A marketing campaign being filmed for RTÉ, using extras and props in the newsroom, "just doesn't sit right", the chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on Media has said.Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Alan Kelly said it seems to be "absolutely ridiculous" that RTÉ is presenting something "that isn't real".The NUJ Dublin Broadcasting Newsroom Chapel has written to RTÉ management asking for production of the advert to be paused pending further discussion with staff representatives.The advert purports to highlight a day in the life of the newsroom.RTÉ said that a number of "non-featured extras" were used in the filming and that "most newsroom staff at the time of filming were engaged in their full-time roles of producing news content for the public."Mr Kelly said trust was lost in RTÉ a number of years ago and is being slowly built back up and asked why the broadcaster would use actors or misrepresent the actual environment in which journalistic work takes place."Workers who are working in your environment, whether in front of camera, behind the camera, they all know the environment they're working in."They all know what they have to deal with, day in, day out, and presenting something that isn't actually the real deal or close to it; where actors have been brought in, where props have been brought in for something is presented as if this is RTÉ ... I mean it's just not a good way of doing it," he said.In a statement, RTÉ said its in-house marketing team is in the process of making a campaign to highlight the work of journalists within RTÉ News and Current Affairs.It said the 60-second TV promo will feature a number of RTÉ journalists and that a number of extras were used in the background at the time of filming "and shot out of focus".The statement added that the newsroom was filmed "as is", with minimal additions and that two plants were relocated temporarily to obscure a plug board.It said the filming took place in the area of the newsroom, which is still to be upgraded.RTÉ is to appear before the committee tomorrow to discuss matters relating to policy, governance, expenditure and administration at the broadcaster.RTÉ is the first organisation to be invited to appear before the committee during this Dáíl term.Mr Kelly also said the committee will ask RTÉ executives how an €3.6 million write-down for an IT project in RTÉ came about.Earlier this month, the broadcaster confirmed it had written down the figure on the partly failed IT system, which was one of the projects funded from the proceeds of the sale of land at its Dublin site in 2017.Mr Kelly said he did not believe there was an attempt to hide the write-off but added there was not an attempt to make it public."I would challenge anyone to go through those (reports) forensically and be able to see it," he said.
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