Complaint
A listener complained this edition of the Today Podcast presented a one-sided debate on women’s rights issues, dismissing issues like safety in private spaces and fairness in sport as minor concerns.  The ECU considered whether the programme had met the relevant standards for impartiality set out in the ±«Óãtv Editorial Guidelines.
Outcome
The podcast explored what is meant and understood by the phrase “culture warsâ€.  It was not about any of the specific issues which have prompted such opinionated debate, but about how the nature of debate and discourse is changing.  It made the point there are subjects where people have entrenched differences of opinion but in the “culture wars†these differences tend to be exacerbated rather than tolerated.  In this context, the ECU did not agree the podcast dismissed topics such as women’s rights as trivial or less important than, for example, the economy and considered due impartiality did not require the inclusion of the kind of views suggested by the complainant.
Not Upheld