2020 IASA - FIAT/IFTA Joint Conference

The function of television news has always been to disseminate current events to an audience. The news archive in case of a national broadcaster can offer a record of a society at a particular time. Where once we relied on just the written word to learn about our past a television news archive has the ability to let us see and hear how major and minor events unfolded.  News can add to our understanding of the world we live in.    
RTÉ Archives has digitised news reports broadcast on RTÉ Television from 1985 to 1999 and plans to to make them available at www.rte.ie/archives The collection is a record of events, information, commentary, weather, arts, sport and politics from these 15 years.

For 2020 we have appointed two assistant curators full time to publish material from the RTÉ Archives News Collection.

For the FIAT/IFTA conference we would like to share our experiences of this project. We believe at RTÉ Archives that there is a clear social value in making this collection available to the public. We also recognise that it presents new challenges.

How news was shot 30 years ago has changed. Language and terms used to portray events from this period people today may find offensive. News by its nature often contains upsetting and violent scenes.
What we do not have. This collection is made up of news reports not news programmes. Reports are sometimes incomplete.

It will show the impact of publishing for audiences, research professional and academic, sales and the catalogue at RTÉ Archives.

The presentation will use practical examples as experienced by the publishing team. It will be put together by Liam Wylie Curator Manager and assistant curators Fionnuala Parfrey and Eugene Finn.