Madam, – Councillor Brid Smith of the People Before Profit Alliance, speaking at the launch of the Campaign Against the EU Constitution (CAEUC) launch of its No campaign is reported in The Irish Times (Home News, August 19th) as having said that a strong bias in favour of the treaty had been shown by RTÉ in its coverage of the 2008 referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
As an opinion frequently quoted sometimes gains credibility, it is worth stating that the Broadcasting Complaints Commission, an independent statutory body established to adjudicate on complaints about broadcasting, considered about a dozen complaints concerning RTÉ’s coverage before and after the 2008 referendum. None of the complaints were upheld.
It is RTÉ’s view that our coverage of the Lisbon Treaty campaign was even-handed and fair to all sides. Needless to say we will endeavour to be equally fair to all sides this time around. – Yours, etc,