- Fr. Kevin Reynolds.
The ongoing libel row engulfing Irish state broadcaster RTE has claimed another victim, with a key figure at the station stepping down.
Ken O'Shea, the editor of Prime Time Investigates, has resigned from the role over the Father Kevin Reynolds affair, while RTE's head of current affairs, Ed Mulhall has also announced his retirement.
The row began after the news show falsely accused Irish priest Fr. Reynolds of raping a minor and fathered a child while undertaking missionary work in Africa.
This week, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland announced that it had completed its report into the show, titled "A Mission to Prey." Since the row erupted, RTE has announced the scrapping of the Prime Time Investigates show, and is now set to replace it with a new show using a similar investigative format. A new current affairs "investigation unit" is also being formed to supply exclusive news across TV,
radio and online outlets.
Meanwhile, other jouranlists at RTE are being forced to undergo new training in the wake of the libel furor, this under new guidelines drawn up after the row erupted.
The "Reynold's Report" is set to be released in a few weeks, while RTE is allowed 14 days to prepare a response. RTE's Director General, Noel Curran, announced the resignation and retirement this week, and praised the "expertise and wisdom" of Mr. Mulhall.
Meanwhile, Mr. O'Shea has said he is not resigning from the station altogether, and is said to be taking up a new position for RTE Network Two.
Speaking this week, Mr. Curran said: "Mistakes will happen in broadcasting and in journalism, no matter what changes are made. Program makers must be and will be supported in making challenging programming.
"The publication of these new structures and guidelines is, we hope, a key step in an important direction," he said.
"The range of measures in these documents represents RTE's determination to make our journalism stronger, fairer and more transparent, and to reiterate our commitment to journalism as a core public service."
