‘The Licence Fee Payer Will Bear The Cost Of Every Penny’

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This morning/afternoon.

Declan Ganley responds to an apology read out in the High Court earlier and a substantial settlement from RTÉ 12 years after he said he was defamed during a Prime Time profile.

Via RTE:

“On November 27, 2008 RTÉ broadcast a Prime Time special programme concerning Mr Declan Ganley. In the course of the programme, reference was made to the death of Mr Kosta Trebicka and an image was shown of his body,” the statement said.

“RTÉ accepts unreservedly – as stated on the programme – that the death of Mr Tribecka was wholly unrelated to Mr. Ganley or any business related to him. RTÉ apologises to Mr Ganley for any hurt or distress that may have been caused.”

RTÉ apologises to Declan Ganley over Prime Time programme he claimed linked him to death of Albanian businessman (Independent.ie)

Meanwhile…

Via John McGuirk, a friend of Mr Ganley’s:

…The justification for showing the dead body of a man murdered, lying on the roadside, was that he had, at one time, met Mr. Ganley. The subtext was clear: Ganley met this man, and then he was murdered. We’re not saying Ganley had him killed, but is Ganley a tool of the neo-cons, and isn’t this the sort of thing that neo-cons do??”

It was, in short, the most despicable piece of journalism I have ever seen in my life. In the weeks and months afterwards, I lost count of the number of people who accused me of working for a murderer.

A long battle through the courts has ended today, mainly because RTÉ knew, I suspect, that they did not stand a chance in front of a jury.

They have agreed to pay a substantial sum in damages, plus the costs of both parties. You, the licence fee payer, will bear the cost of every penny.

Most people, of course, will never hear about the apology. Hundreds of thousands of Irish people watched the hit job back in 2008. Many of them will have forgotten the details.

Many of them probably still look at Mr. Ganley and think “there’s something shady about that fella”, not even being conscious that the programme influenced them, as intended.

That was the objective, of course. RTÉ have paid the price for it, today. But it is not justice. In a just world, the people responsible for this would never work in media again.

The victims of this kind of thing from RTE are always from the same stock, of course. David Quinn had to sue them when they allowed a smear to be broadcast about him. Fr. Kevin Reynolds was called a rapist, and had to sue them. Sean Gallagher was the victim of a transparent, and successful attempt, by RTÉ, to rig a Presidential election. Kevin Myers was called an anti-semite on national radio. All of them won substantial damages, all of those damages paid by the public. When was the last time a Fine Gaeler had to sue RTE for libel? It’s always the same people – those who take a different view, on matters of controversy, from the establishment.

There have never been any consequences for people working in RTÉ. The costs, every time, are paid by the licence fee payer. The smear artists sail on, unaffected.

The licence fee should be abolished.’

Ganley makes RTE pay the price for a despicable smear (John McGuirk, Gript)

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41 thoughts on “‘The Licence Fee Payer Will Bear The Cost Of Every Penny’

  1. gringo

    RTE are a tool of the establishment and paying a few bob, years after the smear, is not a problem for them.

  2. GiggidyGoo

    Hence the substantial top ups to RTÉ recently.

    And then we will have the advertisements telling us things like ‘Truth in the news’, ‘Other outlets are fake news’ etc.

    Yes – close this slip shod outfit down once and for all.

    1. MME

      Grifters/Youth Defencers are at this too- “believe our crap over RTE and the “lamestream” media- we are the truth tellers”!

      Grifters gotta grift I guess.

        1. MME

          Grift Media::McJerk’s, Lord Muck’s (aka Decco Ganley) and Niamh Uí Bhriain’s (of wife-swopping sodomite heritage) outfit for spreading Youth Defence nuttery to the angry, religious far right and gullible.

      1. Daisy Chainsaw

        I know. Grifter is just perennial loser’s McLurk’s blog that’s desperate to be significant. BS linking to it aids that cause.

  3. george

    Please correct the post John McGuirk is or at least was an employee of Declan Ganley’s who was hired to do PR. Accusations of fake news are a bit tiresome when you refer to PR people as friends.

    1. MME

      I do wonder what McJerk’ s actually official job title is aside from Ganley’s shill. He appears to be able to spend all day every day on Twitter, at times telling everyone how “happy” he is compared to his “lib” enemies. He is often called a gonzo conservative but still, how can he spend all day tweeting?

      The problem with McJerk and Ganley is they see their enemies as evil and not just wrong.

    2. Mr .T

      It’s mentioned first line in the article that McGuirk is a good friend & former employee of Ganley

      1. George

        It is mentioned nowhere in the Broadsheet post. The article refers to himself to them as colleagues. They are not. McGuirk is an employee paid to portray Ganley in a positive light. According to linkedin he is a current employee.

    3. Vanessanelle

      Not sure it’s all that big of a deal
      Disclosure wise tbh

      The relationship is well established anyway, so the Conflict will always be present
      I don’t see anything there by McGurk that could mislead the reader about his association with Ganley

      The one thing I found out of place
      Well
      It was more of a what’s missing

      He didn’t mention John Waters’ settlement with RTE
      or any of the Shinners

      1. George

        Nowhere does it mention that McGuirk is paid by Ganley to write nice things about him.

        Even McGuirk referred to himself as a “friend and colleague”. Broadsheet made an editorial decision to change this to just “friend”. This is exactly the kind of thing Broadsheet criticises journalists for doing.

      2. MME

        @V – Interesting omissions as you suggest. Obviously the Shinners will never be mentioned other than negatively by McGurk so that isn’t out of the ordinary. I suspect McJerk deliberately left out John Waters to avoid Ganley being associated with him and Gemma’s nuttery and that other N word-ism.

        More hypocrisy! Grift was happy the court the John and Gemma brigade until John and Gemma dialled up the crazy and the other N word-ism and McGurka needs to maintain at least a veneer of respectibility. As you say, McLurk’s basic job is to make Ganley look like he is on his way to sainthood which to be fair is how Decco sees himself.

        1. V AKA Frilly Keane

          As you say, McLurk’s basic job is to make Ganley look like he is on his way to sainthood

          I never said that
          Just that their “association” was well established
          I made no assertion to the nature of it

          Please don’t put words into my mouth
          Not around these Alt Whiters anyway

  4. MME

    Grift Media crowing ” fake news” and “crooked media” is quite some hypocrisy. An outfit that is Youth Defence in all but name and literally set up to attempt to sow discord and peddle all manner of nonsense (I’m being kind) to appeal to a hardline (and we are taking fire breathers here) Catholic Irish Trump rump.

    Needless to say, could there be another person more deeply unsympathetic and unlikeable than Lord Muck Ganley who has about as much interest in a free press as Vladimir Putin and indeed his hero Donald Trump. Vom.

    If only that plastic paddy would fupp off to some godforsaken US Red State where he’d be much happier.

    1. MME

      Although apparently no love lost between a certain “Liberal.ie” Sherlock with grandiose notions about himself and the Grifters who have stolen his clothes and “ideas”.

    2. Daisy Chainsaw

      Doesn’t seem to be much “youth” involved anymore, but Middle Aged Spread Defence doesn’t have the same ring to it, does it?

  5. newsjustin

    I agree with what John McGuirk says here….with the exception of:

    “There have never been any consequences for people working in RTÉ.”

    Aoife Kavanagh, the journalist in the Fr Kevin Reynolds case did eventually have to resign. But it didn’t go any further than that because: “rolled heads don’t learn any lessons.”

    1. broadbag

      Yep, she was sacked so everyone else with responsibility above her could wash their hands of it and move on, cowardly stuff by RTE.

      1. newsjustin

        Always handy to keep a few juniors around to throw off the boat first.

        (In fairness, it was a sackable offense, but not just for her.)

  6. Nigel

    I suppose this might not be the best case to use as an exemplar, but rather than destroy our public service broadcaster, is there anything to be said for a reform of Ireland’s stringent and punitive libel laws?

  7. Gabby

    I don’t watch television, so I’ve missed the David Ganley kerfuffle. If he eventually got justice in his case against RTE that’s fine. But following that story immediately with a commentary from this McGuirk person seems to me to be a psychological device for distracting readers’ attention from the merits of the Ganley case per se. It is rather like discussing the merits of vegetarianism by laying heavy emphasis on the fact that one Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian.

    1. TheFerg

      Imagine if it was you – you’re successful, you have different opions to the established and want to put them out there, and then a fella you met once ends up dead – and then you’re linked to a murder by the national broadcaster and it takes 12, read it! – TWELVE years to get an apology and a settlement!!

      What did the courts expect to happen in those 12 years?

      C’mon BS readers, this is awful.

  8. Lilly

    I vaguely remember that programme. It was a legit attempt to follow Ganley’s money and he did come out of it looking shady – not because of a dead body, which I don’t recall but because the source of his wealth was inexplicable. Isn’t this what RTE pays its legal team for, to give such programmes the once-over so they can edit out bits that could land them in court.

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