UTV & BBC & RTE & TV3

[Donagh]

Well at least they have admitted the output of soccer on the wireless is significantly higher than that of Gaelic football – almost double on a ratio of: 4:7 (not including the coverage on news reports).

From the looks of that letter they have no hurling output at all on the radio and next to none on the telly.

The motorcycling seems well served there with coverage of five races.

[bloody mary]

who the heck is this guy and what planet is he on?! He obviously hasn't a clue about sport or what gaelic means to people. For a start, he doesn't mention the serious coverage of local soccer every saturday on final score on bbc tv, sending cameras to every single game for the whole irish league season. he doesn't mention season ticket which was mainly soccer and rugby over most of the year. and he doesn't even mention the gaa tv coverage of the ulster championship, which you would think he would be crowing about. As for 36 gaa games on radio, he is having a laugh. radio ulster all-but ignores club games and all of the radio shows were shunted around different starting times and kept on medium wave, while the saturday radio is always on both wavelengths and a much more professional show. in short, this guy is full of management speak nonsense and if he is making decisions, then i can understand why the bbc is seen as being so anti-gaa this last while.

[Donagh]

I was a bit peeved by the belligerent tone to the letter. He obviously has the information I requested but because (in his opinion) he is not obligated by the Act to give it, he's not volunteering anything. The only conclusion I can draw from it is they have something to hide in regards to their coverage of sport in NI.

[Tyrone Dreamer]

Well I think the gaa has got a fair share of the budget but it only came out today. Theyve spent 17 months following Cavlan round, Im sure this took  quite a bit of resources. In relation to the Cavlan incident it again showed the media hyprocisy in this part of Ireland. The sun newspaper in the north basically does not recognise the gaa. It never mentions it. The only time it ever mentions it is in news stories when a gaa person has done wrong or something negative happens. Think the Daarran Graham incident got coverage  They have a weekly local sport pullout which failed to mention the all ireland semi involving Tyrone and Armagh which attracted 65000 fans. However today when the Cavlan story came out the front page said "GAA shock". Im not defending Cavlan in any way or that the story was reported. My problem is that they only recognise the existance of the gaa when there is a chance to show it in a negative light. As the gaa obviously has no relevance to its readers and hence the fact that it doesnt get mentioned in the sports section why does it feel the need to directly relate it to stories such as this?

[Uladh]

I assume you'll take this further for us donagh?

season ticket - obviouly i never watch this dross from steven watson but any time i flicked past it there seemed to be a golf piece on?

[Tyrone Dreamer]

Get the video recorders set. There'll be more clips of the gaa on the bbc tonight in a story about dog fighting than you'll get to see for the next 2 years!

[Donagh]

I assume you'll take this further for us donagh?

season ticket - obviouly i never watch this dross from steven watson but any time i flicked past it there seemed to be a golf piece on?

I'll be writing to a member of their 'Audience Council' to see if I can get some answers there but I wouldn't be confident of success as it looks like another unaccountable Quango.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/audiencecouncil/

[Sandy Hill]

Donagh, well done! I hope you continue to pursue this matter and if you want any help (I'm not sure in what form) just holler. Maith thú.The one sided and enthusiastic coverage of the minority sport that is NI soccer is overtly blatant and an insult to those of us who pay our TV licence and who love GAA.

[Donagh]

"The information which you have requested about the volume and cost of specific aspects of BBCNI's sports output is not covered by the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Schedule 1 of the Act states that the BBC and other designated public service broadcasters are covered by this legislation only in respect of information held for purposes "other than those of journalism, art and literature". Information which is not subject to disclosure because of this derogation may otherwise be exempt from disclosure because of the application of other provisions of the Act."

Cheers Sandy. From what I can gather from the paragraph above, he is denying me access to the information because the info I requested concerns its "journalism, art and literature". I may be wrong here but surely sports coverage doesn't fall into any of these categories i.e. even if sports coverage comes under the category of 'journalism', surely information held about its journalism (sports coverage) is not held for the purpose of journalism itself and so is exempt from the Schedule he quotes.

Anyone any thoughts on my interpretation?

[armaghniac]

Donagh, you may not hang around with SDLP politicians, but one way forward with this is some sort of question at Westminster. I don't know if the BBC are responsible to the local assembly in any way, but the licence fee makes them responsible to government a some level.

[orangeman]

The BBC discriminate against all things GAA - look at their sparse coverage and look at the over emphasis on Cavlan last night ( not that I'm condoning his behaviour by the way ).

[armaghniac]

UTV showed a clip of a game on the news in a piece about Calvan, so they have heard of the GAA.

[snatter]

"The information which you have requested about the volume and cost of specific aspects of BBCNI's sports output is not covered by the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Schedule 1 of the Act states that the BBC and other designated public service broadcasters are covered by this legislation only in respect of information held for purposes "other than those of journalism, art and literature". Information which is not subject to disclosure because of this derogation may otherwise be exempt from disclosure because of the application of other provisions of the Act."

Cheers Sandy. From what I can gather from the paragraph above, he is denying me access to the information because the info I requested concerns its "journalism, art and literature". I may be wrong here but surely sports coverage doesn't fall into any of these categories i.e. even if sports coverage comes under the category of 'journalism', surely information held about its journalism (sports coverage) is not held for the purpose of journalism itself and so is exempt from the Schedule he quotes.

Anyone any thoughts on my interpretation?

www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/decisionnotices/2007/fs_50088733.pdf

18. In establishing the purpose for creating the requested information, the
Commissioner has applied the test of 'functional journalism' as utilised by the
Information Tribunal in its decision in the matter of Steven Sugar-v-The
Information Commissioner and the British Broadcasting Corporation (Appeal
Number EA/2005/0032; (the "Sugar appeal").

19. In the Sugar appeal, the Information Tribunal identified three elements which in
its view constituted functional journalism.
• The first is the collection or gathering, writing and verifying of materials for
publication.
• The second is editorial.
• The third is the maintenance and enhancement of the standards and quality of
journalism, particularly with respect to accuracy, balance and completeness.

Donagh,

on the basis above, I think you're sunk.
The ratio of BBC NI GAA coverage to other sports / other sports' attendances, etc would probably fall under editorial practice.
Similarly, unbalanced coverage would probably be coveredl under the third test.

Whilst BBCNI may choose to hide behind this public sector opt-out, you have got to question their rationale for doing so.
If they'd nothing to hide, they'd be quick enough at getting a rebuttal out.

On the other hand, an appeal might raise awareness of the unbalanced coverage, and might lead to greater pressure to, for example, co-commission with RTE a top quality GAA mid-week magazine programme, something like Breaking Ball.
A chin-wag with RTE over co-commissioning such a programme would easily settle the rights issue (if in fact there are any).

I'd bet my arse that the BBC have never even discussed such an option with RTE.
Rather than be constructive and attempt to give us decent GAA coverage, they rather hide behind the excuse of not having broadcast rights, even for mid-week highlight programmes.

For as long as all of the North can't get FTA RTE, the BBC should be made to give us fair coverage.
Unreal that GAA / Shinners / Stoopies haven't made more of this.

[ziggysego]

I was watching UTV news tonight when they covered the Irish News Ulster GAA All Stars.

They started the report with "And here they are celebrating some of the things that are good in the GAA".

WTF?!?

[Bensars]

I was watching UTV news tonight when they covered the Irish News Ulster GAA All Stars.

They started the report with "And here they are celebrating some of the things that are good in the GAA".

WTF?!?

And who is the sports editor of UTV?

Surely it is the man who attends more Tyrone functions than the Chairman of the County Board including Club Tyrone?

The editor decides the direction and tone of reports!

And not for free either !!