RTE News - Ireland

Indeed . . . it seemed to be a different backdrop to the CSO usually used for the short bulletins from Donnybrook. That's why I thought it was Galway.

In fact, here's the bulletin from RTE Player: http://www.rte.ie/player/#!v=1133329

I have seen that new backdrop a couple of times and it looks good IMO. Una O'Hagan was my first newsreader I have seen using it. It will be welcome if it was used for the potential new HD studio in March.

I have just noticed that the RTE News logo in the bottom left of the screen on the 6.1 news had disappeared again for a few minutes now. It is mainly due to a technical problem I think.

EDIT* It has just come back again. These mistakes always crop up at the time at it's most inconvenient.

Did anyone see the opening shot of the 6.1 News a short time ago? I suppose this is becoming highly likely now that the New HD Studio for RTE will coming on stream possibly within a months time.

If anyone missed it, the angle was coming in with Bryan Dobson on the right hand side with him looking at the camera which is to the left of the screen with Sharon Ni Bheoláin on the far left.

Here is the video of that new opening shot, if anyone's interested: http://www.rte.ie/player/#!v=1135364

Very nice to see Anne Cassin back on the news tonight. She doesn't appear in the newsroom too often these days, and will presumably appear even less now that she's the new co-presenter of Nationwide.

It's been Anthony Murnane over the last few weekends, with Eileen Dunne covering Monday-Friday. So perhaps this will be the new arrangement, with no permanent replacement for Anne Doyle.

The shot does look pretty nice, but the pan after the titles doesn't look quite right in my opinion. It seems rather odd to pan past Brian going towards the desk, only to them cut to Brian once he's out of shot. The fact that they're zooming towards the desk makes you feel like we're going to cut to a close up of the desk next. It would be better if they were panning backwards away from the desk after the titles.

Any word on that rumor of RTE News getting a new newsroom. The date of 9th March has passed and no new studio as of yet.

Hopefully they wont change it. Their current set up is fantastic.

I think that RTE have proposals put up by the Broadcasting Authority Of Ireland (BAI) and the Irish Department of Communications to put in the new studio until RTE goes into HD. It regarded as some confirmation IMO that it will be delayed for some time to come.

http://www.dcenr.gov.ie/NR/rdonlyres/53109763-FB78-4318-A034-47D2021C6D39/0/MinistersDecision.pdf

http://www.bai.ie/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/20110815_BAIDTTEOI_FINAL.pdf

Are you surprised or not by reading these reports?

It is rumored that the current news studio is not HD compatible yet; Which is a shame.

A question or two here - Did anyone seen a reporter called Kate Byrne on the news reporting about the Saint Patrick's Day Celebrations in London? Does anyone know what reporting she did before she came to RTE?

If you he story it was about Boris Johnson apology to the Irish about comments he made about a certain Saint Patrick's Day Dinner with Sinn Fein.

It was reported on the 9 O'Clock News this evening; Unfortunately, I won't be able to give you a link to the story as it is not showing up on the RTE News website.

RTÉ has announced it is to close its London bureau as part of cost cutting measures. It's a real loss to the station as I thought their London Editor Brian O'Connell was a fantastic correspondent. I wonder how long it is until their Washington and Brussels bureaus get the chop aswell? Also it was announced the top twenty paid presenters would have their salaries cut by a minimum of 30%.

Major changes at RTE News & Current Affairs ahead of the Broadcasting Authority's decision last years Prime Time Investigates programme 'A Mission to Prey', in which false accusations were made regarding a Catholic priest.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0403/rte-bai-prime-time-investigates.html

Six One could be an interesting watch this evening . . .