RTE News - Ireland

Sky News reporting via Twitter that Gerry Ryan, host of the Morning Show, has been found dead at his home.

It's tragic. RTE radio, at least 2fm has changed their schedule. It's slow, sad songs with chat about Gerrys life and impact on the nation.

RTE Player are using the following linking to the RTE News Now.

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Sad news regarding Gerry Ryan.

On a completely different note details of RTÉ's UK General Election coverage are now on the EPG. As expected they're running a longer Election Night programme than previous years, from 11:45pm-4:00am. Prime Time is also scheduled to run for an hour that night which is longer than usual. There'll be another Election Results programme between 8:00am-9:00am that morning on RTÉ One.

UPC STBs don't have a seven day guide for radio so not sure what RTÉ Radio 1 is doing.

That's a lot of coverage for RTE. Whether it's warranted is another question.

Considering how this is looking, I would say they haven't planned for enough coverage. There will be no result on the night, and the shape of the future government probably won't be known until Friday afternoon at the earliest.

So, 11.45pm-4am and 8am - 9.15am, is not gonna be enough, and they probably won't run breaking coverage on RTE News Now, which is not gonna be helpful. It will mean that BBC's coverage will get a lot of Irish viewers again.

RTÉ's main interest though is the NI angle, and that should be wrapped up by 4am. The "big picture" is less important to them although what happens in the UK is always of interest in Ireland, it is of less direct importance than the NI election. RTÉ is obliged to cover major events of importance in NI, of course (s.114 Broadcasting Act 2009).

The BBC's coverage will of course get a lot of viewers in Ireland (as with any major event) as I imagine will Sky News (and to a lesser extent, ITN).

RTÉ Radio 1 meanwhile...The Late Debate will run from 10pm to 2am to cover the results (and I imagine will run on past that if needs be) and Morning Ireland will be on air at 6am.

Although many Irish people might be interested in the election, I can't imagine many staying up during the night to watch the results. RTE won't be providing coverage of the individual results in Britain and so I don't see the relevance in an Irish station breaking into programmes to announce the result of a foreign country's election result. Solid coverage on the 6 and 9 news will suffice.

Sorry, but I just don't agree. This very "internal" idea of news, doesn't hold water really. If CNNI will be doing live coverage on the night, and they will, then the idea that RTE are over covering it, just because it's not about Ireland, is ludicrous.

Without doubt, this will be the biggest news story at the time, In Europe, and probably the World. No other story will be as big, from Thursday night, right into Friday evening. No matter where they are in the world, elections are big news, always have been, always will be. And don't forget, we live in a global village now. I can listen to radio from anywhere in the world if I want to.

I'm currently listening to Classical WETA from Washington DC. I have listened to programming from ABC in Australia, NHK in Japan, SABC in South Africa, and various stations across the US and Canada. To me, the location of a story is less important these days than it ever used to be.

If you were to apply that logic, RTE should have continuous coverage for French elections, German elections etc etc. RTE doesn't have any obligation to do this. Secondly, RTE can't afford it. Thirdly, there is no desire in Ireland for RTE to have continuous coverage of foreign elections. I understand the UK is an exception because we're neighbours and the whole Northern Ireland question, makes the identity of the UK PM relevant to Ireland. But the idea of RTE giving blanket coverage is just silly.

Anyway, because Ireland is apart of the EU and a member of the Euro, arguably the identity of the French or German priemier is more relevant to Ireland, particularly as Northern Ireland is peaceful.

What I find odd about their election night coverage is that they have scheduled the repeats of Dr Phil and Doctors as normal instead of going straight into Euronews

Firstly, every four years, British stations (and many others around the globe, including in Ireland,) break into programmes to cover a particular foreign country's election result. And give it wall-to-wall coverage all night in most cases.

Secondly, the Broadcasting Act 2009 makes it clear that RTÉ is not allowed to regard Northern Ireland as a foreign country, anyway. If there's an election happening there RTÉ is basically legally obliged to cover it. And there is an election happening there, so RTÉ will be covering it.

And since RTÉ has to cover the NI result, they might as well let people know what's happening in GB while they're at it. It's a topic of major interest here, as I'm sure a glance at any copy of the Irish Times during the election will show you.

And the whole country reads the Irish Times?

I understand why they have to cover the NI elections, that's all. Cover on the 6 and 9 news is enough.