From: Family and Media Association [mailto:info@FMA.ie]
Sent: 19 May 2007 00:33
To: Family and Media Association
Subject: __Caught in the 'act' -- a special report !

 
Family and Media Association 


Caught in the 'act'   -- RTE Liveline found to be promoting same-sex agenda ... a special report


Caught in the 'act' -- RTE Liveline
found to be promoting same-sex
agenda 


RTE's liveline programme has been accused by the  
Broadcasting Complaints Commission (BCC) of 'unfairness'  
in a transmission which dealt with same-sex adoption. 
 
The Commission upheld several listeners' complaints made  
against the February 12 epsidode of Liveline in which presenter  
Evelyn O'Rourke failed to challenge a number of 'callers'
who were highly critical of interviewee Hermann Kelly when he  
expressed pro family views.
 
In its strongly worded judgement, the BCC unleasehed a litany  
of specific complaints against the programme, including:
  • "the line of questioning used by the presenter in the course of the
    discussion was     unfair ";
  • "the manner of questioning of the presenter was at times unfair
    to Mr. Kelly, in that it clearly indicated her own opinion     ".
    (The commission cited the following example: Ms O'Rourke to
    Mr Kelly: "...    Are WE now turning you around, are you being
    convinced?" -- emphasis added);
  • the presenter "did not challenge the assertions put forward by callers
    opposed to Mr. Kelly's views, but at times     used them to address
    questions     to Mr. Kelly", whereas;
  • the few callers who were allowed to speak in support of Mr Kelly
    "    were challenged or questioned on their opinions by the presenter
    or by another caller David, who remained on-air for the latter part
    of the programme";
  • "Mr Kelly was at times denied the opportunity to defend himself" .
    In particular,     "at the end of the programme one caller Paul, to whom
    the presenter had returned for his further views, referred to Mr. Kelly
    as creating a frenzy and being deeply irresponsible. This was not
    challenged by the presenter. Mr. Kelly was not afforded an opportunity
    to respond to the charge of being irresponsible and, to quote the
    presenter, the programme ended 'on that note'", and finally;
  • "the subject matter was not treated fairly "


The significance of this BCC decision cannot be overstated.

An official judgement of bias against a broadcaster is a rare
event. Even rarer is a finding of partiality in the reporting of
a moral or religious issue, which is what we have here.
Last year, of a total of 49 complaints alleging impartiality,
only 4 (8%) were upheld, of which none (0%) involved the
biased reporting of a moral or religious issue ( in spite of
several complaints having been received to that efect
by the BCC).

Considering these figures, the willingness of the BCC to
make such a decision on this occassion is a damning
indictment of a certian type of RTE broadcasting. That
conclusion is further supported when one considers that
the controversy surrounding the issue of gay adoption
might have led the BCC to shy away from taking 'the
hard decision'. This appears to have been the case
concerning a recent unbalanced Newstalk broadcast
on abortion counselling. 
 
The Commisson received five complaints in all.
Two of these, from Michael O'Driscoll and Mary Moriarty,
were heard at its April meeting. Although the BCC received
the official complaint of the Family and Media Association
prior to this, it decided not to give it official consideration
until its next meeting scheduled for May 28.
 
RTE is required to broadcast the judgement of the
Commission on a date to be determined.  
 
 
'Media-cracy' and 'neocensorship'
RTE liveline promotes the same-sex agenda
 
Have RTE lost the run of themselves completely when it comes to
debating gay issues? This is the question being raised in the wake of a recent
string of broadcasts, where the concepts of 'fairness' and 'balance' appear to
have been thrown to the wind.
    Time after time, any public questioning of the gay agenda seems to
have 'pushed the buttons' of the Donnybrook producers, leading to a
hastily arranged 'show trial-bymedia' of the offending party.
    A case in point was RT E's Liveline programme on February 12... 
 
 
Relevant Links:- 
 
Broadcasting Complaints Commission/Decisions April 2007
 
Liveline debate protest censured
(The Irish Times - May 12, 2007)  
 
Complaints on radio broadcasts upheld
(Ireland.com - May 11, 2007)
 
Ray D'Arcy rapped over sex toys discussion
(Breaking News - May 11, 2007)
 
Sex toys not so funny after all for disc jockey
 
'Demo-cracy' or 'Media-cracy'
(FMA article - Irish Family Press - March, 2007)
 
RTÉ's support for Gay Agenda  
(FMA letter to Sunday Business Post - March 18, 2007)
 
Jody Corcoran on Liveline

Censorship -- Who decides?

FMA's complaint to BCC - Liveline (February, 2007)
 
Broadcasting Complaints Commission
 
Are our statutory standards' bodies doing their jobs?
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
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