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THE BROADCASTING AUTHORITY of Ireland has received more than 100 complaints about the appearance of Rory O’Neill, aka Panti, on the Saturday Night Show and the subsequent apology by RTÉ.
The BAI confirmed that the “majority” of the complaints are “related to RTÉ’s decision to issue an apology” to a number of people who were mentioned in the initial interview of 11 January.
Others related to reports of compensation paid by the broadcaster.
“The BAI is in the process of acknowledging receipt of these complaints,” a spokesperson told TheJournal.ie.
“The normal complaint process applies where an individual is required to address their complaint to the broadcaster first and, in the event that they are not satisfied with the response received, they can then refer the matter to the BAI.”
On the issue of compensation, she noted that the BAI only considers complaints relating to broadcast content.
Any corporate decision of the broadcaster would not be considered under the broadcasting complaints process.
Following queries by TheJournal.ie, RTÉ said it would not comment on a claim by the Iona Institute that damages are to be paid to individuals as a result of the initial comments.
The presenter of the Saturday Night Show, Brendan O’Connor apologised for any “upset or distress” caused to journalist and broadcaster John Waters, Breda O’Brien and some members of the Iona institute, by comments made by a guest suggesting that they “are homophobic”.
He referred to an interview with O’Neill who spoke about homophobia in Ireland.
During the 25 January show, O’Connor said:
Now, on the Saturday night show two weeks ago comments were made by a guest suggesting the journalist and broadcaster John Waters, Breda O’Brien and some members of the Iona Institute are homophobic. These are not the views of RTÉ and we would like to apologise for any upset or distress caused to the individuals named or identified. It is an important part of democratic debate that people must be able to hold dissenting views on controversial issues.
The episode of the Saturday Night Show that featured the interview with O’Neill was removed from the RTÉ Player for a period of time. When it was replaced, part of O’Neill’s interview had been cut short, with legal concerns cited as the reason.
Protest
Meanwhile, LGBT Noise has said that it will hold a protest at 2pm on Sunday 2 February on South King Street, outside the Gaiety Theatre, on this issue.
The organisation said that the event will be for the LGBT community and supporters to respond to the recent controversy over comments made by LGBT rights advocate O’Neill on the Saturday Night Show.
LGBT Noise said it objects “to post-censoring of Rory O’Neill’s comments, the subsequent apology made by RTE to individuals and the Iona Institute, and the use of TV licence-fees to pay compensation”.
- Additional reporting Aoife Barry
What a mess.
This is one Test the Government have Failed..!!
Some courses would have been subject to grade inflation due to some students getting higher marks due the addition of the CPSE mark. Some students were initially marked down and now have been awarded higher marks will still not get their courses due to this.
They need to publish what the CAO points should have been for each course had this error not occurred.
Students missing out because of others incorrectly receiving inflated grades will then have clarity around whether they should have received a first round offer on their preferred course at a minimum.
It’s the very least they deserve at this stage.
This should be easy to do, and we should not be hiding this from the students. It would be purely in the interest of fairness.
Happy news but how many have lost their place in Universities or places of learning outside the Republic of Ireland
Government to blame, orange man bad to blame, schools to blame, testers to blame.. Any chance anyone will ever blame China??? Unbelievable how they have been given a free pass by the MSM and the lefties.
@Crispy Brown: people will never blame China because there are afraid of the what the Chinese could do. That’s if they haven’t done it already.
@Crispy Brown: What has China got to do with a failed Leaving Cert calculation of grades system? Lol?
Can we please offer most courses online and allow more students enrol. “Live” lectures are over rated.
Since the same (faulty) criteria was passed on everybody, why is it a problem? The entire solution was a compromise.
@Niall:
Agree!
Credit where credit is due, Norma has now fully redeemed herself by overseeing speedy resolution to problems caused by coding errors in grading system.
And Govt has promised that no student will lose out on their first choice college course, so a plan must be getting hatched to address any capacity issues in colleges. Like for example, offering courses online. Doh! How big a deal is that during a pandemic using modern tech, when, already, many sectors of the economy are actively embracing remote working.
It’s hard to listen to ongoing squeals from College suits that there is no space, that lecture halls on some courses are choc a bloc.
Someone explain to them that there’s no extra work required, just income generation & capex saving opps by offering lectures online.
A’s for everyone.
@Full Circle: “A” for the Asses who messed it up. Too many Teachers in the Dáil who essentially haven’t learnt their lessons or done their homework. Dianna Fáil should stop parachuting Novices into positions way above their capacity.
Did anyone get downgraded?
@John Smith: No. Higher grade however awarded will be the grade you keep.
@John Smith: Think I read that no one will be downgraded. Could be wrong but almost certain.
@John Smith: “Did anyone get downgraded?”
– I wonder what this means:
“Foley stressed that no students would receive a lower grade from the review”
– maybe it was added after you read the article.
Why didn’t they finish testing the code and the results before CAO? What a mess.
Insufficient school buses at start of school, issues with the grading system, schools pretty much left alone with organising social distancing…
Very cunning to swap the ministers just before reopening of the country
@Vanessa: Don’t get the school bus issue. Since when is it the taxpayer or Gov’s job to deliver your little Billy to school?
I hope someone topped up the credit on her phone.
onwards and upwards to the next crisis
What happened to people, like my son, who had exemption for Irish?
When they receive the “test message”, will they have to post a correct answer, and more importantly, will there answer be marked correctly. Unlike the spelling in the article. Proof read guys before you post. It just looks lazy not to.
Anna Anna, we want Anna
The department of education have got an F here.
Why can’t we comment on the covid numbers thread?
Does the demographic of LC participants use SMS anymore?
A third error and an ‘anomaly’!
Take a year off now
it would be easy to blame the software company. Most people are. The govt are and all the media outlets seem to be too. But remember the govt went to them with a requirement and then changed that requirement at the last minute. In software the when your client asks you for something and then changes their mind you will run into problems. It is inevitable.
Just look at the govt HSE PPARS mess. Budget was 9 million and topped out at 220 million and still didn’t work properly. Too many cooks spoil the broth. The govt kept moving the goalposts all the way through the project. Just look it up and read the report.
I assume that due to their inability to carry out the task which they were paid for the company that made this serious error will refund any payment received
looks like polymetrika are a one man show who may be clever with math but can’t code to save himself……..
no procurement process…so.thats what you get Norma
have your say