Semi-nude volleyball girls raise viewer’s hackles

RTÉ must have thought their report on the fundraising calendar of the Newbridge girls’ volleyball team would have gone down a treat.

But it’s hard to please all of the people all of the time.

One outraged Nationwide viewer wrote: “this 2004 calendar featuring simple and innocent local young girls semi-nude is one of the forms of stealth attack upon the intelligence of our society. This tells all young and old that a bad deed done in the name of a good cause is acceptable. I think we have been down that road before. With devastating consequences for the nation as whole.”

This was one of nearly 40 complaints made directly to RTÉ’s News Division last year, all of which were released to the Irish Examiner, under the Freedom of Information Act.

In reply to the complaint, RTÉ said many viewers were concerned about the “excessive degree of sexuality” on television but said many others would regard the calendar report as harmless.

Fianna Fáil TD John McGuinness complained to RTÉ about its repeated use of footage of a BSE-infected cow staggering around in news bulletins.

“I insist that RTÉ should remove this from their archives and that it should not be used again. The farming community in particular feel it should be removed without delay,” he wrote.

RTÉ told Mr McGuinness it was aware the footage was stressful but stood over its right to use it in reports about BSE.

All programmes broadcast on RTÉ must comply with its guidelines on objectivity, taste and decency. The station must respond to all complaints within 20 days and refer any unresolved ones to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission. According to public affairs manager Peter Feeney, about 70% of complaints are resolved internally. This is usually accomplished with a polite letter acknowledging the viewer’s complaint, and promising it will be passed on to the relevant programme maker.

“We do have to respond to criticism. There were gay and lesbian groups unhappy about their representation (on television) and that’s been taken on board,” said Mr Feeney. In the first half of last year, the Catholic Communications Office accused RTÉ of creating a “false and damaging impression” of Cardinal Desmond Connell when it reported on the settlement paid by the Dublin Diocese to clerical sexual abuse victim Mervyn Rundle.

RTÉ admitted it had wrongly stated the abuser had been left in his parish for 10 years, rather than three years. But former director general Bob Collins said this had been corrected and RTÉ had acted professionally in all other aspects.

Few presenters managed to avoid causing offence, with complaints that Marian Finucane was out of touch, that Morning Ireland presenter Cathal McCoille spoke too fast and that Brian Farrell let guests attack each other verbally like “bull terriers.”

The Immigration Control Platform claimed it had been told by an RTÉ employee to stop sending in “rubbish” faxes about immigration issues and said this constituted a sacking offence. “If we could discover the person who phoned you, it would indeed become a disciplinary matter,” replied Bob Collins.

RTÉ is frequently criticised for its coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. One viewer said RTÉ had not mentioned the 68 Palestinians killed by the Israeli army in February 2003. “Do you have a deliberate pro-Zionist policy position,” he asked.

RTÉ said it aimed to report events accurately and fairly and that it had no editorial position on the conflict.

A parent appealed to RTÉ to restrain its coverage of violence for the sake of young children following pictures of a young Iraqi boy with his foot on the chest of a dead Spanish soldier.

RTÉ said if often took out the most gruesome pictures from its reports but that it also had a duty not to “sanitise” violence. “Sometimes it is necessary to show the blood-stained vehicle, the mutilated body,” wrote current director general Cathal Goan.

RTÉ is revising its reporting guidelines in the wake of the Hutton report in Britain. There will be a more rigorous examination of “single source stories” and live link-ups between presenters and reporters are to be banned to avoid the verbal slips that undid the BBC’s Andrew Gilligan.