Removed RTÉ God sketch receives record number of complaints

Chai Brady and Jason Osborne

An RTÉ sketch which depicted a man described as God being arrested for sexual assault received a record number of complaints, rising to 7,000 this week.

The sketch was created by satirical website Waterford Whispers and was broadcast on New Year’s Eve. Last week RTÉ announced that it did not comply with their own standards and regulations.

Since January 1 this year up until Monday afternoon this week, RTÉ received approximately 5,328 emails and 1,540 calls regarding the sketch segment in the RTÉ One New Year’s Eve countdown programme.

RTÉ confirmed to this paper that this is a record number of complaints for 2020.

Statement

In a statement, the national broadcaster said its Editorial Standards Board found that the sketch was not in line with a number of their provisions.

These included Section 39 (1) (d) of the Broadcasting Act 2009 and the BAI Code of Programme Standards in relation to material that causes “undue offence”.

It also did not show “due respect” for religious beliefs, according to provision of Principle 5 in the above Code, which deals with ‘Respect for Persons and Groups in Society’.

The RTÉ Editorial Standards Board also found that the sketch was not in compliance with the provision in the RTÉ Journalism and Content Guidelines concerning sensitivity to people’s religious beliefs.

On the back of this, RTÉ decided it will make a disclosure of non-compliance to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland and engage with the authority in the process.

The Editorial Standards Board is required to review the processes involved in the broadcast and report on them. RTÉ will also remove the sketch from the RTÉ Player.

In the statement, RTÉ said its view was that satire “is an important part of the offering to our audience”.

It added: “However, satire, no more than any other aspect of our output, must adhere to our own standards and the standards set out in the Broadcasting Act 2009 and the BAI Codes.”