BBC's delay in dealing with a complaint over 'false claim' about Orange Lodge is 'indefensible' - MLA
An MLA has hit out at the BBC over its handling of a complaint into an allegation it made about an Orange Lodge in Comber – saying a six month delay by the broadcaster in dealing with the matter is “indefensible”.
Timothy Gaston has raised the issue in the Assembly, stating that inaccurate reporting by the corporation was repeated by other news organisations – who have subsequently apologised. But the TUV politician says the corporation is still “considering” a complaint about its own content six months on.
In response to Mr Gaston, the BBC said it has already “published a substantive clarification” on its website, “responding to the specific issues” raised. However, the TUV wants the organisation to go further and apologise.
It relates to the cancellation of a children’s sports event involving the GAA in Comber last July, which the BBC linked to a social media post by Goldsprings Loyal Orange Lodge.
For two days, the corporation reported that the cancellation had happened after, or because of, a statement by the lodge – which said that the GAA’s “presence in Comber” would be opposed by residents.
On the morning of Tuesday 15th July, North Down Cricket Club (NDCC) issued a statement online confirming it had cancelled the event – a decision it says it took on Monday morning. On Tuesday afternoon, the lodge issued a statement saying that the GAA’s “presence in Comber” would be opposed by residents until it “takes meaningful steps to ensure it is fully inclusive and sensitive to the history and identity of the Protestant, Unionist and Loyalist (PUL) community”.
On Wednesday and Thursday, BBC TV, radio and online reports said that the cancellation had happened “after” or “because” of the lodge’s opposition to GAA involvement.
On Thursday afternoon, NDCC said it cancelled the cross-community event – involving East Belfast GAA – before any comment or statement from the lodge, and was not influenced by them.
Goldsprings then lodged a formal complaint with BBC NI, arguing that its coverage on the 16th and 17th July breached its editorial guidelines on accuracy, due impartiality and fairness. It cited programmes including the Nolan Show, Talkback, Newsline and the BBC News NI website.
It also complained to local newspapers and UTV.
The complaint to the BBC pointed to various parts of the output, including the “false claim” on the Nolan Show, presented by Holly Hamilton, that the children’s summer sports camp in Comber “is cancelled after a local Orange Lodge opposed kids from a GAA club’s involvement.” It cited Talkback with William Crawley on the same day, where they say the programme “repeatedly stated” the event was cancelled “after concerns from the local Orange Lodge about the involvement of a small group of children from a GAA club.”
It also cited a similar claim on the BBC News NI Online site the following day, saying that it was broadcast even after it “had been publicly clarified that the event had already been cancelled”.
Speaking in the Assembly on Monday, TUV MLA Timothy Gaston said: “In July last year, a GAA summer sports camp in Comber was cancelled.
“Almost immediately, a narrative was constructed and amplified by the BBC suggesting that the cancellation was caused by opposition from Goldsprings of Comber Orange Lodge”, he said.
The TUV MLA said that other news organisations had apologised, but the BBC has not.
“Six months on from broadcasting the story, the BBC is still ‘considering’ the complaint. For a publicly funded broadcaster that routinely lectures others about transparency and accountability, that delay is indefensible. It means a voluntary organisation continues to carry the reputational damage of an allegation already shown to be false.
“The BBC is paid for by compulsory licence fees. With that privilege comes responsibility. The BBC must conclude this complaint without further delay and correct the record with the same prominence as the original allegation. Anything less is not impartiality.”
A BBC spokesperson said: “We published a substantive clarification on the BBC’s website on 25 July, 2025, responding to the specific issues that had been raised with us.”
In a post on its Corrections and Clarifications website in July, the broadcaster said it had “facilitated discussion about the issues raised – all of which were matters of legitimate public interest”. It accepted there was “no causal link between Goldsprings’ published statement about the GAA in Comber and the cricket club’s earlier announcement” – but did not mean “to misrepresent the lodge’s role, or the chronology and effect of its public intervention in this story”.