.

.

RTE rejects lack of objectivity & fairness re the Kenny/Bracken interview

I invite everyone who feels as I do, that the two 'Today with Pat Kenny' radio broadcasts were biased, pro-Govt household charge propaganda, to assess/analyse/criticise RTE's official response letter so that I can add such criticisms to bolster my reply to the BAI in order that its Council will uphold my Complaint against RTE for being biased and unfair to the hundreds of thousands of people refusing to be subjected to such taxes/charges.

Below is the official RTE response to my Complaint. I only have up to Wednesday 25 April to draft my reply and to tell the BAI to take my Complaint further to its Executive Complaint Forum, so I'd appreciate it if you could post your thoughts/comments/suggestions here, like Rockhead did, asap. Cheers, Alan.

'The Programme:

In the 'Today with Pat Kenny' programme on 8 February, the presenter made reference to some information being spread on the internet that if one witheld consent in regard to the payment of the household charge one was not obliged to pay. Mr Kenny quoted the official position of the Dept of the Environment that payment was obligatory and that the issue of consent was irrelevant. Pat Kenny said the programme would check it out. The entire reference to the consent issue lasted about two minutes.

In the 10 February programme, Pat Kenny interviewed author/barrister Tim Bracken and asked him about the legal position in regard to the obligation to pay the household charges. Mr Bracken said that the suggestion that consent was required because the requirement for payment was statute-based was  "absolute rubbish." Mr Kenny then went on to ask Mr Bracken a number of questions about how one registered for the household charge, the interest and penalties that would be applied if payment was not made and what would happen if someone went to sell their house having not paid the household charge for a number of years. Mr Bracken was very critical of the reliance on the internet as a means of obtaining information and said that this discriminated against people who didn't have computers, especially the elderly. The item on 10 February lasted ten minutes.

The Complaint:

The complainant argues that the legal advice given by the barrister Tim Bracken was faulty, that inter alia quoting the political philosopher John Locke 'a government that violates the trust of the people loses its legitimacy' and therefore if sufficient people oppose the household charge the government cannot enforce the requirement to pay.

The complainant also quotes the Constitution of Ireland in support of his view that Mr Bracken was wrong. On the basis of his reasoning, the complainant believes that the programme failed to be objective, impartial and fair.

RTE Response:

RTE'sposition re this complaint is straightforward. A question of the legitimacy of the requirement to pay the household charge had been raised by a number of e-mailers who had contacted the programme. RTE sought the view of the Dept of the Environment and then invited an expert into studio to clarify matters. Mr Bracken provided that expertise. Pat Kenny asked Mr Bracken about the value of the theory being bandied about that consent was required. Mr Bracken dismissed this viewpoint as groundless and based on a failure to understand how laws operate. There was no breach of the obligation to be objective, impartial and fair. That the complainant disagrees with Mr Bracken's legal advice is irrelevant. An expert was asked for his opinion, he proffered that opinion, the interviewer remained impartial at all times. There was no breach. The complaint should be rejected by the BAI.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Feeney

Head of Broadcast Compliance. 

Views: 1226

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Here is a youtube  video of that interview that I de bunked, please spread it far and wide http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SacRkoeG-kI

RSS

Resources

Billy Maguire is the present Holder of the Sovereign seal of the people of Éire. These interviews are of such importance it is vital not to miss. The turning of the seal is what grants licence from “We the People” to the government to perform as we desire.


Some calls from a sovereign Man to his servants (supposedly)

A Call to the Bar Brian calls the Sheriff 1 Brian calls the Sheriff 2
Call to the Court service
The Revenue Press Office

 

 

Photos

  • Add Photos
  • View All

Blog Posts

Getting the message out.

Posted by Free Thinking on April 27, 2012 at 1:18am 2 Comments

© 2024   Created by We The People.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service