Brendan O’Regan
Sometimes media bias is a matter of what stories and issues are not covered. There was a rather muted coverage of last week’s third anniversary of the referendum for the repeal of the Eighth Amendment. And what there was was almost entirely on the pro-choice side.
For starters I couldn’t find any coverage on RTÉ or Newstalk of the private members bill seeking pain relief for the unborn baby whose life is to be terminated. Considering that such pain relief is given to babies being operated on in the womb, who could oppose such a humane measure? I know who could ignore it.
Anniversary
I scoured the current affairs shows on the day of the anniversary, Tuesday of last week, and it wasn’t a pretty picture. On Morning Ireland (RTÉ Radio One) Orla O’Connor of the National (Some) Women’s Council (NWC) was interviewed about their strategically-timed report showing how difficult it was to access abortion ‘services’ in certain parts of the country. She lamented how few doctors were involved and how it wasn’t available in some counties. Now, all this of course was good news to those of a pro-life persuasion. With the three year review coming up she also complained about how narrow the current legislation was – the 12 week limit caused too many problems, women were still travelling to the UK, it was too limiting that the baby had to be likely to die within 28 days of birth for a termination to be done on fatal abnormality grounds.
She was asked a challenging question or two, but it wasn’t enough considering it wasn’t a debate as the pro-life side was excluded. For example she was asked why doctors were under pressure when they were promised that conscientious objection would be allowed. I couldn’t find any pro-life input during the day to counterbalance this. All I heard was a brief mention of a Pro-Life Campaign statement at the end of a News report. Not enough! The narrative of the day was commandeered by the NWC report – clever on their part, negligent on the part of RTÉ and the other broadcasters to let it happen, but I suspect they were pushing an open door. And isn’t there something wrong in a statutory body set up to promote the interests of women effectively and completely ignoring the views of at least a third of the women in the country? Curiously this show is not now available on any of RTÉ’s listen back or podcast facilities.
Newstalk Breakfast did mark a different anniversary – the death of George Floyd (black lives matter, except in the womb, while the deaths of 6,666 Irish babies are conveniently ignored) and featured an item about miscarriage. Funny how there’s a lot about the sadness of miscarriage these days, while the liberal playbook expects us to believe that regret at the loss of a baby through abortion is not a significant thing at all, a fiction even. And speaking of other inconsistencies (not necessarily hypocrisy) I was impressed by a moving interview on The Pat Kenny Show (Newstalk, Wednesday) when the host interviewed a woman who had suffered from suicidal ideation and now had a much more positive attitude. ‘Choose life’, declared Mr Kenny, agreeing with her life-affirming attitude. It would be good to see a similar attitude when abortion is discussed.
Inspiring
There were other inspiring personal stories on Sunday Morning Stories (BBC One) presented by Rev. Kate Bottley. The opening item featured the Volition programme in Manchester Anglican Cathedral where people were creatively helped in situations of unemployment. Religious faith was very much in the background though it’s often the case that religions do best when engaged in genuine works of service. Then we met a man formerly involved in football hooligan gangs but a renewed interest in his Muslim faith changed his life. He studied for a Masters, got married, became a teacher and works to combat extremism. I was particularly impressed by a prison programme whereby high street retailers (Halfords in this case) help out in providing new skills for prisoners, which sometimes leads to gainful employment when they are released.
Funerals and grieving have been disrupted due to Covid, and one man got involved in an initiative to help people deal with their grief and talk about death. We saw him attending a ‘death café’ – an outdoor and socially distanced bereavement group. Intriguing concept.
PICK OF THE WEEK
Songs of Praise
BBC One Sunday June 6, 1.15 pm
Katherine Jenkins visits Salisbury Cathedral to celebrate the power of music in our lives and in our worship.
Saint Bridget of Sweden
EWTN Sunday June 6, 9 pm
An EWTN original movie presenting the life and mystical revelations of Saint Bridget of Sweden, known for her great charity and prayer.
Everybody Loves Raymond
Channel 4 Friday June 11, 8.25 am
“The Sister”: Debra’s hippy sister shows up unexpectedly and announces that she’s decided to become a nun. A moving episode.