BAI rejects complaints relating to pandemic coverage

Today with Claire Byrne was the subject of a complaint to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. Picture: City Headshots 

A quarter of recent decisions by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) related to complaints about coverage of the pandemic, all of which were rejected.

The BAI published 16 decisions relating to complaints on Wednesday, four of which concerned information around Covid-19.

RTÉ was subject to the majority of these Covid-19 related complaints.

A complaint against RTÉ News claimed a report on stillbirths which had occurred in circumstances where Covid-19 had infected the placenta was not factual and was presented sensationally. 

RTÉ said it did not believe the item was sensationalist, and that as the deputy chief medical officer raised the matter at a public Nphet media briefing, it would have been a strange and irresponsible decision for them to second guess the CMO and to not report it. 

The BAI executive complaints forum noted the introduction to the segment by the presenter was sensational in describing the news as “something of a bombshell”, but that there was a legitimate public interest in reporting this matter and the information, overall, was not inaccurate or misleading.

RTÉ's Prime Time was the subject of a complaint for allegedly “misleading and inaccurate” excess mortality statistics used to illustrate the impact of Covid-19 on death rates here. 

RTÉ said it was satisfied the figures broadcast were accurate and the programme was fair to all interests. The forum noted the complaint did not refer to any specific aspects of the content that were misleading or inaccurate, and rejected the complaint.

RTÉ Radio One was also subject to a complaint, relating to Today with Claire Byrne, which said RTÉ was either ignorant or deliberately choosing to ignore a statistic because it didn't fit with the broadcaster’s narrative on this issue. 

A contributor quoted Professor Ioannidis of Stanford University, who said that for under-70s, Covid-19 was half as dangerous as flu. The presenter said she did not know this person, and expressed caution about using data from unknown sources. 

The forum noted the programme provided ample time to one of the contributors to express views that were critical of Covid-19 public health restrictions, the statistic referenced by the complainant was not ignored in the programme, and that there was no requirement in the code for the presenter of a programme or any panel member to have knowledge of every expert on a given topic.

Another rejected complaint about Covid-19 was against the The Colm & Lucy Breakfast Show on Classic Hits, where it was ruled a conversation speculating about varying restrictions in Ireland and the UK, and people crossing the border or flying to London to have dinner and drinks before coming home, was “lighthearted” and was not inciting listeners to crime, or irresponsible/harmful behaviour.