THE SDLP's Matthew O'Toole last night questioned the "level of prominence consistently given to a small section of hardline voices" on a BBC radio show.
His comments came after he became embroiled in a heated debate on The Nolan Show yesterday, in which he questioned the level of air time given to a number of contributors such as TUV leader Jim Allister and loyalist blogger Jamie Bryson.
During this discussions, Mr O'Toole highlighted that there were occasions last year when Mr Allister appeared on the BBC talk show "four out of five days" in a week.
"I think that is a reasonable question to ask whether the level of attention that has been given to one perspective," he said.
The SDLP representative also questioned "the regularity of certain participants" such as Mr Bryson, who he said was "entitled to his views, he is entitled to campaign and he does that very aggressively and he is a private citizen".
However, Mr Nolan accused Mr O'Toole of "jumping on a bandwagon that want to censor certain voices – you are inferring he (Mr Byrson) should not be on as much as is".
The discussions came after Mr O'Toole questioned why some politicians had not condemned the security alert that forced Irish foreign affairs minister Simon Coveney from the stage at a peace event in north Belfast.
Mr O'Toole last night told The Irish News he believed some contributors received a disproportionate amount of air time compared to others.
"Given the seriousness of events of recent days, I used my appearance on the programme to ask whether the level of prominence consistently given to a small section of hardline voices was consistent with the ethics of a public service broadcaster or reflective of wider Northern Ireland society," he said.
"Media must be free to make their own editorial choices, but it is reasonable in a democracy that public service broadcasters are accountable for their output."
Writing on Twitter, Mr Bryson criticised Mr O'Toole.
"An incredible contribution by O'Toole of the SDLP on Nolan," he wrote.
"He now wants me, Jim Allister and Kate Hoey all banned from the media. The supremacism of the SDLP shining through, anyone who doesn't agree with them must be silenced."
The BBC last night said: "We seek to reflect diverse views within our output and take all feedback seriously.
"Everything that we do is informed by the BBC’s editorial guidelines."
