RTÉ probe essential viewing

IT has not gone unnoticed that this week’s Oireachtas committees have made for the best viewing on television this year so far.

At a time when RTÉ is on under enormous scrutiny for corporate governance structures, the several committees televised this week made for compelling viewing.

It was ironic, therefore, that the national broadcaster is likely to get some of its highest viewing figures for an inquiry into its own affairs.

That, in itself, tells its own story. Television, on a global scale, is in decline. Young viewers today do not, by and large, watch the medium. They watch streaming services, YouTube videos, but rarely a TV channel.

The current fiasco unravelling before our very eyes in our national broadcaster is like a microcosm of what is happening worldwide. Which makes debate on the scale of taxpayers’ monies, and the high jinx of some of the executives, so unsavoury to watch.