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THE BROADCASTING AUTHORITY has upheld a complaint made about the FM104 Phoneshow with Chris Barry, after a caller made a number of offensive comments about children with special needs.
The complaint was made by a Theresa Finn in July this year and referred to a discussion about the exclusion of special needs children from summer camps.
It was sparked by a Facebook status by a parent on the topic and there were a number of calls from other parents in a similar position or people who sympathised.
However, one caller questioned what would happen if a child at a camp “spazzes out”.
Other comments included:
They don’t have a head of their own…they don’t have a mind of their own.
They are kinda…stupid.
At the end of the day, you can’t put a mongo into a camp.
You can’t have a cabbage in a camp.
A cabbage won’t punch the head off of me, no mongo will punch the head off of me.
The woman who made the complaint said she was “appalled and disgusted” at what she considered to be “vile abuse” that was allowed to be broadcast.
She said she had personal experience dealing with children with autism and she did not expect to hear “abusive, hateful comments towards the most vulnerable children in our society”.
‘Idiotic’
In its response FM104 said, as with any topic, some listeners to the programme will be “ignorant” in respect of it. The broadcaster also stated the caller was challenged by both the presenter and other callers, and told his views were “idiotic”, “insulting” and “ignorant”.
FM104 said the man was eventually cut off.
The broadcaster states that the show contains views and opinions that not everyone agrees with, but these views are always challenged on-air, as was the case on this night.
FM104 also denied ”hyping anyone up” before going on-air to be disrespectful towards children with special needs and claimed it does not have the time or resources to pre-interview every caller.
In its decision, the BAI noted the programme is broadcast after the watershed, but said there are certain limits in respect of acceptable content.
This includes a requirement on broadcasters to ensure that content is in line with general community standards, including standards related to public attitudes to language. Furthermore, content must represent persons and groups in society appropriately and in a justified manner and should not prejudice human dignity.
Though it acknowledged that the callers comments had been challenged, the authority said it was evident from early in his contribution that this man’s views were “highly offensive”.
The committee also noted that he was permitted to make the above types of remarks for a considerable period of time before his comments were strongly challenged by the presenter. There was also no evidence from the broadcaster that the presenter or the programme makers ended the call.
In view of these factors, the authority determined the broadcaster would be issued with a compliance notice and will be monitored by the BAI.
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First time I’ve seen it occupied in a while in fairness
I saw it – huge admiration to the pair for caring enough to do this…
Fair enough in my book. Well done to protesters. They’ve at the very least raised awareness about this. I for one didn’t know about the failure to compensate. Best of luck.
Me neither.
They’ll never see the “united colours” of my money!
What a dump of a store…. I’ve never seen a single thing in it I’d ever want to buy…
Apart from one Garda who was on the scene the protest seemed to be a peaceful one..
Are you suggesting the gardai would cause the protest not to be peaceful?
Occupy Wool Street?
Jeez and Dunnes workers think their working conditions are bad.
So you want to live in Bangladesh?
Chill Kevin, tragedies like this one are horrific and all I am saying is in comparative terms Dunnes workers have little to be complaining about.
Well if you compare it to footballers who have no need for qualifications and get to play football all day for 150k a week they do have something to complain about. What’s your point??
Dunnes workers don’t have to work in mortal danger to earn the right to complain about their conditions
Comparitive to denis obrien they deserve a wage increase of 100000%
My point for the third time, when you hear of awful tragedies like this where thousands perish at work it puts things into perspective how good our working conditions are here.
My minimum wage flexi hour contract severely disagrees with you
Throw away the shovel, Top Cat. You’re on a loser on this one.
He is right though Said the unpopular opinion puffin
In the first photo Benetton appears to be spelled Bennetton and in the third photo survivors is spelled Survivers… I’ll bet any takers not a single one of them can find Bangladesh on a map.
In fact I’m slightly disappointed not to see an attempt to write Bangladesh… I’m sure that would have been good for a laugh.
Have these people no jobs to go to, what about the inconvenience to shoppers, wasting police resources and so on and so forth.
How about not being a heartless tool, and so on and so forth
some waffle outta you kid !
wipe the shiite off yer lip
How about looking up sarcasm in a dictionary? In case you haven’t noticed these are the usual lines thrown out about water charge protesters.
The only thing I noticed was the shiite on yer lip
It could be worse it could be between my ears.
sorry Niall – didnt get the sarcasm at all man -
Oh Niall! I hate to say this but…!
Surprised protesters are allowed in the store.
Down with that sort of thing.
Cianan his name is Gerry Lydon not Donal.
The company’s failure to own up to the disaster and pay their contribution has nothing to do with store itself though! These protesters are jeopardising the employers and employees safety and privacy, by carelessly protesting in the middle of the store, and that is by no means peaceful. They are absolutely right to raise awareness but if they want effective results, why not contact the head office of the company itself? Why not go there and protest? What about the other stores around the country? This poorly organised protest is just an attention-seeking bid from individuals who are just protesting for the sake of it.
Hi guys. Gerry here. I helped organize and was involved with today’s protest. Just a few points : Neuromacer its easy to walk into a store that isn’t expecting. Drew go out and play with the traffic! Those talking about dunnes : Yes our lives are infinitely better but as we saw with some of the thongs they were fightong for, if employers get a taste for exploitation, in a globalized world we can feel the effect here as well as regard zero hours, union involvement etc. Anca I gonna presume your not the sort who ever actually does anything judging by the tone of your “whats the point of action comment”. While Id like to dismiss you as a waste of space, unfortunately your apathy and cynicism is quote common so to summarize getting publicity for a neglected cause is better than sitting round moaning. But as for the jeopatdizing safety and privacy, go back to sleep and stop throwing around terms! Ill see you in the morning glen. So finally nothing comes of nothing. If you care about something, put some effort in and get out there! The smallest acorns can become a big tree or at least a feature on a popular website! X.
Good on ye Gerry, hope you managed to stop them making sales today.
Because it would have damn all impact . Go up to the head office here and say, please play nicely and pay the money you owe? We all know most big corporations have to be dragged kicking and screaming to do the right thing. These people have had two years to pay the money they pledged. Time for them to be shamed into stumping up.
Hi Gerry, I dont think the Dunnes strike had anything to do with underwear.
A bottle of Lynx would get rid of them protestors! I’d say there’s an awful stink of piss in that shop at the moment.
They do make some nice clothes though
have your say