![]() This ‘joke’ could not be described as remotely funny in any way other than as when children shout curse words through the open doors of a church and then run away. Not only did this breach the Broadcasting Act in that it was clearly going to cause offence, but it would appear that causing offence was the sole purpose of the sketch. I wish to protest about the sketch in your New Year’s Eve countdown show which portrayed God as a rapist. (c) anything which may reasonably be regarded as causing harm or offence, or as likely to promote, or incite to, crime or as tending to undermine the authority of the State, is not broadcast. RTÉ is obliged under Section 39 (1) of the Broadcasting Act 2009 to ensure that: And a national broadcaster should be mindful of those responsibilities.Įxecutive Director, Evangelical Alliance Ireland Few, if any of us, would exchange that freedom for the intolerance that is sometimes enforced by both religious and atheistic regimes.īut freedom carries responsibilities. The ability to express that disagreement, and to engage in debate on such issues as faith and religion, is important. ![]() In a secular pluralist society, we should all be free to disagree with each other’s views. Yet RTÉ treating rape as a subject for humour, solely in order to taunt people of faith, is apparently deemed acceptable in certain circles. However, just because an action is not identified as illegal in the Constitution, that in no way invalidates the Broadcasting Act’s provisions to prevent broadcasters from airing inappropriate content that is designed to deliberately cause offence.Ī prominent Newstalk radio presenter’s career was effectively ended in recent years by insensitive comments he made about rape. Organisations such as Atheist Ireland have defended RTÉ’s actions on the grounds that the prohibition against blasphemy was recently removed from the Irish Constitution. We have written to RTÉ, stressing that the airing of an item likely to cause offence (itself a breach of the law) was compounded by what appears to be a deliberate intention to cause offence.
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