Broadcasting body plans presenters' register of interest

WELL-KNOWN current affairs presenters might have to declare their commercial or financial holdings under proposals put forward by the broadcasting watchdog.

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) has proposed that on-air presenters or their editors should make a public declaration to a public register of interests.

The register would include “details of all financial or commercial relationships that might be perceived as representing a material influence on them”.

The measure is contained in a draft code issued by the BAI yesterday in relation to fairness, objectivity and impartiality in news and current affairs. It will be put out to broadcasters and other interested parties for consultation.

Such a register might force presenters to make public any shares or commercial stake they might have in commercial companies.

BAI chairman Bob Collins said it was a legitimate question to ask as whether the public as a “matter of principle” should know of these types of commercial relationships.

He said the test of what should be declared would be one of “fairness and reasonableness” and it would be up to broadcasters themselves to decide, in the first instance, what should be included.

“There are significant bars to cross before you will have something on the register,” he said.

Mr Collins stressed that the BAI had not specified how this could be accessible to the public.

“We’re not saying that every possible unknown interest that an individual has should be put up in lights. There are a whole range of activities that are perfectly proper and in no sense exceptional.”

If a member of the public felt a presenter had not declared an interest, they could go to the broadcaster and complain and then to the BAI itself, where it would be considered by the compliance committee.

Though the commitment to fairness and impartiality has long been an established principle in Irish broadcasting, the BAI still has to codify the principles under the Broadcasting Act 2009.