BACKLASH OVER ‘DEMOTION’ OF RTE’S MARTINA
Angry Minister claims journalist was ‘taken out’
RTÉ was last night embroiled in another gender row after the effective demotion of its most high-profile female correspondent was roundly criticised yesterday.
The backlash to the replacement of Martina Fitzgerald as political correspondent by Paul Cunningham was criticised by female Cabinet ministers and politicians.
On Thursday, the journalist and author was moved by management from Leinster House, where she has worked for five years, back to the RTÉ newsroom.
Enterprise Minister Heather Humphreys said she was ‘disappointed’ with the decision, while Junior Education Minister Mary Mitchell O’Connor was ‘annoyed’, and suggested Ms Fitzgerald had been ‘taken out’. Fianna Fáil’s Lisa Chambers
said it was a ‘retrograde step’.
Ms Fitzgerald is understood to have consulted her lawyers about her next move, with some colleagues, mostly women, believing her treatment was unjust.
They described Ms Fitzgerald as being ‘devastated’ and told of the air of confusion over the announcement, as they initially didn’t realise that Mr Cunningham had been given Ms Fitzgerald’s position.
They also said they believe her outspoken view on female equality and gender pay gaps at RTÉ played a role in what one senior female presenter called a ‘demotion’.
A high profile on-screen presenter said ‘powerful’ male figures at RTÉ ‘never wanted to see a woman in that job’.
Ms Fitzgerald recently published a number one bestselling book, Madam Politician, about female politicians and the challenges and sexism they face. Interviewees for
‘Jealousy over the success of her book’
the book last night told the Irish Mail on Sunday of their shock at the move. Former Fianna Fáil Cabinet Minister Mary O’Rourke speculated that ‘jealousy’ over the success of her book may have played a role in the move.
Ms O’Rourke said: ‘She really was highly professional. She was the first female political correspondent for RTÉ in many years. It is kind of incomprehensible. I can’t remember it happening to a man. I would consider it a demotion. You will find [RTÉ] have themselves covered in employment law.’
High profile female colleagues at Montrose spoke in support of Ms Fitzgerald. ‘The old boys club in RTÉ were never happy that she was appointed political correspondent. They would prefer to see a man in that job,’ said a nationallyknown female presenter.
‘It’s all right for women to be newsreaders, but not politics,’ she said,. ‘They have not thought through the backlash here: that they have moved a woman who is outspoken on issues of gender.’
Ms Fitzgerald was replaced by an experienced and award-winning male colleague, Paul Cunningham.
But there was shock at the manner of the announcement of the changes in the political team. As the MoS previously revealed, under new contracts correspondents have to be re-interviewed for their jobs every five years.
Two male correspondents were reinterviewed and reappointed. Ms Fitzgerald is the first correspondent to be removed from their role.
An internal announcement was made on Thursday that Mr Cunningham had been appointed, but there was no announcement that Ms Fitzgerald had been moved.
So, initially, colleagues thought that Mr Cunningham had been added to the team.
‘Martina was not told why she was taken out of Leinster House,’ said a senior source who was in RTÉ on Thursday. ‘It was announced internally within 50 minutes of Martina being told.
‘In the RTÉ newsroom when it was announced there was total confusion because people didn’t realise it was her job. They thought there was a third political correspondent. No-one realised it was her job. And then came a tweet.’
Mr Cunningham announced his appointment via Twitter.
Yesterday Minister for Jobs and Enterprise Heather Humphreys told the MoS: ‘I am disappointed to learn that Martina will no longer be reporting for RTÉ in Dáil Éireann.
‘She is a consummate professional and she backed female Ministers at [press conferences] when she always remembered to ask the woman a question,’ she said. ‘She will be missed, but especially by female politicians.’
Super Junior Minister Mary Mitchell O’Connor, who herself experienced a high profile demotion when Leo Varadkar became Taoiseach, also expressed her dismay yesterday.
‘I am very disappointed and annoyed at RTÉ’s treatment of Martina Fitzgerald,’ said Ms Mitchell O’Connor on her Twitter account.
‘She is one of the most high profile women in media and she’s been taken out.’
An RTÉ source said Ms Fitzgerald was taking legal advice.
‘She has several options open to her. She is shocked and devastated. It is impossible to understand the decision given her work commitment and her hard work and her success,’ said the source.
Ms Fitzgerald became political correspondent in 2013 after a 15 year gap. since the last woman, Una Claffey, held the role.
A Leinster House source said that Ms Fitzgerald has been ‘inundated with phone calls and texts from Ministers, TDs and Senators and journalists’. A high profile and respected female colleague told the MoS of her anger last night.
‘It is reputational damage. It is extraordinary what they have done. I can’t understand the thinking behind it and they can’t see what they’ve done and they don’t understand the backlash.’ Another highprofile woman presenter said she was certain Ms Fitzgerald’s ‘gender played a role in her demotion. I haven’t noticed it happening to many men in RTÉ down the years. If they are deemed to be unsuitable for their jobs by management, the men are promoted. Money doesn’t matter because it’s taxpayers’ money.’
She also added that she believed Ms Fitzgerald was targeted because she had expressed views on a gender pay gap at RTÉ.
In summer 2017, Sharon Ní Bheoláin spoke out about higher wages being paid to men at the station.
Ms Fitzgerald wrote an opinion piece for the Irish Times in July 2017, which carried the headline: ‘Martina Fitzgerald: Debate over gender pay equality at RTÉ an issue for all women’.
Ms Fitzgerald wrote: ‘As RTÉ’s political correspondent, my job is to observe, to report and to shed light on political issues. On the issue of gender pay equality I also want transparency. And, like many of my media colleagues, I cannot be an observer on this issue.’
A female presenter with a national profile says she believes Ms Fitzgerald was ultimately punished for expressing these views.
‘You know when she went and wrote that piece in the Irish Times, she was hauled over the coals for that. I’m not going on the record, because I tell you it is so toxic in there at the moment,’ she said.
RTÉ confirmed Ms Fitzgerald was the only incumbent correspondent who had been unsuccessful in her re-application. A spokesman said Montrose had nothing to add to its official statement. He added RTÉ did not want to comment on claims about the role of gender in her removal, or on the statements of politicians.
‘Inundated with phone calls and texts from TDs’