The RTE coverage left a _lot_ to be desired. First of all, the “experts” in the studio didn’t seem to be experts at all. The first man, apparently an astronomy expert from a Dublin university, was asked what the eclipse meant to him. He explained that it didn’t mean that much to him since it wasn’t his area actually, but from a scientific point of view blah blah blah blah. Couldn’t RTE have gotten someone who actually liked talking about eclipses? This poor man seemed as if he had been put in an awkward position. The second expert told us a few eclipse folk tales and explained what happened in times gone by, but unfortunately we were still lacking basic knowledge about the current eclipse, for example what totality of the sun would be covered to someone viewing the eclipse from Ireland.

RTE also persisted in showing us the eclipse view from the Phoenix Park [centre of the universe], and not from the south of the country where the totality was greater and therefore more impressive. I suppose the thought of showing us the eclipse from a boat off the Cork or Kerry coast (nearest to the eclipse) would probably have been unimaginable to those crteins [misspelling intended]. The only saving grace was a brief report from Jim Fahy at Schull Planetarium, where a lecturer from UCC really seemed to know what he was talking about. Indeed, I found the coverage on TV5 more enjoyable than RTE’s (even though it was in a foreign language!), and they brought us some amazing shots of the eclipse from France.

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