"The Irish media will not get a fair trial in January"

national | arts and media | feature Sunday December 14, 2003 00:05 by Chris Donoghue chrisdonoghue at eircom dot net

Libel law changes and establishment of Press Council expected soon

FROM THE NEWSWIRE:
"The language McDowell used at the December 1st conference is too weak for me. `The body could reflect the interests of all parties'. Why did he not say the Council definitely WILL reflect the interests of all parties? He is the Minister for Justice and he is bringing in a Press Council so the fact that he is unwilling to say anything definite is an indication of what I fear will happen in January when a foolish Cabinet that is wary of the Press will bring into law the Statutory Press Council proposed by the Legal Advisory Group on Defamation.

At that Cabinet meeting will be An Taioseach, who was displeased with coverage of his daughter Georgina’s wedding. Beside him will be Mary Harney who has twice sued for libel. Also there will be Ministers Noel Dempsey, John O'Donoghue and Seamus Brennan, who have all sued or threatened to sue a newspaper. Not forgetting Charlie McCreevy who in 2002 took Ireland from the international vanguard of open government into the dark ages of secrecy when he butchered our freedom of information laws. A society that has been rocked by revelations of corruption took a step back into secrecy. I would offer that the Cabinet is prejudiced and may use the opportunity to get us meddling journalists."

Other newswire articles:
A Dummy's Guide to the Press Council Issue
Why good journalism needs libel reform

FULL TEXT OF ORIGINAL NEWSWIRE STORY

The Irish Cabinet will decide in January on what type of press council Ireland should have. Given the Ministers' history with the press it looks likely that witches being burnt alive by excitable townspeople will have been given fairer trials than the Irish Media will get!

So the government still wants a statutory press council but now Michael McDowell has said that it is possible to fairly represent all the parties involved! I am left wondering if Michael McDowell and the current Cabinet are enlightened enough to bring in a statutory body that is representative of the government, journalists, the public and newspaper owners, one that is trusted by all sides. It is a lot more likely they will flood a council with government sympathisers. The language McDowell used at the December 1st conference is too weak for me. “The body could reflect the interests of all parties,” why did he not say the council definitely will reflect the interest of all parties? He is the Minister for Justice and he is bringing in a press council so the fact that he is unwilling to say anything definite is an indication of what I fear will happen in January when a foolish Cabinet that is wary of the Press will bring into law the statutory press council proposed by the Legal Advisory Group on Defamation.

At that Cabinet meeting will be An Taioseach, who was displeased with coverage of his daughter Georgina’s wedding. Beside him will be Mary Harney who has twice sued for libel. Also there will be Ministers Noel Dempsey, John, O Donoghue and Seamus Brennan, who have all sued or threatened to sue a newspaper. Not forgetting Charlie McCreevy who in 2002 took Ireland from the international vanguard of open governing into the dark ages of secrecy when he butchered our Freedom Of Information laws. A society that has been rocked by revelations of corruption took a step back into secrecy. I would offer that the Cabinet is prejudiced and may use the opportunity to get us meddling journalists. Mr. McDowell himself may be tired of the “Mad Mullah McDowell” campaign run by The Star.

The Ministers have had individual problems with journalists and in some cases the journalists have been wrong. Journalists have codes of ethics that should keep standards high but journalists stray and that is when the problems happen. Even though some journalists have been in the wrong, the industry as a whole does not deserve to be under state control. The press council recommended by the Legal Advisory Group on Defamation is an insult to a journalist’s duty to act on behalf of the public. If that type of council comes in professional journalists should pack their bags and surrender the newsroom to the lawyers and politicians. They can join us student journalists on indymedia.ie and enjoy the freedom of non-hierarchal electronic publishing!