RTÉ current affairs chief embroiled in Twitter row over Creaven case

AN RTÉ current affairs chief last night seemed to criticise the station’s extensive coverage of paedophile Kieran Creaven’s child-grooming case.

Head of TV current affairs David Nally got himself involved in a Twitter exchange – see the tweets, right – with former RTÉ political correspondent David Davin-Power, during which he posited that had Mr Creaven worked for TV3, RTÉ would not have given the story as much attention.

Nally asked on Twitter: ‘If Kieran Creaven worked as an accountant for Tesco would every single headline include “Tesco accountant”?’

In December, when Creaven pleaded guilty, RTÉ immediately issued a statement saying he had been sacked.

Creaven was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Friday for attempting to groom a 13year-old online.

Nally was not speaking on behalf of RTÉ, but nonetheless the tweets are likely to viewed dimly by station bosses, who have been at pains to ensure their coverage is unbiased.

Mr Nally declined to comment through a RTÉ spokeswoman, and the station also stayed tight-lipped last night.

@davenally1 If Kieran Creaven worked as an accountant for tesco would every single headline include “tesco accountant” @theddp If he worked for TV3 how would RTE describe him? Just wondering. @davenally1 I’d say we wouldn’t have given the story half as...

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