By Aoife Daly 

Despite people’s speculation that print journalism is dying, TV journalism seems to be largely left out from these discussions. The reality is that traditional TV news may be a dying medium. According to Ofcom’s annual media report in the UK, only 54% of people aged between 16-24 watch any live television at all. As streaming has captured the attention of young people, focus has shifted away from organisations like RTÉ.  

State-sponsored media in particular is in a very delicate position, as it relies directly on the public’s willingness to engage with and fund its productions. In an online poll of 72 young people under the age of 30, 83% responded that they would not be happy to pay for a TV license in the future. 

“I feel like the general public are just told to pay it and they’re very vague about where the money is going and what it’s being used for” 

Anonymous

Many young people today are informed on current affairs news through sites like Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter/X. In a 2022 study in the US by Statista, 50% of Gen Z respondents reported that they primarily used social media for their news information. Whilst these sites can provide crucial first-person perspectives on current issues, they are also rife with misinformation.  

An article from Science from 2018 revealed that tweets containing false or misleading information were 70% more likely to spread than tweets that were entirely truthful. The need for fact-checkers has only become more urgent with recent developments in AI technology, which has been used to create both false journalistic articles and images.  

In February of 2023, one Twitter user posted what were supposedly pictures of French rioters and police hugging. However, this image was revealed to be AI generated, as one of the people in the pictures had six fingers.  

In July, Redditors trolled the gaming news site Zleague, after finding out that many discussion boards on the site were being copied nearly word for word. Users began writing nonsensical posts about their new favourite character “Glorbo,” who did not exist. Soon after, articles about the character appeared on Zleague. 

It is clear to see from these examples that there is a need for reliable news media. While it might be easy to dismiss online sources entirely, there is a reason young people are drawn to them. 

Legacy media is generally understood to be a more reliable source, but these outlets are not without their faults. RTÉ in particular has been heavily criticised for their recent scandal, in which it was revealed that funds within the organisation, largely made up of taxpayer money, had been misused. When compared to online media, which is free to use and easier to access, many young people find the decision an easy one to make. 

“I believe that people have the right to go online and search for news sources and outlets that provide what they perceive to be a genuine perspective of current affairs and world events” 

Daragh Birmingham

Daragh Birmingham, a second year Maynooth student, said “I feel the recent RTÉ scandal has only served to reaffirm my position that traditional television is unreliable, untrustworthy and at risk of becoming severely dated. 

“As a state-monitored entity, we often look to RTÉ to represent the best of Irish media, but in recent times it has only reflected poorly upon the sorry state of affairs that we’ve come to expect in this country, culminating in this recent scandal,” he continued. 

Julianna Cooper, a fourth-year student at TU Dublin, also said that RTÉ’s recent scandal contributed to her opinion on the TV license. “Pretty much every household has a TV, but every household is paying the same rate… it’s a bit ridiculous that it’s a flat rate, in my opinion,” she said. 

She continued that she saw the license as “fraudulent,” particularly due to RTÉ’s misuse of funds.  

TU Dublin Student Union’s president Brian Jordan said “I could definitely understand why many other people would not be happy to pay for a TV licence at this point in time. Especially given the current cost of living crisis, and failure of the government to acknowledge it.” 

“I definitely think we should always have [state sponsored media],” he continued. “I’m a big fan of the government and actually think they should be more involved,” he said.  

“I think if you make everything completely privatised it’s a disaster… I know in America, it’s way worse, you’ll have [for example], a very republican-centric news channel, and that’s completely biased,” said Jordan. 

Zara Kane, a recent Maynooth graduate, said that despite getting most of her information from the RTÉ six o’clock news, she would not want to pay for a TV license herself in the future, as she “never really [watches] live TV.” 

“I feel that on the internet news is often very biased, and not always fact checked, so it’s not as reliable,” she continued.  

However, not everyone sees traditional media as such a reliable source of information. Birmingham said that RTÉ “has arguably become just as mistrusted as any of these so called ‘fake news’ outlets online… I believe that people have the right to go online and search for news sources and outlets that provide what they perceive to be a genuine perspective of current affairs and world events.” 

Cooper also added that she feels RTÉ is very privatised, explaining that this contributed to her mistrust of the organisation. 

Jordan said he would like more information explaining what exactly is funded by TV licenses. “They fail to argue why we have to pay for it in terms of, you know, what is it funding? … Is it just another hidden tax that people are forced to pay?” 

This sentiment was echoed by an anonymous fourth year student at TU Dublin, who said that she, like the rest of this article’s interviewees, would be reluctant to pay for a TV license in the future.  

“I guess it’s because I never really understood it,” she said. “I feel like the general public are just told to pay it and they’re very vague about where the money is going and what it’s being used for.” 

“It didn’t help seeing the presenter’s earnings from RTÉ every year either, with them making a killing while the majority of people are going through a housing or cost of living crisis,” she continued. 

“The more transparency, the more that people come to trust it,” Jordan said, in a sentiment that was echoed by many of the other interviewees. In the end, it seems that while young people may trust the content from traditional media to be more trustworthy than what they would find online, they are still sceptical of the organisations themselves. Most seemed to agree that an increased emphasis on transparency would help them to trust traditional media more. RTÉ did not respond to requests for a comment.