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The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) has upheld a complaint, in part, against the broadcaster 98FM regarding the treatment of a caller who related her story on air regarding her decision to terminate a pregnancy following a diagnosis of a fatal foetal abnormality. The complaint was submitted under the Broadcasting Act 2009: the BAI Code of Fairness, Objectivity and Impartiality in News and Current Affairs and the BAI Code of Programme Standards. The complainant, Mrs Jennifer Ryan, stated that she received a call from “Dublin Talks”, a talk and phone-in show, “asking if she would take part...

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) has rejected five complaints concerning separate comments made by two contestants on the Rose of Tralee programme broadcast on RTÉ One in August 2016. The Rose of Tralee is a light entertainment television programme featuring young women of Irish descent from around the globe who take part in the competition to be selected as the ‘Rose’ for the coming year. The BAI’s decision was notable for considering the issue of entertainment programmes featuring unplanned discussion of matters of public debate, and its consequence for broadcasters’ duties. The complaints...

The Irish Court of Appeal has ruled that the discovery of journalist’s notes and other background material pertinent to an alleged defamatory publication concerning a former member of An Garda Síochána (Ireland’s National Police Service), Lynda Meegan, is to be refused on the grounds that it was not specific enough to be granted. The proceedings arose following an article which appeared in the Sunday Times newspaper on 14 September 2014. The article entitled “Convicted bomb maker was recipient of Garda intelligence” stated inter alia that a senior figure in the Continuity IRA had been identified...

On 30 November 2016, the Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland (ASAI) issued its decision concerning a television alcohol advertisement featuring a mixed martial arts (MMA) star. The decision sets out the ASAI’s approach to determining whether a sports star may be considered to have “hero/heroine of the young status”. The advertisement for Budweiser beer featured MMA champion Conor McGregor, walking through a Dublin housing estate, with a voice over “Dream as big as you dare”, and accompanied by the Budweiser logo. The advertisement included the text “Dream Big - Enter at BudDreamBig.ie, ROI...

On 21 December 2016, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) upheld a complaint concerning an interview on abortion, broadcast by the public service broadcaster RTÉ. The programme concerned a June 2016 edition of The Ray D’Arcy Show, a lifestyle and entertainment programme broadcast on weekday afternoons on RTÉ Radio 1. Notably, the BAI issued a Warning Notice to RTÉ as this was the “third occasion” on which complaints had been upheld concerning the programme’s coverage of abortion (see IRIS 2016-7/22, IRIS 2016-2/14 and IRIS 2014-2/23). The programme featured an interview with a couple on...