Documentary in a Changing State: Ireland since the 1990s

Cláracha Fáisnéise ar TG/Documentary: Programmes on TG4

TG4 was established in 1996 with the mandate to promote ‘innovation and experimentation in broadcasting’.1 The 2001 Broadcasting Act/Acht Craolacháin (Ireland) and its updated 2009 version do not mention the Irish language as the main aim of TG4. In section (4) (a) however, it is stated that programmes should be ‘primarily in Irish’.2 To this end, the motto Súil eile [another perspective] is the criterion for many of TG4’s commissioned projects , with the language aspect implicitly understood.3 ‘[A] sense of location and identification with place and people . . . characterise[d] TnaG from the start’.4 Since the beginning, the channel has prided itself on offering an alternative view of Irish life. This différence is often, but not exclusively, linked to the use of the Irish language, another means of expression and communication .5 Broadcasting in a minority language brings a set of particular challenges.6 The obvious difficulties which flow from a limited size and budget, which for many small stations result in an over-dependence on imported programming and formats, have in the case of TG4 been largely overcome by resourceful commissioning from a growing independent production sector, and clever twisting of formats to suit a local audience. The small pool of skilled personnel and talent who are also fluent in Irish, not to mention the linguistic ability and attitudes of its viewers, provides an extra challenge for TG4. The station meets this by seeking more visually engaging and innovative storytelling, which will be able to hold non-fluent audiences without alienating the croíphobal [core audience]. Playing with cultural markers such as language, custom and place is a sign that the culture is alive. From a producer’s point of view, it means that language barriers must be overcome by creativity and visual flair. Popular genres on minority-language television channels include children ’s (creating future audiences, ensuring the young hear the language in a ‘fun’ context), sport (hugely popular, and largely avoids language issue), music (vibrant and meaningful link to culture, without requiring high fluency of the audience) and documentary.7 While TG4 has recently enjoyed great success with drama productions, this innovation is most visible in documentaries. 115 Cláracha Fáisnéise ar TG/Documentary Programmes on TG4 RUTH LYSAGHT and RACHEL LYSAGHT With documentary, there is no need to ‘explain’ why people are speaking in the language. They simply are. This allows documentary makers a certain freedom in subject matter and approach, which is not so readily available to those creating drama. Whose Story? A brief look at the TG4 schedule for the week beginning 14 June 2010 reveals a diverse range of documentary topics: the legacy of Che Guevara, Mad Sweeney and his relation to the Antrim landscape, missionary activity and Gaeltacht activism, how antibiotics work, the musical gifts of the Travelling community, the 1942 escape of a German internee disguised as a woman from Mountjoy jail and reminiscences of currach-race winners from 1955.8 The diversity of documentary subject matter indicates the broad range of interests among TG4 viewers. With an emphasis on quality, and high production values (despite ever-dwindling budgets), the station encourages producers to think of new audiences, new formats and create a strongly branded and alternative viewing platform to that offered by other broadcasters . Jerry White’s comment that the work of Gael Linn effected ‘translations of a mostly English-speaking country into a series of Irishspeaking images’9 might now be reversed, as TG4 documentary (among other genres) creates spaces in which Irish is spoken ‘live’, even between people who would otherwise switch to English.10 116 Ruth Lysaght and Rachel Lysaght Fig. 16. Pipes traversing the land, The Pipe produced by Rachel Lysaght Documentary in the Irish language appears to have travelled far from its early days, where expository material, frequently with an ‘authoritative’ voiceover in Griersonian mode, dominated the screen.11 Indeed, until the 1970s most of the material for cinema screening in the Irish language was of an educational nature (encouraging civic spirit, domestic safety, etc), and the same film was available in an English version. Early film in Irish was produced mainly by Gael Linn, whose documentary newsreels were widely shown in cinemas under the title Amharc Éireann.12 State-sponsored safety films were screened as well. In the 1950s and 1960s, the Film Institute of Ireland was funded by Roinn na Gaeltachta...