Thread from 11th January 2022
“'Critics of the corporation have claimed its Pride Group, for LGBT staff, wields outsize and unwarranted influence on the working culture and editorial output of one of the world’s most respected media organisations,'"
What influence is being brought to bear on RTE here? We know that Dublin Pride severed its "media partnership" with RTE last summer after #Liveline had the temerity to let people talk on air about women's rights a discussion prompted by women being refused entry to the NWCI's agm where they wanted to ask about the removal of the word "woman" from the 1994 Maternity Protection Act. RTE reported "Dublin Pride said it expects a response on how RTÉ will make 'amends for this situation'."
To mark Pride Month in June a series of 14 lightboxes with a long rainbow culminating in the intersectional Pride flag (updated to show "intersex progress") was designed for a corridor facing outwards on the studio building.
Here's a draft of the lightboxes design:
The three fists did make their way into the lightboxes. But why was the display still up in November? And what effect does a display like this have on the working culture of RTE?
Several questions were put to RTE including:
Does RTE believe it appropriate for the national broadcaster, with a public service broadcasting remit, to display the flag of a political lobby?
What other political lobbies have their flags displayed in RTE?
Since the ending of Dublin Pride’s media partnership with RTE in June, would journalists in RTE feel able to cover both sides of this debate or not? We have several pieces of upcoming legislation relating to gender identity e.g. the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022. Has RTE provided any coverage on the issue of gender identity since the Liveline debates gave time to a variety of views on this issue?
RTE replied:
