3. Public Service Media

RTE News is part of RTE which has the following mission statement:

Vision:
To champion Irish culture by captivating
audiences with trusted, engaging and
challenging content; celebrating our
country’s rich diversity; and cultivating
Ireland’s talent.
Mission:
To enrich Irish life with content that
challenges, educates and entertains.
Values:
As an organisation and individually, RTÉ will
be outward looking, creative, respectful,
sustainable and accountable, collaborative
and transparent, and will demonstrate the
following behaviours: Outward Looking
Have a deep understanding of its
audience and their needs.
Invest time and energy in
monitoring changes in the media
landscape.
Creative
Be resourceful and innovative
in how it makes its content. Be
brave, take risks and be willing to
learn from failures.
Respectful
Treat people, including staff and
partners, with respect, even when
it challenges. Nurture trust by
being fair and open about the
decisions it makes.
Sustainable and Accountable
Manage its business in a
responsible manner. Be
accountable to each other
within RTÉ and to audience and
stakeholders.
Collaborative
Work together, bringing the ‘One
RTÉ’ organisation to life. Join
forces with partners to meet the
needs of RTÉ’s audience.
Transparent
Make decisions openly.
Be upfront about the reasons
for the actions taken.

The Broadcasting Act 2009

https://revisedacts.lawreform.ie/eli/2009/act/18/front/revised/en/html

RTÉ is regulated by Coimisiún na Meán (CnaM) in relation to its obligations as a public-service broadcasting corporation. RTÉ (as required by the Broadcasting Act 2009) cooperates with CnaM in the annual and five-year public funding reviews carried out under section 124 of the Act.

Section 99 of the Broadcasting Act (2009) states that RTÉ must prepare a statement of strategy every five years. “…set(ting) out the strategy of the board of the corporation for achieving its objects under this Act during the period to which the statement relates, having regard to resources available to the corporation.” In June 2024, RTÉ published it's most recent Statement of Strategy (A New Direction 2025-2029) which has been underpinned by due consideration of RTÉ’s extensive remit as outlined in Section 114 of the Broadcasting Act.

Section 102 of the Broadcasting Act (2009) requires that RTÉ prepare an annual Statement of Performance Commitments. Annual Statements of Performance Commitments will be submitted over the period 2025-2029 following approval and adoption of RTÉ’s Statement of Strategy. Metrics for the strategy will be included in RTÉ’s Annual Statement of Performance Commitments. These published commitments will support transparency in demonstrating how RTÉ is delivering against the stated goals and outcomes of this strategy, for public and stakeholders.

In line with Government and CnaM requirements, RTÉ’s Fair Trading Policy and Procedures is published on RTÉ.ie

Under the Broadcasting Act 2009, RTÉ is dual funded; This means that RTÉ is part-funded by a Licence Fee and part-funded by commercial revenue. Both sources of funding are necessary to allow RTÉ to fulfill its public service remit.

56.2% of income in 2022 was from licence fee funds.
Source: https://www.rte.ie/annual-report-2022/pdf/RTE_Annual_Report_YE22.pdf

Our Journalism Guidelines include the following statement:

5.1 Public Service – Integrity and Independence
RTÉ exists to serve the public. The public must have
confidence in the integrity and independence of what they
hear and see on RTÉ’s services:
• We must be editorially independent of government,
business interests, political parties, trade unions and
pressure groups.
• Nothing we do should give rise to any perception
that presenters, reporters or producers personally
benefit from their decisions as to who participates in
programmes, what products are featured and what
issues are discussed.
• There must be no grounds for the perception that
editorial decisions in some way reflect the personal
views of production teams.