Ireland’s national broadcasting service, RTÉ, has told an Oireachtas committee that it received nine formal complaints about its Liveline broadcasts that debated Transgender issues earlier this year.
“RTÉ received approximately 110 contacts (emails and phone calls) regarding the three programmes and around two-thirds were positive and one-third negative. RTÉ responded comprehensively to nine formal complaints concerning the Liveline programmes,” the broadcaster explained.
Head of editorial standards, Brian Dowling stated that the broadcaster rejected all complaints about the three Liveline shows that took place on June 9, 10 and 13 this year.
“RTÉ also advised each complainant, in writing, of their legal entitlement to seek an independent adjudication if they were not satisfied with RTE’s rejection of their complaint by way of referral to the BAI,” Dowling added. “None of the nine complainants availed of referral to the BAI (Broadcasting Authority of Ireland).”
Leave transgender teens alone. They just want to live their lives in peace without people having a "debate" about their right to exist. Their lives are not a "debate". They have enough to contend with and as adults, we need to support them. ❤️#Liveline
— Fiona Kenny (@FionaKenny1) June 9, 2022
Although RTÉ told the Oireachtas commitee that Dublin Pride did not make any broadcast complaint after ending its media partnership with the broadcaster, Jamie Kenny, who serves as the operations manager with Dublin Pride, said that the organisation “is a member of the trans equality together coalition and through that group, a formal complaint was made.”
He continued by saying that “RTE can either decide if they are going to stand by marginalised groups or not, that is a choice for them.”
The relentless debate is exhausting. @aoifemrtn nails it:
"At the end of the day nothing that was said on Liveline was new. If you have any sort of online presence, especially if you’re transgender, then you’ll have heard it all before." https://t.co/coBJUrw8hc
— Bea (she/her) 🇵🇸🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈🇮🇪 (@beabikes) June 24, 2022
Kenny further added: “Dublin Pride, however, will never throw our trans friends and siblings under the bus. Where our views align there is scope to work together but there are fundamental issues we will not budge on.”
RTÉ told the Oireachtas committee that it will not be publishing any of the complaints received surrounding the Liveline programme, but have no issue with any of the complainants publishing their own “and acknowledging they did not contest the response”.
© 2022 GCN (Gay Community News). All rights reserved.
Support GCN
GCN has been a vital, free-of-charge information service for Ireland’s LGBTQ+ community since 1988.
During this global COVID pandemic, we like many other organisations have been impacted greatly in the way we can do business and produce. This means a temporary pause to our print publication and live events and so now more than ever we need your help to continue providing this community resource digitally.
GCN is a registered charity with a not-for-profit business model and we need your support. If you value having an independent LGBTQ+ media in Ireland, you can help from as little as €1.99 per month. Support Ireland’s free, independent LGBTQ+ media.
comments. Please sign in to comment.