McGlinchey complaint against station dismissed

The Broadcasting Complaints Commission (BCC) has dismissed a complaint from Ms Adrienne McGlinchey, a witness at the Morris tribunal, against Highland Radio in Donegal.

Ms McGlinchey's solicitors, Gallagher Shatter, told the commission that the radio station was "biased, distorted and unfair" in that it readily broadcast material which showed Ms McGlinchey in a poor light, while material unfavourable to gardaí, particularly referring to Supt Kevin Lennon, was not broadcast, or was "truncated".

Gallagher Shatter said the station's reporting of the evidence of Supt Lennon was "in marked contrast" to the reporting of their client's evidence.

The commission found, however, that the news items in question were factually based, and there was no evidence of an editorial bias.

It also found that Highland Radio had reported on the evidence "in an objective and impartial manner".

In a separate decision the commission struck down a complaint from Senator David Norris that an RTÉ 1 documentary, From Ardoyne to the Áras, unnecessarily promoted the career of a politician, the President, Mrs McAleese, in the run-up to an election.

Senator Norris said it was extraordinary that Mrs McAleese's possible campaign for a second term as President should be aided by RTÉ in what was the run-up to an election.

However, the commission took the view that when the programme was broadcast Mrs McAleese had not announced her candidature.

It further noted that, as of the time of deliberation, no decision had yet been announced by Mrs McAleese.

However, it did uphold two complaints against an RTÉ Liveline programme relating to the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity which, it said, was biased and inaccurate.

The programme, broadcast last October on the life and death of Ms Margaret Bullen, a woman who lived in the care of the nuns, had featured a number of claims about the quality of that care and the handling of Ms Bullen's funeral.

The commission said: "The programme was a highly emotive one and should have been treated with more accuracy, decorum and fairness by the presenter."

According to the complaints body, significant inaccurate details which were broadcast included claims that Ms Bullen was buried in a mass grave, and that nuns lived in luxury compared to the conditions in which Ms Bullen lived.

They also claimed that no eulogy was given at Ms Bullen's funeral; that the nuns' home was a "mothers and babies home"; and that Ms Bullen's family were not informed of her death.

The commission concluded that the programme had "approached an emotive subject from a biased perspective, and the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity were not afforded a fair right of reply".

The Liveline complaints were the only two out of a total of 24 which were upheld by the BCC in its latest round of decisions, published yesterday.