Kevin Bakhurst has said that RTÉ will need to be “flexible” when it comes to presenters receiving free items as he defended the decision to hire people because they have strong social media profiles.
The Director General told the Irish Mirror that it would have been “foolhardy” to make changes to 2FM as it is one of the “most successful things” RTÉ has to “connect with audiences”.
As controversy swirled around RTÉ’s financial management this summer, there were several stories written about promotion deals some of its stars partake in.
READ MORE: RTÉ DG Kevin Bakhurst gives his opinion on Ryan Tubridy's new job announcement
2FM presenter Lottie Ryan had to delete a video about her sponsored car that was filmed in the RTÉ car park, while questions were asked about 2FM Breakfast presenter Doireann Garrihy filming a video for porridge oats in a RTÉ studio.
Asked by the Irish Mirror if he believed that it was appropriate for RTÉ stars to receive items such as free cars, hotel stays and objects for their home, Mr Bakhurst said that there needed to be “transparency” about what people were receiving.
The broadcaster is currently in the process of setting up a register of interests.
He said: “It’s a complicated market and people are on different types of contracts.
“Some people are on full time and they’re on different types of programmes here.
“Some people we bring in because they have a particular profile, say on social media. We want them to bring younger audiences and those kinds of audiences with them.
“We need a degree of flexibility.
“But I think in the end, what people expect is transparency about if you have a significant RTÉ platform, then there should be enough transparency to hear about your outside interests.”
Mr Bakhurst also said that he was not aware of members of the public emailing him to complain about his staff getting freebies.
The director general also defended the decision to hire people with a large social media presence rather than promoting people internally to positions.
He argued that there was a “mixture of people who've come up through the ranks here and people we brought in”.
He said: “I probably go to 2FM more often than I should, but they have a great team who are very creative, very motivated and I like to see it. I’m proud of what they’re doing.”
While there had been questions about the future of 2FM, Mr Bakhurst confirmed that it is “not going anywhere any time soon”.
He said: “In my view, it would be a bit foolhardy… One of the most successful things we have in terms of connecting with our audiences is 2FM.
“It roughly breaks even. It's not a money-spinning machine, but it's not a huge cost to us either.
“If that is delivering your audiences we find hard to be relevant to, then I think it's doing a good job."
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