Two brothers were convicted in Roscommon District Court yesterday of assaulting an RTÉ cameraman and an elderly farmer at a sludge lagoon last February.
The brothers were fined a total of €2,000.
The court heard how one of them had thrown an RTÉ camera, worth €43,000, into the lagoon.
Brian Hanly (33) was charged with assaulting Mr Norman Dungan and causing criminal damage, and John Hanly (37) was charged with assaulting a retired farmer, Mr Matt Geraghty.
The incident occurred when the RTÉ Midlands Correspondent, Ciarán Mulooly, and Mr Dungan travelled to Creggs, Co Roscommon, to make a report on a sludge lagoon.
They were accompanied to the site by Mr Geraghty.
Judge Mary Fahy ruled that the Hanlys were entitled to protect their land which had been trespassed on and could use reasonable force to do so.
She added, however, that the brothers had totally overreacted and she fined Brian Hanly €750 for assaulting Mr Dungan and €500 for criminally damaging the camera.
John Hanly was fined €750 for assaulting Mr Geraghty.
Both men were ordered to pay €75 in witness expenses.
Judge Fahy said that the compensation for the camera was a civil matter, but she had to concern herself with criminal damage.
She also said Mr Mulooly was making a programme without the need to trespass but, in order to assess the lagoon, "trespass occurred."
Judge Fahy said Mr Dungan, Mr Geraghty and Mr Mulooly were never given a reasonable opportunity to leave the land, and the Hanly brothers lost control of the situation.
The court heard that Brian Hanly was a dry stock farmer with a total income of €20,000 per year, and that John Hanly, who had no previous convictions, was married with two infant children.