They weren’t the only ones to complain about this particular segment.
Dublin Cycling Campaign, an independent, voluntary movement advocating to make Dublin a better city for cycling, has issued an official complaint to RTÉ over a segment on last Friday’s Late Late Show.
During the segment in question, three panellists – Maura Derrane, James Kavanagh and Eoin Colfer – were asked to come up with a list of things they wanted to put in a bin (there was actually a bin situated in front of them) for 2018, with Derrane citing “arrogant cyclists” as one of her individual grievances.
The segment in question prompted a fairly withering response from viewers on social media, but Derrane’s comments and the subsequent reaction to them in studio prompted Dublin Cycling Campaign to issue an official complaint to RTÉ on Sunday.
Image via Facebook/Dublin Cycling Campaign
The complaint details a number of comments by Derrane, Kavanagh and Colfer that were not subject to “any form of moderation or editorial comment from host Ryan Tubridy”, such as Derrane claiming that “people on bikes deliberately block people in vehicles behind them” and a comment from Kavanagh which equated people who cycle to “farm animals”.
Dublin Cycling Campaign claims that the comments could be seen as “inciting prejudice or hatred towards all people who cycle, despite Ms. Derrane’s weak protestations that she was only referring to ‘arrogant cyclists’”.
The cycling body stated its belief that the broadcast contravened the code of standards of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, specifically Principle 5, which states: “Programme material shall not stigmatise, support or condone discrimination or incite hatred against persons or groups in society.”
Dublin Cycling Campaign is calling on The Late Late Show to issue a public apology on its next show this coming Friday (19 January) and suggests that it could go even further and run a segment on the benefits of cycling.
Should there be an unwillingness to correct the record and no public apology issued, Dublin Cycling Campaign will be pursuing the matter with the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.
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