RTÉ’s interview with Michaella McCollum deserves criticism

RTÉ has defended itself against strong criticism of an interview with drug smuggler Michaella McCollum that it broadcast on Sunday in a last-minute change to programme schedules.

The interview with the 23-year-old Dungannon woman, who was released from prison in Peru last Friday, drew 550,000 viewers.

RTÉ said it had “received 83 calls and emails offering feedback on the programme” by yesterday afternoon, although it did not say how many of these were negative.

The interview has been widely attacked on social media for its lack of hard questions and for allegedly glamorising McCollum.

She told interviewer Trevor Birney, who also produced and directed the programme, that she had been "naive, young and insecure".

McCollum was arrested, along with Scottish woman Melissa Reid, in August 2013 when the two were caught trying to board a flight from Lima to Madrid with 11kg of cocaine in their bags.

She had been on an extended stay in Ibiza when, by her own account, she became involved with drug traffickers who flew her first to Majorca and then on to Lima to act as a carrier for €2 million worth of cocaine into the European market.

Following her arrest, she lied about the circumstances, alleging she had been held at gunpoint and that her family’s lives had been threatened if she did not co-operate with the smugglers.

RTÉ’s soft-focus interview followed the modern media template of the public confessional. Similar performances of repentance, remorse and redemption have been enacted by so many celebrities, sportspeople and politicians in recent years that the rituals have become boringly predictable.

“I made a decision in a moment without thinking,” McCollum said, acknowledging that “I could have caused a lot of harm to people”.

Circumstances

Given the circumstances, one might have expected a few hard questions. How much were you going to be paid for the job? Did you get money in advance? Were you asked to do anything else? Did you commit any other crimes? None of these issues were raised.

But we did get “What’s the last 48 hours been like for you?”; “How important for you was it to have your mother there?”; and “Did you know your hairstyle became news?”

The interview concluded with McCollum expressing the hope she could “be a help to young people” in the future.

McCollum was originally imprisoned for six years and eight months, and the courts in Peru have yet to set out her parole conditions, including how long she will be required to remain in the country.

Therefore, it is possible she felt constrained in what she could say. That does not excuse the failures of the programme, produced for RTÉ’s Factual Department by a team from Belfast-based production company Below the Radar Films.

In response to questions from The Irish Times, RTÉ stated that “neither Michaella McCollum nor any member of her family was paid for the interview. Nor did RTÉ make any contribution to any fund relating to Michaella McCollum”.

The broadcaster did not respond to questions on whether it had agreed with Below the Radar on what questions should or should not be asked.

Micro-celebrity

McCollum’s micro-celebrity status is due in part to her past as a “former nightclub dancer”, but on Sunday she gave the impression of being someone who is impressively in control of her image and message.

There is no doubt her bankability has been enhanced by the broadcast, with talk of chatshows and book deals.

“Michaella has gone from slammer to glamour following her release, and we very much doubt that we’ve seen the last of her on our screens,” blared the inevitable press release from bookmaker PaddyPower, offering odds on which reality TV show McCollum would turn up on first.

Hundreds of thousands of people are currently imprisoned around the world for trafficking.

Murders are regularly committed in Ireland in connection with the lucrative business of illegal drugs.

Many lives are wrecked by addiction. Most of those addicted, convicted or killed are less photogenic and less articulate than McCollum. Does her story shed light of any sort on the broader issues?

"From what I could see, you had this quite vulnerable young woman who now looks like she's been schooled in how to do an RTÉ interview," says Gary Broderick, addiction counsellor with the Saol Project in Dublin.

“They didn’t seem to want to explore the difficult questions.”

Broderick points to the debate now opening up in Latin American countries, such as Colombia and Mexico, and in European countries, such as Portugal, about new ways to manage drug use beyond blanket criminalisation. "You don't see that discussed or debated on RTÉ," he says.

RTÉ cited Sunday night’s high ratings as vindication, arguing that they showed “the significant public interest in the story”.

Whether the public interest is best served by programmes of this calibre is quite another matter, though.