Complaints about coverage of transgender issues among latest rejected by BAI

Complaints regarding coverage of transgender issues are among the latest rejected by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI). 

The BAI has today (Thursday February 16) published its decisions on six complaints on various issues made between June and August 2022 following consideration by the Compliance Committee in September 2022. 

Further to the provisions of Section 48(10) of the Broadcasting Act 2009 and BAI Complaints Policy Document 2020 and considering the personal and sensitive nature of some of the complaints, the Committee agreed not to publish four of the complaint decisions. 

Two of the published decisions relate to a broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1 Morning Ireland on June 15, 2022. 

Both complaints - made separately - were submitted under the BAI Code of Fairness, Objectivity and Impartiality in News and Current Affairs and the Broadcasting Act 2009 Section 48(1)(a) regarding a segment covering the story of Dublin Pride ending their media partnership with RTÉ as a result of discussions about transgender people and issues in three Liveline broadcasts on June 9, 10 and 13 in 2022. 

The first complainant stated that the broadcast was not fair to the contributors to the Liveline programmes who “do not subscribe to gender identity theory”. 

She maintained there was inaccuracy in the broadcast when one contributor stated that the Liveline discussions ran for three to four days; the complainant noted there were three separate programmes broadcast over three separate days. 

She also believed it was inaccurate for a contributor to the Morning Ireland broadcast to say that the very existence of trans people was being debated. 

The complainant stated no contributor to the Liveline programme said that trans people should not, or do not, exist, and she believes it was in breach of the BAI Code for this point to be broadcast unchallenged and unquestioned in a pre-recorded report. 

She also contended that a contributor gave an unfair and inaccurate portrayal of the views of those who spoke on the Liveline broadcasts with one person stating “a lot of the so-called debate is not about concern for the trans community or for women, for that matter”. 

According to the complainant, this suggests women who are concerned about the “erasure” of the word woman are only using it as an excuse to mask an anti-trans agenda. She suggested this would mean no woman would be able to raise concerns about the impact of removing the word 'woman' because it would be construed as anti-trans and not a genuine concern. 

The Compliance Committee rejected the complaint as they believe it was clear to the audience that views and opinions expressed by relevant groups - including the Gay Community News (GCN) and the Trans Equality Network Ireland (TENI) - were the views and opinions of those particular people and organisations, and not a factual report. 

The opinions were deemed to provide context and reaction to the news story about Dublin Pride. 

Considering the broadcast in its totality and in context, the Committee found no evidence of a lack of fairness, objectivity or impartiality as described in the complaint. 

The second complainant contended that the discussions on the Liveline broadcasts were described inaccurately on Morning Ireland as being anti-trans, without challenge by the presenter or reporter, and the person believed this defamed the good names of some of the contributors to the Liveline programmes. 

The broadcaster stated the item was not, and did not purport to be, an analysis or discussion of the views aired on Liveline and that it was clear to listeners this was a short news report arising from a statement issued by Dublin Pride the previous evening. 

A representative of TENI reportedly confirmed that the Dublin Pride statement accurately reflected its views of the Liveline programmes, and the broadcaster maintained the broadcast "accurately and factually" reported views of these representatives. 

The Compliance Committee was of the opinion that views from TENI and GCN provided context and reaction to the news story from relevant people/organisations. 

They also believed it was clear to the audience that these were views and opinions of those people/organisations and not a factual report on the nature of the Liveline discussions. 

Separately, the Executive Complaints Forum of the BAI considered and rejected four complaints in meetings held in September and October 2022.