RTÉ should invest in technology, leverage AI and open its archives to the public as part of its renewed focus on public service, a document by the broadcaster’s union says.
Among the other proposals are the launch of digital stations intended to cater for minority audiences, substantial new investment in the RTÉ Player and increased support for the arts sector.
The Government must, however, resolve the question of long-term future funding if stability is to be restored to the organisation and a long-term future set out in a media landscape dominated by “a billionaire class with explicit ideological agendas which run against our own State’s republican ethos”.
Building on what it describes as the “progressive elements” of RTÉ’s own four-year strategy document, the paper suggests the broadcaster’s extensive archive should be digitised so as to make it easily available to the public and programme makers. Usage should be prioritised over revenue, it says.
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Personalised recommender algorithms of the type employed by Netflix and other platforms should be used to better target current and archive content.
News and other items should be packaged in such a way they can be used on social media and through apps to better reach a younger audience.
AI, it says will inevitably impact on programme production but there must be engagement with staff on the significant change required, it added.
In the document, Broadcasting the Future, which the authors contend can provide the basis for a renewed debate on the future of the national broadcaster, Dr Eileen Culloty, deputy director of the DCU Institute for Media, Democracy and Society, says that while many of the issues at RTÉ have come to be seen in the context of the instances of financial mismanagement highlighted in recent years, it “is not simply a niche political and financial issue. It is a matter of national security and resilience connected to global trends.”
With the Irish media marketplace increasingly dominated by international corporations, there is a need for “a clearer recognition that public service broadcasting is not a legacy model that should be downsized, but a strategic national asset”, she said.
Funding is key, the report suggests, with the Government having implemented or committed to 49 of the 50 Future of Media Commission recommendations while rejecting its argument for a new, public funding model.
The union-backed document cites the various opposition proposals for funding, adding that with revenues from the licence fee hit by negative sentiment, a new approach is needed.
RTÉ and Ireland are not alone in facing the challenges involved, it says. “The decline of public media has allowed space for the spread of disinformation, a fuel for increasingly divisive political movements.
“This issue is shared across many European countries, who have begun to understand the need for the radical reappraisal of their public service media. In response, several have undergone profound technological, financial and governance changes in recent years.”
The replacement of the licence fee with exchequer funding in France in 2022 and Denmark three years before that are among the examples cited. RTVE is said to have discontinued commercial advertising in Spain more than a decade ago, and ARD/ZDF switched from a licence fee to a universal household levy in Germany in 2017.
While outsourcing has been identified as one of the changes to be pursued at RTÉ, the authors argue that in addition to having the potential to undermine long-term stable jobs, “it should be recognised that in-house production is vitally important to public service broadcasting and its role in fostering social cohesion”.
Commenting on the document, Siptu’s services divisional organiser, Adrian Kane, said the “forces which wish to see the further downsizing and commercialisation of public service media in Ireland have so far had a near monopoly in what should be a crucial public debate on the future of these key Irish institutions”.
