RTÉ. The plaintiff in Crawley sought damages for defamation and breach of privacy arising out of the publication by the defendants of articles in which the plaintiff was described as a criminal and a range of unsavoury criminal activity allegedly attributed to him. The defendants raised a plea of truth. Discovery was sought of documents relating to the defendants’ investigation into the plaintiff prior to publication of the articles and relating to the preparation of the articles. In an affidavit sworn in response to that motion, the defendants’ solicitor (coincidentally the same solicitor who acts for the defendants in this case) claimed journalistic privilege in respect of the confidential sources relied on for the articles. The importance of such confidentiality was emphasised in the context of journalism dealing with serious criminal conduct. In looking at how a similar claim of privilege had been treated in Xxxxxxx, Xxxxxx X. observed, at para. 11 of her judgment:- “The Supreme Court did accept that the court has an inherent jurisdiction to refuse the application on the basis that the privilege plea must inevitably succeed. However, it noted that this was an abridgement of the normal two step process, which distinguishes between discovery and inspection obligations. If there is any possibility that the privilege plea might not succeed, then to refuse discovery would be to conflate distinct steps in a two-tier process. Therefore, where a party is refusing to swear an affidavit on the grounds of privilege, including journalistic privilege, the first inquiry must be to determine whether success on the plea is unavoidable. It is only if so that an affidavit as to documents will not be required.” On the facts of the case before her, Xxxxxx X. went on to decide that the Xxxxxxx threshold had not been reached, stating, at paras. 13 and 14 of her judgment:-
RTÉ. I do not wish to delve too deeply into the claim of privilege or the potential countervailing arguments lest I pre-empt the outcome of the privilege issue. Nonetheless, I note that in Xxxxx x. Xxxxx [2010] 1 IR 336, the case which is generally regarded as marking the full acceptance in Irish law of the ECHR jurisprudence on journalists’ right to protect their sources subject only to the overriding requirements of the public interest, Xxxxxxxx J. expressly identified the individual’s right to private and family life protected under Article 8 of the ECHR as one of the rights which might have to be balanced against the protection of journalistic sources under Article 10 of the same Convention (see p. 357 of the report). Thus, at a minimum privacy rights under Article 8 appear capable of constituting the type of overriding requirement of the public interest which might restrict freedom of expression. Of course, it remains to be determined whether the plaintiff can “convincingly establish” this on the facts of this case. I note also that in Xxxxx, X’Xxxxx X took the view that where material had been disclosed to journalists by members of An Garda Síochána contrary to s.62 of the 2005 Act, journalistic privilege which might otherwise have applied no longer applied because of the criminal nature of the conduct involved. The media defendants dispute the correctness of this decision and also dispute the assertion that there has been a breach of s.62. Nonetheless it is clear that there is a significant factual and legal issue between the parties as to whether the privilege applies such that it cannot be said that the claim will inevitably succeed.
RTÉ. If a claim of privilege is to be made, responded to and determined as a specific claim in respect of particular documents, this cannot be done by the making of a general claim and without identifying the documents to which that claim relates. To accede to the media defendants’ request in this regard would effectively elide the two stage discovery process and bypass the Xxxxxxx threshold of establishing that the claim of privilege is one which must inevitably succeed.
RTÉ s revenue has declined since 2007… (€000s) (b) … while opex has broadly followed (€000s) 500,000 500,000 Opex Revenue 450,000 450,000 400,000 400,000 350,000 350,000 300,000 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 300,000 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Note: (b) opex includes depreciation and amortisation Source: RTÉ annual reports
RTÉ. Other commercial revenue Other commercial revenue is comprised of the following: Sponsorship – TV and radio programmes that carry specific sponsorship Facilities – the use by third parties of RTÉ’s studios Circulation and event (Circulation) – mainly income from RTÉ Guide magazine Transmission, mast and towers (Transmission) – TV and radio transmission network, with additional income from mobile phone providers Content, merchandising and related sales (Content) – physical sales,
RTÉ. Radio All RTÉ radio stations have implemented cost saving measures with opex in 2012 almost at 2003 levels. Radio 1’s national share, weekday – peak time fell from 25% in 2003 to 22.2% in 2005 but has been resilient since with a share of 24% in 2013. 2fm’s market share has declined from 17% in 2003 to 8% in 2013. Radio 1 utilises FTEs per one thousand hours of output versus at 2fm, at lyric fm and at RnaG. Radio 1’s cost per hour for each genre is almost always higher than for RTÉ’s other radio stations. Average wages and salaries per FTE and non-payroll costs are higher for RTÉ than Radio New Zealand9. Radio New Zealand was chosen as the station employs a similar number of FTEs and data was available. We note the limitation in selecting just one benchmark. The cost of providing Irish language services across Radio amounted to € m in 2012, with Raidió na Gaeltachta the largest portion of these costs (c. %). In total, opex reduced by c. 30% between 2008 and 2012. RTÉ Radio comprises RTÉ Radio 1, RTÉ 2fm, RTÉ lyric fm, RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta (RnaG) and several digital channels: RTÉ 2XM, RTÉ Radio 1 Extra, RTÉjr Radio, RTÉ Gold and RTÉ Pulse.
RTÉ. Radio opex; indigenous opex is the largest source of opex (€000s) (b) Indigenous opex rebased – shows that it is almost back at 2003 levels 90,000 140 6% 130 60,000 30,000 120 110 0 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 100 Indigenous Broadcast Sales and other 9% 11% (13%) 5% (8%) (1%) 4% (7%) 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Note: RTÉ Radio = Radio 1 + 2fm + lyric + RnaG, (b) labels denote percentage change Source: RTÉ annual reports, NewERA analysis
RTÉ. Radio has more FTEs than Radio New Zealand, though not enough, in our view, to account for all of the difference observed in cost per hour. The primary driver of that difference is cost per FTE, which is higher for RTÉ. This is demonstrated in Figure 60, which looks at the wages and salaries component of staff costs only. Figure 60 Cost per FTE, wages and salaries (€) Note: dashed line represents Radio New Zealand using 5-yr average exchange rate Note: Cost per FTE includes Source: RTÉ data, Radio New Zealand annual reports, NewERA analysis Based on the 2012 average exchange rate, RTÉ’s cost is 35% higher than Radio New Zealand’s, and 53% using the five year average rate. To look for an explanation as to why RTÉ’s average cost is higher, the average cost per FTE for both RTÉ and Radio New Zealand is compared with the respective national average wages. The results are displayed in Table 22. Table 22 Comparison of average wages and salaries with national averages (2012) RTÉ Radio Radio New Zealand National average wage (€) Average wage of radio organisation (€) Premium to national average Source: RTÉ data, New Zealand annual report 2012, NewERA analysis Wages at both organisations are above the respective national averages, with the RTÉ premium greater than the Radio New Zealand premium.
RTÉ. No licence fee was attributed to Publishing. We understand that the public service elements in Digital have licence fee attributed to them. The deficit before the licence fee allocation for Digital increased from €3.3m in 2011 to €4.0m in 2012. Digital generated a net surplus in 2011 (as restated) and in 2012, after the allocation of the licence fee. The RTÉ Guide consistently generated a surplus for the period 2008 to 2012.
RTÉ. The Symphony Orchestra comprised % of the net cost of public service in 2011 and 2012 with the Concert Orchestra comprising public service in the same two years. % of the net cost of
