Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
THE BROADCASTING AUTHORITY of Ireland (BAI) has today published the results of four decisions it has made on foot of complaints made by members of the public.
Three of the four complaints relate to RTÉ broadcasts which referenced former US President Donald Trump. The other relates to a jingle on Today FM which the complainant claimed had contained sexist remarks.
All four were rejected.
Trump
One of the complaints was made in regard to the RTÉ Six One News on 9 November 2020.
The complainant took exception to the description of Joe Biden as President Elect. This broadcast was made after Joe Biden’s victory speech and after major outlets had declared him the winner of the electoral college. This victory was later certified by US Congress.
The BAI said: “The complainant maintains that when an election outcome is unclear or disputed nobody should refer to any of the candidates as the ‘President Elect’. The complainant maintains that, at the time of broadcast, the incumbent president, Donald Trump, had not conceded the election. Further, the complainant maintains that there are on-going reports of voter irregularities.”
The complainant also said that bias was shown during reporting regarding alleged voting irregularities.
In response, RTÉ said that the description of Biden as President Elect was appropriate and valid. Furthermore, it said its reporting was factually accurate, fair and impartial.
The BAI rejected this complaint.
Another complainant took exception to a segment on RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne which featured commentary on a report that Trump had made disparaging remarks about the US military during a visit to France in 2018.
The BAI rejected the claim that the topic was presented in a one-sided manner, and that facts were omitted or presented in a manner which would mislead.
A third Trump-related complaint centred on a segment on Liveline with featured an interview with former US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power. The complainant said the 45-minute segment amounted to a party-political broadcast for the Democratic party.
RTÉ said that the programme featured callers and contributors both in support and against Donald Trump.
The BAI said it “did not find evidence in the broadcast to support the view of the complainant that the presenter displayed bias or that the programme was unfair, unobjective or partial”.
On-air jingle
A fourth complaint related to an on-air jingle played on Today FM’s Dermot and Dave show.
The BAI said: “The complainant states that there is a weekly segment in which one of the show’s female producers provides an overview of upcoming shows on TV. A jingle is played before and after this segment which, in the view of the complainant, contains offensive, discriminatory and sexist remarks.
“The complainant particularly takes issue with the lyrics ‘you are fired’ and ‘put on the kettle’. The complainant found both remarks derogatory and offensive and is of the view that the jingle sends the wrong message to female listeners. The complainant further notes that the show does not include similar references aimed towards men.”
The producer in question provided a response, as she co-wrote the jingle. She stated that the jingle is not designed to cause offence and was a play on the producer-presenter relationship.
The BAI added: “The jingle is a joke which plays on the fact that the producer is the presenters’ manager and, as such, could not be fired by the presenters. In addition, the kettle reference is a cheeky play on the presenters asking their boss to make them a cup of tea. The broadcaster states that gender has no relevance to the content of the jingle.”
In its decision, the BAI said it listened to the jingle and considered it was light-hearted and would be understood by listeners as a joke.
It said: “The Forum noted that listeners would be familiar with the style of the programme and the content of the jingle was likely to align with audience expectations. Further, the Forum did not consider that the content emphasised gender or discriminated against women. In this regard, the Forum did not consider that the jingle was likely to cause undue offence.”
The BAI also rejected this complaint.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
If I hear anyone else say “life style choice” in relation to social welfare, I swear to God I wont be responsible!!!
The other thing that I m tired of hearing is “we need to reduce social welfare to motivate people to go back to work” Our TDs receive over €2500 pay per week, plus expenses, free transport etc and they are spending their time on how to cut child welfare by €10 and the dole by €8. Those who profit most from Irelands wealth are mostly tax exiles and pay nothing at all …is something wrong here?? Should we not be “motivating” those who earn €1 million plus to be paying their fair share?
I “live” on Social Welfare. Yes you could say it is a “lifestyle choice”. I have cardiac artery disease, diabetes and arthritis, and am on Disability Allowance. I get the same amount to exist on as someone trying to find a job. It is not a lot. In fact it is not enough. Do our T.D.s know or care? I think not. Would they do anything if they did know?
NO! Because they are not concerned about how ordinary people get by.
Oh Sugar !!
this country has thee most disconected politicians in relation to real life and how we cope and live with the decisions they make.
living on social welfare is a great lifestyle choice, i do it all the time :-P
It is an absolute disgrace what happened to Fr Kevin Reynolds and I am happy for him that his name was cleared. Why the hell won’t Dev jnr respect this mans wishes and those of Fr. Reynolds legal team?
Before cutting social welfare for single mothers, can we please first have a National plan to provide community childcare to every family? Community Childcare workers do a great job but when they have to be closed during school holidays, what’s the point?
Believe it or not, not every child in this country has a granny who can take over during school holidays.
Am I the only person who thinks the defamation by autocomplete thing is stupid? It would be like punishing a news reporter for reporting the news. It happened and people were looking up the recievership online to find out information about it so google took a popular term being used and suggested it as a search item. Google simpley did what it’s supposed to do, help people find information online in a quick manner by streamlining what is relevent to what people wanted at that time.
If the term “receivership” is now considered pejorative then google in Ireland had better beware, as the number of businesses in that situation is more likely to grow than shrink.
have your say