The Broadcasting Complaints Commission (BCC) has rejected a complaint from the solicitors of a key witness in the Morris tribunal that news reports on a local radio station were "biased, distorted and unfair" to her.
Ms Adrienne McGlinchey's solicitors wrote to the BCC about reports on Highland Radio on March 12th, 19th and 24th this year.
The lawyers said ther had been a lack of impartiality in the reporting of evidence given by Superintendent Kevin Lennon to the tribunal and that the reports were unfair to their client.
Highland Radio said it had always maintained the highest standards of journalism.
It acknowledged the sensitivity of Ms McGlinchey and some members of her family to matters which had come into the public domain but said it had a responsibility to report these matters.
The BCC found the news items in question were "factually based reports" on the proceedings of the Morris tribunal.
In a list of decisions made at its June board meeting, released today, the BCC upheld just one of 23 complaints which it detailed in full. The details of a 24th complaint were not released at the request of the complainant. The reasons for this were considered valid, the BCC said.
The complaint upheld was from a Mrs Maura O'Flaherty against RTÉ's Livelineprogramme broadcast on October 7th, 2003.
Ms O'Flaherty's complaint related to a discussion about the burial of women who had worked in the High Park Convent in Drumcondra, Dublin, and in particular discussions about the late Margaret Bullen.
Ms O'Flaherty claimed there was no balance in the programme, that it was biased and had several inaccuracies.
RTÉ, defending the broadcast to the BCC, said although it accepted there were minor inaccuracies in the programme, the overall broadcast was substantially accurate.
It said there was "no anti-Catholic bias" in the programme and that the purpose of broadcasting the subject was to allow former residents of High Park to tell their stories.
The BCC upheld the complaint, finding that the subject matter of the programme was "a highly emotive one and should have been treated with more accuracy, decorum and fairness" by the Livelinepresenter Joe Duffy.
The body said that "significant inaccurate claims" made by the programme went unchallenged and that the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity [of High Park Convent] were not afforded a fair right of reply.
Some 22 other complaints, 19 of them relating to RTÉ broadcasts, were rejected by the BCC and the decisions outlined in full.
One complaint against the Footballers' Wivestelevision programme broadcast on TV3 on February 25th, 2004, was rejected. The complainant, Ms Rachel Morrin, who had watched the broadcast with her 16-year-old daughter, said the programme contained scenes of a sexually explicit nature that were "far too graphic".
TV3 contended that the programme was shown after the internationally accepted watershed, when audiences were normally adult and that the programme was "consistently adult oriented" in nature.
A complaint on the grounds of taste and decency against the Rude Awakening programme on WLR FM radio was also rejected.
The complainant, Mr Michael Johnston, complained about remarks made about the people of Achill on one programme and about the coverage of the homecoming of Eurovision entrant Chris Doran on another.
A total of 10 of the rejected complaints, all against RTÉ broadcasts, were made by one individual, Mr Brendan Price.
Mr Price, who runs the Irish Seal Sanctuary in Garristown, Co Dublin, and is a former zoo keeper at Dublin Zoo, complained about coverage of wildlife issues, about an interview with the director of Dublin Zoo and about the use of a chimpanzee for entertainment on the Late Late Show.
Mr Price claimed RTÉ regularly broadcasted "one-sided" promotions for the zoo.
In another complaint, he said the appearance of a chimpanzee on the television show served no educational, scientific or conservation purpose and exploited the species for "pure entertainment".
RTÉ defended the broadcasts and said the appearance of the chimp was "a strong human interest story".