Gay rights group criticise watchdog

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland has been criticised by a gay rights group for upholding a complaint against RTÉ Radio’s Mooney show which accused presenter Derek Mooney of "making several statements implicitly and explicitly supporting same-sex marriage".

The broadcast, on January 20, marked the release of figures for the number of civil partnerships which had taken place since legislation was introduced in 2011. It featured two guests, former RTÉ news presenter Michael Murphy and Tiernan Brady of the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (Glen).

The complaint to BAI was made by Dónal O’Sullivan-Latchford of the Family and Media Association, who said the two guests, along with Mr Mooney who has spoken about being gay himself, “made several statements implicitly and explicitly supporting same-sex marriage”.

The complainant said no voices were heard opposing same-sex marriage and that the programme presenter openly expressed his own views, stating “I hope you do get gay marriage... I hope it does come in”.

The BAI said Mr O’Sullivan-Latchford claimed that same-sex marriage is supposed to be the matter of debate in a referendum and “this incident only served to highlight the one-sidedness of the discussion which amounted, in his opinion, to a debate where one side was forcibly absent”.

While RTÉ said the item was broadcast at least 12 months in advance of a referendum, the complainant said that did not affect the requirement for a presenter on a current affairs programme not to express their own views “on matters that are either of public controversy or the subject of current public debate such that a partisan position is advocated”.

RTÉ told the BAI the item complained of was not a debate on the topic of same-sex marriage and was not presented as such.

In upholding the complaint, BAI said its compliance committee found that “the discussion of same-sex marriage constituted current affairs content on an issue that was of current public debate and controversy”.

It said while the referendum campaign is not under way, the general requirements for fairness, objectivity, and impartiality in current affairs set down in the Broadcasting Act and the BAI’s code on news and current affairs were applicable. The committee found that, in the absence of alternative views, the presenter should provide alternative perspectives to those of his guests.

Glen chairman Kieran Rose said the BAI ruling raised concerns about debate and discussion on issues of current affairs here.

“Can lesbian and gay people not now talk about their lives and their aspirations as Irish citizens on the airwaves, or about their experiences of love and commitment without somebody opposing them,” he asked.

“We would have serious concerns that this ruling would restrict open debate on issues that directly impact lesbian and gay people in Ireland.”