Damning Report Highlights RTE Failings In Libel Case

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland has issued a damning report into the libel by RTE of a priest, in the biggest controversy ever to hit the public service broadcaster.

The BAI investigation into how the libel happened showed a series of calamitous mistakes, which led to the defaming of Fr Kevin Reynolds in a Prime Time Investigates program called "Mission to Prey".

Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte described the report as worse than he had expected, saying it showed the program to be a "shoddy, unprofessional, cavalier and damaging piece of work".

The reporter involved Aoife Kavanagh dramatically resigned from RTE within hours of the BAI's report being published last Friday.

She apologized to Fr Reynolds for the hurt involved, but insisted she had acted in good faith throughout and rejected some of the BAI findings.

The director of news in RTE, Ed Mulhall, retired a few weeks ago in response to the scandal.

Two others involved in the program - head of current affairs Brian Pairceir and Prime Time series editor Ken O'Shea - have left their positions, and were transferred to other less prominent positions within RTE.

The program's editor Mark Lappin is now living in London, where he works for CNN.

The fallout from the Prime Time Investigates scandal is likely to continue this week - Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte has called a meeting of the RTE Board for Tuesday morning.

He pointedly refused to express confidence in the board during a TV interview over the weekend.

The program accused Fr Kevin Reynolds of raping a minor while working on a mission in Kenya, and fathering a child with the woman involved.

Fr Reynolds denied the allegations, and in a series of legal letters which went practically ignored, he offered in advance of the broadcast to take a paternity test to prove his innocence.

The offer was rejected and the program aired last May.

However, Fr Reynolds successfully sued RTE for libel, and was awarded a seven figure sum when the case was settled after paternity tests proved he was not the father of the young girl.

In the wake of the libel case, the government-appointed Broadcasting Authority of Ireland asked Anne Carragher, a BBC journalist with years of experience, to conduct and inquiry into how such a gravely incorrect report made it to air.

Her highly critical report last Friday revealed a number of major errors including:

• The legal department did not become involved in advising the program makers until very late in the production, and were not made aware of a legal letter offering paternity tests on the day of the broadcast.
• There was a major lack of documentary evidence throughout the making of the program. Notes from the journalist involved were incomplete, and meetings between editorial and management staff were rarely minuted or documented. As a result, it was difficult to prove at what point decisions were made.
• The report says the reporter concerned, Aoife Kavanagh, placed too much faith in her primary source, and also did not challenge the alleged victim enough during her on-camera interview in which the claim was made.
• It says the Prime Time team did not believe the offer of a paternity test was genuine, and saw it as a tactic being employed by the priest to prevent the show being aired. They believed if they accepted the offer, there would be no way of enforcing the paternity test and therefore a man, whom they believed to be guilty of wrongdoing, would not be exposed.
• The report found that the program makers were guilty of a "group-think" mentality, where assumptions were not challenged.
• It said that the secret filming and doorstep interviews encroached upon Fr Reynolds' privacy. However, she took the view that the RTE guidelines on the issue were ambiguous and capable of varying interpretation.

RTE's Director General Noel Curran, who himself escapes any major criticism in the report, said the organization accepted the findings of the report and were determined to repair the damage done to the trust between the Irish public and the national broadcaster.

He said training was already being provided to journalists in new guidelines, and RTE was determined to learn the lessons from the biggest mistake in its history.

RTE was fined €200,000 for breaching Broadcasting legislation.

Aoife Kavanagh resigned within hours of the BAI report's publication, issuing a statement.

She said: "I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to Fr Kevin Reynolds for the hurt caused to him by the Prime Time Investigates program.

"I would also like to apologize to those who work with victims of sexual abuse if this controversy has in any way made their work more difficult.

"While acknowledging that mistakes were made I believe that I acted objectively and in good faith throughout the making of the program.

"In this regard I do not accept many of the findings of the Investigating Officer in relation to the manner in which I carried out my work."

Professor Horgan, who carried out a separate review of editorial processes within RTÉ, said the broadcaster now had to concentrate on program quality as well as fair and reasonable reporting.was the need for journalists to distinguish between fact and belief.