The battle for the left
Does Sharon Ní Bheoláin EVER get to sit on the ‘important’ seat?
WHY does RTÉ news presenter Brian Dobson always sit on the left?
This is the question Irish viewers are asking TV bosses who are being accused of favouritism based on where presenters sit.
Furious viewers are lashing out after it emerged that the BBC had become embroiled in a sexism row over claims it appeared to always seat male presenters on the left and women on the right.
According to industry protocol, the left-hand position – as seen by viewers – is reserved for the most senior presenter.
The issue reached a head in the UK this week, when BBC Breakfast’s new presenter, Dan Walker, was automatically given the lefthand seat of his predecessor Bill Turnbull, while his more experienced co-host Louise Minchin remained in her right-hand seat.
A quick analysis of RTÉ programmes co-hosted by male and female presenters appears to show the national broadcaster following
‘It’s just a privilege to be there in the first place’
the industry norm. Brian Dobson almost always sits on the left during the Six One News. It’s only when Dobson is away that co-host Sharon Ní Bheoláin takes the senior left-hand seat, suggesting she is pulling rank on stand-in Ray Kennedy.
Similarly, Marty Whelan constantly stands to the camera left position of Sinéad Kennedy when the pair present Winning Streak.
The trend continues on The Today Show where presenter Dáithí Ó Sé is almost always seen presenting from the left, while co-host Maura Derrane sits on the right.
Colm Crowley, head of RTÉ Cork and executive producer on the Today Show, said it is traditional to put the more senior presenter on the left of the screen, but he stressed that this hadn’t inspired the Today Show’s seating arrangements.
‘It’s TV grammar that goes way back into the mists of time, and RTÉ does not imply by positioning who is more high profile or not,’ he said. ‘Both presenter positions are of equal importance and given that much of the show happens in sin- gle shots, it’s really irrelevant.’ But Prime Time presenter Miriam O’Callaghan told the Irish Mail on Sunday that she had worked in the BBC for 10 years and had ‘never heard of that protocol. I don’t believe it’. She added: ‘I suppose in the Prime Time studio, it’s slightly different because we tend to present separately.
‘But I think it’s a load of rubbish. I don’t mind sitting anywhere. It’s just a privilege to be there in the first place.’
A spokeswoman for RTÉ said the pattern of putting male presenters on the left was ‘just a coincidence’ and there was ‘no chance’ that gender played a role in deciding who sits where on the Six One News.
THERE was uproar when the new male presenter of BBC Breakfast was given the more prominent ‘camera-left’ seat in place of the show’s veteran co-host Louise Minchin. Our pictures on Page 3 suggest it is not unusual in RTE either. Maybe Dobbo will prove us wrong and do the old switcheroo with Sharon.