Irish minister’s call for examination of fuel protests reporting ‘sinister’

The media minister’s plan to ask the broadcasting regulator to examine coverage of the fuel protests has been described as “sinister and deeply disturbing”.

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said the comments by Patrick O’Donovan had caused “genuine concern” and there was “no place for Trumpian” attacks on the media.

Mr O’Donovan made the comments as he defended the Government’s response to widespread protests across Ireland last week in response to the rising cost of fuel sparked by the Israeli and US war in Iran.

Speaking on a local radio station in Limerick, Mr O’Donovan questioned whether coverage of the protests was “skewed” and said he would be contacting Ireland’s broadcasting and online media regulator, Coimisiun na Mean.

He told Limerick’s Live 95: “There was a huge amount of air time given over to this last week, which there should be, because this was a major national problem.

“But I would have to ask, was the coverage of this, based on what I heard and listening to the radio, morning, noon and night, was it balanced, or was it skewed?

“I think there’s a question in general with regard to the coverage that some people got last week, and I think that that’s something Coimisiun na Mean will have to look at.

“We were in the middle of a national crisis, and carte blanche was given to some people, and obviously that then fed into a huge amount of legitimate concern.”

He said that he accepted that there was “a lot of legitimate anger with regard to the cost of fuel”, but said the Government had a “right of reply” to say they had been engaging with farmers’ and haulier representative groups.

He also said that he appeared once on Live 95 last week while “other people might have been on close to seven or eight times”.

He said there were “a lot of lopsided political views” on air and this needed to be examined, as well as the make-up of on-air panel discussions.

“I think that there is a role for Coimisiun na Mean to examine here, going forward, when something like this happens, how do we make sure that the views of the people on the hard shoulder, that the views of the ambulance personnel, that the views of the fire personnel, that the views of An Garda Siochana, that the views of people who don’t agree, that the views of people who do agree, are articulated.

“I think as Minister for Communications, that’s one of the things that I’ll be taking out of this.

“I’ll be asking them in the context of what happened last week, in the same way as there’s a security review.

“Now, Coimisiun na Mean might come back to me and say that they believe that everything was fine, in which case, that’s grand. But I’ll be asking them, in the context of everything that happened last week, from our national broadcaster to others, was there a proportionate and representative view of the public and the impact that it was having across all sectors of the economy.”

He added: “One of the things I will be looking at as Minister for Communications is to see, if you have a panel discussion, for instance, on a national broadcaster, where there’s three or four from the opposition and one from the Government, is that a legitimate debate?

“I think it’s about time that we had that discussion because I think the Minister for Justice will be looking at the Garda response, and the Minister for Defence will be looking at responses. I too will be looking at responses.”

Seamus Dooley, assistant general secretary of the NUJ, said the minister’s comments were “sinister and deeply disturbing”.

“The media minister is not a bystander but is in a position to influence the allocation of funds, the approval of commercial radio licences and overall policy on broadcasting,” he said.

“It is not his role to dictate to the independent regulator or to apply pressure on media organisations.

“RTE is a public service broadcaster, not a state broadcaster, and is independently regulated in the interests of democracy.

“You cannot have a ‘slightly independent’ public service broadcaster.

“Journalists have a duty to report news and to provide coverage of events as they unfold.”

Mr Dooley also raised concerns about threats made against journalists by “a small number of those associated with the protests”.

“During the past week many journalists were abused by protesters, including key personnel involved in organising blockades.

“It is ironic that (Patrick O’Donovan) has decided to join the ranks of the anti-mainstream media critics in his verbal onslaught at professional broadcasters simply because he disagreed with the arguments and actions of the subject of legitimate news coverage.

“The NUJ is concerned at threats against journalists by a small number of those associated with the protests and would encourage journalists to report online and physical abuse to the NUJ and to the media engagement group established by An Garda Siochana.

“We would ask the minister to respect the role of independent journalism.

“There’s no place for Trumpian ad hominem attacks on journalists and the minister’s comments have caused genuine concern.”

Coimisiun na Mean said in a statement: “We are aware that the minister has expressed concern in relation to recent broadcast coverage of the fuel protests.

“Coimisiun na Mean operates a statutory complaints process under the Broadcasting and Other Media Regulation Acts 2009.

“If any individual wishes to make a complaint regarding broadcast content they believe has not complied with statutory standards or An Coimisiun’s media service codes and rules, they can find more information on our website.”