RTE disappointed by Dublin Pride’s move to axe media partnership

RTE has expressed disappointment at a decision by Dublin Pride to end its relationship with the broadcaster after criticising its handling of on-air debates on transgender issues.

Dublin Pride announced on Tuesday the termination of its media partnership with RTE after voicing concern about recent discussions on transgender topics on the Liveline radio show, which is presented by Joe Duffy.

The organisation, which organises the annual Pride programme of events in the city, said it was “angered and disappointed” by the content of the radio debates, claiming they had breached trust with the LGBTQ+ community and caused “untold hurt”.

In response, the broadcaster said: “RTE is disappointed with the decision to end a partnership we had developed together with a range of bodies over the last three years.

“Standing with the LGBTQ+ community during Pride month sends an important signal that RTE is here to serve everyone and over the last three years RTE has sought to include these communities and extend understanding through a range of specially-produced content, campaigns and partnerships.

“Public discussion – sometimes uncomfortable, difficult and contentious – is central to RTE’s prescribed purpose.

“RTE is acutely aware that discussions on issues such as gender and identity are deeply personal to many. It is important we listen to them, their families and those close to them, and it is also important that we allow our audiences engage with and understand the issues involved.

“RTE will, consistent with its statutory obligations, respond to any formal complaints concerning the broadcasts.

“RTE will continue to stand with our LGBTQ+ staff and the wider community during Pride month and beyond.

“In time, we hope that we will once again get the opportunity to continue to develop our partnership with Dublin Pride.”

The head of Radio One, Peter Woods, told RTE’s Drivetime: “I accept the programmes people listened to obviously caused hurt.

“Yes, I accept that, and because of where I sit in this organisation and because I have colleagues who took part in Pride, who took part in Pride under an RTE banner, I regret that they caused hurt.

“I stand over the programmes because we exist as well to debate controversial issues. That is part of why RTE is there.

“Everything that goes out on air on Radio One is not going to be to everybody’s satisfaction all the time.

“But what matters most in what we do is how we approach it and why we do it, and that we try to shine a light and we try to engage with people, and we try to express a variety of opinion across the airwaves.

“So if I’m looking at my time as an editor in Radio One, I’m going back to the marriage referendum or the eighth referendum, and I’m looking at Liveline in particular in the lead-up to both of those referendums. Complex issues were debated on air for two or three weeks in the lead-up to that, where people expressed their opinions freely on air, and where the country could be heard debating.

“At the end of the day, Liveline were getting phone calls on these issues, and that’s how Liveline works. So that was and is an interest in these areas.

“I don’t think we would do anything differently. It’s like everything else. It’s like when you go to do something like that, you know when you sit as a producer in a programme and you go to do that subject and that call comes in, you know that that’s controversial, that that’s going to be controversial.

“You do it because you think that there is more than one call coming in on it, that people are interested in it and listeners drive it

“In all programmes there’s potential for hurt. On a personal level and on behalf of the people I work with in RTE, I am sorry that people were hurt in this case, but it’s the nature of what we do that people are going to get hurt on one side of the discussion or on another side of the discussion.”