The Journal reports that the Broadcasting Authority of
Ireland (BAI) has judged that a segment on RTÉ’s Morning Edition about the Protection
of Life during Pregnancy Bill lacked the required fairness.
The decision relates to a complaint made about the 12 June
edition of the show which discussed an Irish Times poll on the bill.
The complainant, Anne Marie Stack, made a number of
submissions about the show, including that criticisms of both the poll and the
bill were not represented in studio.
The complainant alleged that, in their absence, the
presenter of the show had a duty to “represent their arguments and to challenge
the prevailing and uniform view that was emerging from the three contributors”.
The BAI upheld this portion of the complaint saying that:
While all current affairs programming must meet the statutory
requirement for fairness, objectivity and impartiality, additional care is
required on the part of broadcasters where the topic of discussion is a matter
of current public debate and public controversy, including an issue such as
abortion.
The discussion of the poll included an interview with
Michael O’Regan from the Irish Times. During the course of this discussion, the
presenter put to O’Regan that a representative of the pro-life campaign had
suggested that the questions in the poll were “leading”.
This viewpoint was then dismissed by O’Regan as ‘nonsense’,
‘absurd’ and ‘regrettable’. The BAI felt that not enough was done thereafter by
the presenter to ensure that there was an adequate alternate viewpoint to the
one being put forward.
Other complaints
A number of other complaints were made by Stack which were
rejected. These complaints related to a subsequent discussion on the content of
the day’s newspapers when it was alleged that the tone, language and demeanour
of the presenter had given the impression that she supported the legislation
being debated.
