26/06/2022
The Independent reports that Dublin Pride has severed ties with RTE, the Irish Public Service broadcaster over the coverage of trans issues on its main talk channel, RTE Radio One. In particular, it was felt by many in the trans community that the “Liveline” show, when discussing transgender people, gave undue prominence to a minority of hateful voices and also sidelined trans people speaking for themselves. It was a case, tweeted one person, of the old campaign slogan “nothing about us without us” and RTE had failed to listen to the community. Whilst the popular gay TD (that is, Member of the Irish Parliament), Leo Varadakar, said that he hoped that RTE and Dublin Pride would work together in future, other people were less sure. We asked Terry, the media monitor for “ShoutOut”, for his input. He said “Let’s look at this as a just punishment for RTE and explore alternative, community controlled media to cover Pride. Ireland has a strong tradition of independent broadcasting over the last five decades and today, there are many alternatives to RTE. Perhaps a dynamic, community led station in Dublin can cover the celebrations”.