RTE’s new managing director of News and Current Affairs Kevin Bakhurst is settling in and yesterday announced changes to the station’s output that will take place early next year.

Claire Byrne and George Lee join Prime Time, RTE 1 will get a new morning news programme from 9 until 11 am and The Week in Politics will be broadcast earlier on a Sunday and repeated later that night. (Sean O’Rourke will be happier given his frequent jibing at the late hour of transmission for the programme, also they are less likely to be caught by the ‘hung by pre-record’ that affected the show last Sunday after Enda’s chat with Angela Merkel. Now if Kevin can sort the programme’s chronic dose of RTE Testicles I would be a very happy viewer. )

The role of RTE News Now which is now available to people on UPC (Channel 200) as well as online via apps and website and the area of digital news generally is one which Bakhurst has outlined as being pivotal to future developments.  He says that RTE have aspirations to providing a successful Irish Television news channel.  There’s talk of using smartphones and wifi to deliver news and give faster news gathering. This would mean that we might actually get to see news as it happens like the IMF arriving into Ireland and political heaves rather than have to suffer un-interruptable Fair City.  (Remember November 2010?)

Look forward to more discussion of the developments on this side of news output and to see increased inclusion of voices outside of Dublin in news and current affairs in addition to the generally good job done in Six One.  Also it would be an excellent idea for all the editorial guidelines which have been introduced and revised of late to be published and available to all to see.

The new season of Prime Time already shows a bit more oomph and diversity in the items covered (but less of the sofa and Quinn PR’s please?) however we have still to see what the plans for investigative journalism and reporting will be after the cancelling of Prime Time Investigates.

Surely though it cannot be long now till they really get sense in Montrose and bring back Questions and Answers? Pretty Please? (The begging worked with Saturday View‘s metamorphosis into Saturday with Claire Byrne on RTE Radio 1).