editorial standards board will oversee standards, and will take a role in a revised complaints procedure.

The broadcaster also announced that it is setting up a new multimedia current affairs investigations unit and the creation of five new TV news and current affairs management positions to oversee investigative journalism output.

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