Window and mirror : RTÉ television: 1961-2011 / John Bowman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bowman, John, 1942-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Raidió Teilifís Éireann--History--20th century.

Raidió Teilifís Éireann.

Raidió Teilifís Éireann--History--21st century.

History.

Physical Description:

xii, 252 pages : illustrations, chiefly color ; 26 cm

Place of Publication:

Doughcloyne, Wilton, Cork : The Collins Press, 2011.

Summary:

December 2011 marks the 50th anniversary of when RTÉ broadcast for the first time and Irish culture and society were irrevocably changed. As part of the commemorations, this book presents a critical overview of the national television station.

Contents:

Chapter 1

one carping voice was heard declaring it to be a 'far too ambitious project' 1

television as a medium invariable put 'the Establishment of the day on the defensive' 4

'snoring gently behind the Green Curtain' 7

Gaelic specially coated and dressed for easy consumption 10

Chapter 2

television 'would be robbed of many of its terrors' if P and T ruled itself out of ever running a station 13

and what if a schedule was 'unbalanced, traivial and unpalatable'? 15

'the shabbiest of Cinderellas while our new ugly sisters ... show off their "finery"' 17

'television: the very word is half-Latin and half-Greek. No good can come of it.' 20

'this thing', 'the peepshow', 'a torture chamber' 22

Chapter 3

'a catholic of Irish ancestry ... a go-getter... and no strings attached' 25

Edwards's artistic circle 'was agog with excitement' 28

within a week O'Hehir was sent terms 'which I could not refuse and I did not' 32

censorship snapped beneath the weight of films impervious to the censor's scissors 36

Chapter 4

The early newsroom: 'we were all scribes' 39

sponsored broadcasting likened to bubonic plague 42

'I cannot imagine anything we need less than an opera in Irish' 45

'television is such a universal art form - at its best - that it is hard to despise it' 47

'the opus minimum': rejection would have done O'Casey 'a great personal favour' 49

Edwards discovered he was 'not a white collar worker' 51

Chapter 5

'a cynical, anti-everything approach' ... an attitude entirely 'unsuited for broadcasting' 53

Telefis Eireann 'should take the whine out of their voice' 55

'amazing ... that such a rare crew ... could get such a toe-hold in Telefis Eireann' 57

a tale of red herrings, sacred cows, cloud cuckoos, muskrats and coyotes 59

the language should be disassociated 'from all rancour, dogmatism and make-believe' 60

'a muddled and a puzzled people' who had no need to 'learn from a Yank' 63

Chapter 6

if an "egg-head", the director-general should understand the 'man in the street' 65

Lemass told Eamonn Andrews 'to get the bishops off my back' 66

'The parochialism of just a few years earlier was peeling away.' 70

Chapter 7

'a dull colourless group' shaped by a Dail which was 'tame, ordered and structured' 73

'tales of Micheal Ruadh ... were giving way to those of Kit Carson and Bat Masterson' 75

did not want a policy 'to silence agitators or buy off critics' 78

not an 'interpretive or analytical' approach: but an 'idealistic and emotional' one 82

Chapter 8

'the wish to have what is desirable is not being related to what is either possible or acceptable' 85

'no particular interest' in television or 'what influence it might have' 88

Lemass was surprised, sometimes bewildered, by the presumed independence of the broadcasters 89

The mind of the Authority was now 'very clearly one rather more of directive than guidance' 92

an entertainment organization 'seething with gossip and rumours' 94

Chapter 9

'the television camera is a very crude instrument' 97

'as if they were a group of small boys being deprived of an outing' 99

Chapter 10

'as a conductor magnificent' but otherwise, 'a mental age of sixteen' 103

everything broadcast 'now enters the traditional music bloodstream and will never be lost' 107

why does the girl speaking Irish try 'to appear sexy?' 109

Chapter 11

'I didn't know that guy was such a mensch' 111

'a bloated and swelling corpse', feeding an 'increasing number of parasites' 113

Gorham hoped 'the farce would soon be over' 116

RTÉ cameraman Gay O'Brien 'changed the course of Irish history' 117

RTÉ granted Sinn Féin's statements 'quite disproportionate publicity' / T.K. Whitaker Whitaker, T.K. 120

the government 'regarded this as direct defiance' and had dismissed the Authority 122

'probably no part of the world' where news reporting was 'not at all an abstract matter' 125

A poem for Liam Hourican 128

Chapter 12

interests, demands, preferences, vetoes, misunderstandings - and 'Nelsonic eye' understandings 129

the propaganda war - 'a war which will continue long after the shooting has stopped' 132

'the limitations of geography, the limitations of science, and the limitations of money' 135

Chapter 13

what had been seen as a charter for interference was rendered into a safeguard 137

the history of the organization was 'one of tumult': the current problem was 'one of depression' 141

The would favour 'building a moat around the news division' 144

why was it all right for a black woman to appear naked on Irish TV but not an Irish woman? 145

The Pope's message was carried worldwide 'due to the miracle of the Irish television service' 148

management 'nervous enough', but they 'never intervened' 150

far beyond the dreams of 1962 151

it would remain 'a most important record of Joyce so long as he is read' 154

Chapter 14

'without any precedent in the history of human culture' 155

a project such as Strumpet City could take 'up to five years from concept to screen' 156

the locals watching the programme would nod to each other. 'I told him that.' 158

the cultural importance of the TV serial, an essentially new form 160

Chapter 15

'she is the producer's memory - he probably would forget to eat if she didn't remind him...' 163

'the people's very own jester who came right into the living room and seemed at home.' 165

RTÉ was 'to be destroyed and curbed' and Burke had been 'hand-picked for that job' 167

'RTÉ would be strangled if the legislation were left as it was' 170

RTÉ 'could be badly damaged from ignorance more than anything else' 173

'It was a deferred debt to the people of this country and an obligation for the future.' 175

Chapter 16

remuneration figures 'bore no relation' to other RTE pay; they were 'quite astronomical' 177

'You can't have an elephant and not have it do tricks in both rings in the circus' 181

'a moment when past and present ignited a sense of the future' 184

the Toy Show presented a 'very serious' question transcending RTE's 'concern for its pockets' 185

7 Days, Today Tonight, Prime Time 187

Chapter 17

1961-2011: then and now, some comparisons 189

origins of the interview: 'some humbug of a hack politician and another humbug of a reporter' 190

RTÉ 'was not anxious to promote the kingdom of God' 192

electioneering: from mass rallies to major television debates 195

Lenihan never recovered from his contradictory testimony 198

Who governs next? 200

politicians now preferred 'the pseudo-event, the sound-byte and the spin' 202

'mistakes were not the end of the world, just part of the game' 203

the 'native weaklings' and 'the wily Saxons' playing rugby in a rebuilt Croke Park 206

the 'Eurovision': from Dana to Dustin 210

RTÉ's Discovery requests permission to film orphanages and industrial schools, 1965 212

how used they keep themselves contented, before this monster was invented? 215

to ensure that the client talks, reveals, spills the beans, performs 218.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 237-238) and index.

ISBN:

9781848891357

1848891350

OCLC:

751735932

Publisher Number:

99945804781