Five complaints about the Rose of Tralee rejected by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland

The complaints related to interviews with the Sydney Rose and North Carolina Rose.

The Broadcasting Authority in Ireland (BAI) has announced that it rejected five complaints about The Rose of Tralee at the most recent meeting of its compliance committee in December. On Tuesday, the BAI published the most recent broadcasting complaints decisions, five of which related to the Rose of Tralee, which was broadcast on RTÉ in August of last year. All five complaints made about the coverage of the festival, hosted by Daithí Ó’Sé, made reference to an interview with the North Carolina Rose, Maigan Kennedy, during which Ó’Sé and Kennedy discussed her experience of going to mass and receiving communion in Ireland. Specific complaints were made about Kennedy comparing receiving communion to like being given a biscuit at the end of mass and O’Sé asking if it was gluten-free in response. Three of the complaints, meanwhile, also made reference to the Sydney Rose, Brianna Parkins, who called for a repeal of the eighth amendment. One complainant stated that “such blatant support for political change on this issue, constituted unwarranted interference in the internal affairs of the Irish democracy”. All five complaints about the Rose of Tralee, which can be explored in detail here, were rejected by the BAI. In regard to complaints about the North Carolina Rose, while the BAI noted that her comments were irreverent and humorous and that some audience members may have been offended, they said that participants in a programme have the right to their views and the right to frame their own experiences in their own words. The committee added that they did not believe that her comments (or those of the presenter) were of a nature that they would cause widespread offence and could be considered to stigmatise, support or condone discrimination against people on the basis of their religion. In regard to complaints about the Sydney Rose, meanwhile, the BAI considered her comment to be the expression of a personal opinion made in the context of a light entertainment interview whose focus was on her character and her interests. The committee noted that the presenter did not specifically elicit her views on the topic of Ireland’s abortion laws nor did he pursue this topic further. While the BAI’s news and current affairs code may apply to content in a programme that is not itself a news and current affairs programme, the committee was of the view that the remarks of the participant did not constitute news and current affairs but were rather brief personal opinions given in the context of her participation in a light entertainment contest. Images via Facebook/Rose of Tralee International Festival