Radio wars: Former correspondent accuses RTÉ of slashing news coverage in South East
FORMER RTÉ South East correspondent Damien Tiernan has accused the national broadcaster of drastically cutting back its news coverage in the region.
Tiernan recently left his €90,000 a year job after 23 years with RTÉ. During this time he was the face and voice of some of the biggest news stories that broke in Kilkenny and the rest of the region.
In an interview with today’s Sunday Business Post, Tiernan said RTÉ’s South East studio produced an average of 220 TV and radio stories a year in the early 2000s, but that this has now been cut to between just 50-60 stories.
He further claimed other regional RTÉ correspondents are also “constantly trying to get stories on air”.
In response to the interview, managing director of RTÉ News Jon Williams tweeted that the station has recently invested in local reporting.
Williams said on Twitter: “Agree RTÉ has brilliant correspondents – which is a why we’ve just appointed new regional correspondents in Dundalk & Belfast. Odd definition of “slashing”. Wish @damienwlrfm every success in new role.”
A clearly angered Tiernan responded: “Am disgusted, disappointed but not surprised by RTÉ basically calling me a liar with my figures Jon; RTE does not recognize my figures because RTÉ doesn’t care enough to ask someone to count them. And one thing, the Regional section on the website and app is a joke.”
Tiernan then went on to write: “If you want to get into a public spat with me bring it on but I have better things to do (like playing an over 35 soccer match); I love RTE more than you will ever know.”
Tiernan was recently unveiled as the new presenter of Waterford station WLRfm’s flagship current affairs programme, Déise Today.
