ROGER GREGG,
Sir, - To let RTÉ sink will be seen by posterity as a great betrayal of this nation. For the only alternative to a properly funded semi-state broadcaster is the market. And the unfettered market is merciless. Some Irish pundits have held up the American models of PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) and NPR (National Public Radio) as examples of quality programming thriving in the unfettered marketplace. Let me assure you, they are wrong. American media experts are predicting the coming death of NPR and PBS. Local NPR stations are only marginally able to get by. Increasingly, NPR radio stations are buying in the likes of BBC radio news rather than producing more expensive local programmes.
Some Irish observers may say "So what? That's a problem with 'local' American stations; ours is the Irish, national marketplace". Here's the point: A "local" market in the U.S. is usually measured in millions. In ruthless commercial terms all of Ireland is a "local" market. Identical economies of scale and production costs/profit returns come into play. Therefore, in the Irish context, the absence of a properly funded national broadcaster spells disaster for sustained quality programming which caters for our marginal groups and interests.
In my audio production work I have spoken with a great many NPR and Community FM Radio programme creators from across America, and every one of them has expressed their envy of Ireland for having the likes of RTÉ - a semi-state national broadcaster funded to produce quality programming and not left to drift at the mercy of the marketplace.
Of course changes are needed, but don't scuttle the grand ship and sell it for scrap. The only result guaranteed by this is scrap. If anything a greater injection is needed to aggressively launch RTÉ, and therefore Ireland, in the impending tidal wave of the global digital market. - Yours etc.,
ROGER GREGG,
Crazy Dog Audio
Theatre Company,
Mount Drummond Square,
Harolds Cross,
Dublin 6.