RTÉ says it was a mistake to cut, in post-production, a Palestinian-flag necklace from a Cheap Irish Homes episode. Without the consent of the woman wearing it. The Irish Times, Monday. The Irish Independent, the same headline. This is not a regulator’s ruling. It is a statement from the broadcaster.

Claire Molloy, an accountant in Dublin, filmed in May with her partner Peter Foley, looking at houses in Tipperary. The episode ran on RTÉ One on 29 September. Presenter: Maggie Molloy. Architect: Tadhg Casey. Production: Cameo. Claire saw on screen that the pendant had gone; the blue keffiyeh stayed, mostly in wide shots. She complained to RTÉ and to Coimisiún na Meán: the selective edit, she says, compromises the duty of fairness and impartiality.

RTÉ: a mistake “in the interpretation and application of our guidelines”. Production judgment calls, made in good faith, to keep impartiality and the rule on undue prominence of symbols. It will review procedures. It does not believe there is a regulatory contravention. It acknowledges an “excessively strict” reading. That is their position, not a Coimisiún finding.

Cameo, email of 12 October: the pendant was overlooked during filming; in the edit it was read as imagery tied to a political debate, unrelated to the programme’s subject. The keffiyeh is in several shots and on the RTÉ Player thumbnail. Molloy: nobody raised the necklace or scarf on set; if she had been asked to remove them, she probably would not have filmed. She says she was not asked to sign a release beforehand. RTÉ and Cameo did not answer the Irish Times on that point.

Coimisiún na Meán does not comment on individual complaints. The public can complain first to the broadcaster, then to the commission. Her volunteering in the West Bank is her context, not a finding about the war.

The necklace was cut from the frame. The episode was broadcast. The Coimisiún file is not judged.

Image: RTÉ Television Centre, Stillorgan Road, Dublin, 27 July 2023, Conoronmaps, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The building, not the episode.

Sources consulted: Cutting Palestine flag necklace from Cheap Irish Homes episode a ‘mistake’, says RTÉ — The Irish Times; Removing Palestine flag necklace from Cheap Irish Homes episode was a ‘mistake’, says RTÉ — Irish Independent.