Editing Workers' Party (Ireland) (section)

===Ned Stapleton Cumann inside RTÉ===
Part of the party's plan to gain influence in the Republic of Ireland was the formation and maintenance of a secret branch (''[[cumann]]''), the [[Ned Stapleton Cumann]], inside Ireland's national broadcaster [[RTÉ]]. Centred around the leadership of Eoghan Harris, the members were all employees of RTÉ and many of them were journalists. Members included [[Charlie Bird]], [[John Caden]] and [[Marian Finucane]]. The branch started in the early 1970s and continued to operate in secrecy<ref>{{cite news |last= Heaney |first= Mick |date= 3 January 2012 |title=The battle for political supremacy in the newsroom |url= https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio-web/the-battle-for-political-supremacy-in-the-newsroom-1.438445 |newspaper= [[Irish Times]] |access-date= 27 February 2020 |archive-date= 27 February 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200227054019/https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio-web/the-battle-for-political-supremacy-in-the-newsroom-1.438445 |url-status= live }}</ref> until the Worker's Party broke apart in the early 1990s as the [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|Soviet Union collapsed]] (1991) and likewise the Workers' Party saw a [[#The 1992 split|major split]] with the formation of the [[Democratic Left (Ireland)|Democratic Left]] (1992). Remaining undetected was fundamental to the existence of the Cumann, as officially RTÉ reporters were not allowed to have party-political affiliations, in order to appear objective as journalists. The Cumann was influential within RTÉ, and used its position to shape the output of RTÉ programming; they pushed for narratives which reflected the official Sinn Féin/Workers' Party outlook, particularly in relation to the [[Provisional IRA]].<ref name="revolutionaries working inside RTÉ">{{cite news |date= 30 August 2009 |title= The story of the revolutionaries working inside RTÉ| url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article6814880.ece| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110301232732/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article6814880.ece| url-status=dead| archive-date=1 March 2011|access-date= 27 February 2020}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite book
 | last= Corcoran |first= Farrel John |date= 2004
 | title= RTÉ and the Globalisation of Irish Television
 |publisher= Intellect | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=IBWF7vQ1vfQC&q=worker%27s+party+rte+cumann+Ned+Stapleton&pg=PT77
 | isbn= 9781841500904
}}
</ref>

One programme impacted by the Cumann, [[Today Tonight (Irish TV programme)|''Today Tonight'']], aired 4 nights a week and focused on investigative journalism. Although not directly involved with the show, the Cumann members ensured that SFWP members regularly appeared on the programme without having to acknowledge their membership. The Cumann was also able to influence one of RTÉ's flagship shows [[The Late Late Show (Irish talk show)|''The Late Late Show'']], and placed SFWP activists into the show's studio audience, a studio audience who often took part in discussions on the show.<ref name="revolutionaries working inside RTÉ" />

During [[1981 Irish hunger strike]], the Cumann was deeply annoyed by the positive coverage that the hunger strikers (such as [[Bobby Sands]]) began to receive, as they were aligned with the Provisionals. In response, they produced pieces which focused on the victims of violence by the Provisional IRA in Northern Ireland.<ref name="revolutionaries working inside RTÉ" />