Talkback

Like many others on Slugger I’m sure, I regularily listen to Talkback on BBC Raidio Ulster, presented by David Dunseith. I would struggle to find a firm reason as to why I do however and I must admit that some of the regular callers simply annoy me due to the fact that they are not very knowledgable nor rational.

Aside from the general prejudices and leanings of the BBC I have always found Talkback to be fair and balanced and have always been very impressed with Dunseith’s refering skills. However that impartialilty is often questioned by callers and texters. This week it seemed that every other caller was complaining about Dunseith’s ‘lack of balance’ and ‘onesidedness’. It seems to me however that these complaints normally eminate from Unionism, this week in particular caller after caller accused the program of operating to a ‘republican agenda’. I would be interested to hear others’ impression of the balance of the program and I particular I would love to hear from unionists as to why they feel the program is slanted againist them and what changes they would make.

I have emailed the show on this matter several times but have never got a reply.

Ciarán Dunbar

Freelance journalist, working mostly in Irish.

Have my own independent news website – antuairisceoir.com – which is in constant need of material.

I am the former editor of the newspaper Gaelscéal, www.gaelsceal.ie