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A BROADCASTER WHO has been presenting LGBT show, The Cosmo, for the RTÉ Pulse digital station for the last six years has announced he will not continue to produce it claiming he has been coming under pressure from management to provide balance ahead of the upcoming referendum on same-sex marriage.
Scott De Buitléir, who has been presenting the show as a volunteer, unpaid, announced his departure from the airwaves in a blog post today, in which he said it became “close to impossible” to host an LGBT radio show while keeping in line with RTÉ’s requirement not to show bias towards either side on the issue.
In conversations with management, he told TheJournal.ie this afternoon, De Buitléir said it was suggested that he “stay silent” on the issue up until the Wednesday before the referendum, when he would host a “carefully planned debate”.
“I felt like I was being silenced, even if it was with the best of intentions”.
Despite trying it for a short while, I eventually couldn’t bear denying that this plan meant missing out on reporting the various events, advocates and news of the Yes campaign – the campaign fighting for the rights of those who The Cosmo was aimed at.
For the 26-year-old, on this issue, “the personal and the professional are intertwined” and he said he felt his show would become “a bit of a farce” if he were to continue hosting it without mentioning the referendum or having guests on from the LGBT groups he had already been interviewing about the issue for years.
There are certain characters that are for the No side that I feel are getting much more air time than they’re due. They might be from small organisations that aren’t representing the majority of people they claim to represent and they’re getting far too much air time and I didn’t want to be adding to it. I couldn’t bring myself to allow someone on an LGBT radio show saying why we shouldn’t be equal.
“I couldn’t bring myself to adding even more illogical hate speech to the airwaves,” he said in his blog post.
De Buitléir made his decision today after a conversation with management in which, he claims, he was reprimanded for failing to clear an interview he did with Minister of State Aodhán Ó Ríordáin with someone in RTÉ before putting it online. He said the interview was about Ó Ríordáin’s experience canvassing for the Yes side and the reactions he was getting and they also discussed the general election.
The broadcaster said he was told the interview was slanted too much in the Yes campaign’s direction and it has since been taken down.
In response to a query from TheJournal.ie, RTÉ did not address De Buitléir’s claims about demands for balance in the LGBT show or that his interview with Ó Ríordáin had been removed because it had not been cleared with management.
Instead, in a statement, Head of RTÉ 2fm Dan Healy said:
“RTÉ confirms that Scott De Buitléir has decided to leave RTÉ Pulse after six years. The Cosmo, presented by Scott De Buitléir, has been part of RTÉ Pulse’s schedule since the station launched in 2008. Scott has played some great dance music over the years. We wish him every success in the future.”
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And the Liberals consider “stop and search” by the police to be against their human rights. I despair.
The Supreme Court determined it to be unconstitutional.
@Martin Flood: the reality is that stop and search applies and continues. It has not prevented the gun incidents.
An unequal society and limited escape from poverty, social alienation and urban dereliction are the major contributory causes. Then add the cheap availability of a massive supply of guns and there is a potent combination for gangbralted gun battles, which can and do result in the killing of non participants.
Imagine walking down Grafton St minding your own business, when a guard (with one hand on his gun) stops you and insists that you stand up against a wall while he “pats you down”. I’ll pass on a society like that thanks
But I’m white so I guess I’d have nothing to worry about anyway
@nialls. Imagine that there had been 27 shootings,12 deadly, in Dublin over the weekend .Its all about context.
Teddy I think most people realised my comment was a simple analogy. Thankfully we don’t need such draconian laws here.
If there were more guns in the US these shootings would never have happened. Or something….
@Martin the liberals want stricter gun controls or even bans but I guess that would be out of the question for you.
I don’t agree with the unequal society and no escape nonsense! Generations of these people have done nothing to help themselves. The gang and drug culture is an easy excuse for them, all they want is the quick buck with no interest in education or working in any way!!
Only problem is you would have some trouble getting the guns away from the gangs, just look at how easy our gangsters get their hands on weapons and we have one of the tightest gun laws on earth!
Obama did all right.
@Lord Clanricarde: What would be your advice to the young men living in neglected & segregated areas like Baltimore ? I always loved to hear fairy tales on a Tuesday..
Neglected and segregated, please tell, by whom??
@Lord Clanricarde: Ever hear of redlining in the mid 1930′s ? Hope this helps.
Francis -the effect of redlining persists today in the form of neighbourhoods consisting mostly of people of colour that have high poverty rates, low home values and declining infrastructure.And when you have low home values,you then have the unfortunate knock-on effect on how much funding that you get for your schools..
“And the Liberals consider “stop and search” by the police to be against their human rights. I despair.”
“The Supreme Court determined it to be unconstitutional.”
The judge didn’t have an issue with “stop and search” per se..it was the ‘racial profiling’ aspect of it that was found to be unconstitutional ..
A recent example of this would be the Justice Department and it’s findings that the Baltimore Police Department engages in unconstitutional practices that lead to disproportionate rates of stops, searches and arrests of African-Americans, and excessive use of force against juveniles and people with mental health disabilities..
Oh there’s no place like homies for the holidays.
The gun nuts would have us believe that none of these shootings are not in any way gun related.
I hate to say it but Chicago has some of the tightest gun control laws in the US. America’s problem goes way beyond simply access to firearms. Although ideally, restricting access (impossible now) would have been the way to go.
It’s a very short drive into Indiana where they have some of the weakest gun safety laws in the world.
They were apparently gang related shootings so I am guessing that they weren’t legally held firearms so gun laws don’t come into it.
Are you serious Brian? There are 300 million guns in America because of their gun laws. If they had stricter gun laws it would make it more difficult for gangs to get their hands on guns.
@Brian Ward: the guns used were illegally held but all guns start off legally owned. 330 million guns are estimated to exist in the US. With that many guns, someone will fund a use fir them.
Not all guns reside in specially designed safes, firing mechanisms removed and ammunition in a different location.
The wonder is that more people are not killed.
A average of 8 children per day due in gun related incidents in the US. The right to bear guns is more important than the rights to live.
@Shane McGettrick: correct it has the most strict laws in the US. Surprise surprise It’s Republican Mike Pence’s state of Indiana that is the cause.
Have a read.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-gun-violence_us_58082033e4b0dd54ce37ad9e
@Brian Ward:
Actually they do come into it
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-gun-violence_us_58082033e4b0dd54ce37ad9e
@Niall O’Tuama: Inagree that lax laws in neighbouring States can result in high gun crimes in strict gun controlled Stated but if enough guns are in circulation, they will tend to fall into the wrong hands.
The more guns, the more availability and the greater tendency to use the guns, regardless of the legality or otherwise of the guns.
So where do our boys get their guns?
There are a quarter of a million legally held guns in Ireland!
@Niall O’Tuama: Blaming gun laws in Indiana for gun violence in Chicago is like blaming Romania for the gun violence in Dublin because the AK’s used in the Regency Hotel shooting were made there. Tougher sentencing for possession of an unlawful weapon and transportation of the same over State lines would restrict the amount of guns available but it won’t stop gun crime in Chicago. Gangs will always find a way to source weaponry whether it is the State next door or a foreign country.
Chicago has the toughest laws in the country so if they have the worst gun violence also it is down to the shooters mentality and not the weapons that they use. There is no point in blaming an inanimate object for a murder, it’s the person that uses it who is responsible.
michael double negative. what you said is the gun nuts believe these deaths are gun related. stand facing the wall with a dunce’s hat on.
@Patrick Gough: I enjoyed the irony of that remark coming from you.
@Micheal OLainn: This survey https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/09/19/just-three-percent-of-adults-own-half-of-americas-guns/ carried out by Harvard?NorthEastern Universities puts gun ownership at 265 million which is a long way from your figure of 330 million. It also shows that gun ownership is down 3% and that 78% of Americans don’t own any gun. The next 19% own half the guns and a mere 3% own the other half.
This completely dispels the myth that every American owns a gun or the notion that there is a gun for every American.
@brian ward – if Irish criminals were able to fly to Romania, buy all the guns they want over the counter and bring them back here, then you can be 100% sure I’ll blame Romanian gun laws.
One black assailant gets shot by the cops and there’s national and international protests, anarchy and violence on the street by Soros funded “Black lives Matter” , random white people attacked – 5 white police officers murdered in retaliation. 27 black on black gun deaths over a weekend, where’s the outrage , where’s the protests in Obamas home town?
No wonder white people move to the suburbs.
@John Byrne: you are very black and white is most of your posts. It’s a running theme, an obsession.
@John Byrne: Can you provide a credible source that ‘Black Lives Matter’ is funded by George Soros? And how much that he has given them ? Thanks .
If you are looking for anarchy and violence on the streets in the US,then you should put ‘riots at sports events in America’ or ‘rioting at pumpkin festival’ into your search engine ..
Isn’t it great that white people can move to the suburbs ? Do you know one of the reasons why ?
Thanks in advance ,John,
P.S :Love your posts
Francis, Michael .. You are one and the same – Mass Immigration advocates, open border extremists.. waste of time replying to you. there are numerous sources linking Soros to Black lives matter and civil anarchy in the US
John – you would want to fact check that..
Good lad.
And my reply was to your first link (Daily Mail )..Yikes.
And just because some people are suing,it doesn’t automatically mean that a group or an individual is guilty. Nice try though.
It’s still a very safe place, this violence is confined to certain ethnic groups.
@Eamon Mac Gowan: actually, you are factually incorrect. An average of 8 children per day due in gun related incidents and the deaths afflict every community.
The lives of all people, regardless if ethnic group, are equally valuable and equally worthy of protection. No members of any ethnic group are dispensable.
All human life is equally valuable, regardless of race, ethnicity or religion.
@Micheal OLainn: You’re talking rubbish again, more PC garbage.
@Micheal OLainn: That’s if you count 18 and 19 year old’s as children.
They’re nutters.
Nutters with guns
Why do liberals support gang culture given their propensity for violence?
@Alex Falcone: they don’t but you already know that.
Robocop required.
Gun crime increasing so they put more cops (with guns) on the street. The never ending circle continues.
Maybe they should have given them water pistols instead
You missed my point or maybe I phrased it incorrectly. Obviously more cops are needed and of course they should be armed but it’s not a long term solution. If the answer to increasing gun crime is to employ more cops where does it end? They will end up with a completely militarised state and surely nobody wants that
With the military dumping excess weapons and armoured vehicles from Iraq and Afghanistan on local law enforcement, it’s already happening.
At what stage will we decide to stop travelling to America, fearing for our safety? It could be sooner than we think. The fact that most shootings don’t even make the news anymore shows how deep the issue really is.
@Nialls, Stay inside your house and lock all the windows and doors.
And you keep your head buried in the sand
I’d rather live in Limerick then anywhere in the us
Christmas dinner turkey, ham, gravy, stuffing, mash, Brussels sprouts, carrot/parsnips, cranberry sauce. yesterday I had turkey, stuffing, mash, carrot, gravy, cranberry sauce. today I had the same. tomorrow I will have turkey leg, mash, carrot and gravy…. down to end of the Xmas left over turkey….Noooo!! Oh and that Chicago thing is also sad!!
And I thought it was bad here with the gangsters shooting each other!
It’s like comparing a nuclear attack to a fart
I lived in Chicago for a time. I visited many a ‘dangerous’ area and often alone with my work. Usually walking a distance through these areas to get to service users. I felt safer and was treated with better respect than when I was a young census enumerator with a strong working class accent in South Dublin’s more affluent areas,
@Keith Wizzy: You were very foolish, no way I’d go into the Hood.
Terrorism is the greater threat though.
It’s like that most weekends in Chicago. That city needs a clean up similar to what they did in New York all be it on a smaller scale
Hank Voight will solve them all!!!
I read a statistic. In 1927 the murder rate in the usa was 4X the present rate.
Id say most of these could be stopped by just closing the shops until the new year. Over there they start shooting over who gets to buy a good bargain from Mal*Wart
Chicago a bankrupt city thats crime ridden even by American city standards.
have your say