The Government will end up "controlling just about everything you read over your morning coffee" if a statutory press council is set up, the National Newspapers of Ireland (NNI) warned yesterday. Emmet Oliver reports.
Proposals for a statutory press council run counter to the basic constitutional right of free speech, the group claimed. The "very idea of a State-controlled press council is unacceptable", said Mr Frank Cullen, co-ordinating director of the NNI.
Speaking to the Dublin Rotary Club, Mr Cullen said under proposals from the Legal Advisory Group on Defamation, the Government would end up "controlling just about everything that you read over your morning coffee". He said he favoured a press ombudsman and press council independent of the Government.
He said it was obvious why the Government supported the statutory route. "Maybe because the Government doesn't like the media. Politicians don't like being criticised," he said. "In my view, what the law needs is a layer in between complaining to a newspaper and going to court. It's got to be free. It's got to be quick. It's got to be credible. And it's got to be independent," he added.
"What I'm talking about is an independent press ombudsman and a press council. I wish I could say that's a bold new idea. But it's not. Practically all our European neighbours have a press council. The UK, Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Norway, Poland, Finland, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Slovakia, Estonia, Bosnia."
He said last year the NNI gave the Government a detailed and fully costed proposal for an independent press ombudsman and press council. "We offered to set up the system. We offered to fund it. The whole industry committed to it. But for that to happen, in parallel we needed the Government to reform the law on defamation. Otherwise - well, how can you have a complaints system when a newspaper can't say sorry without admitting liability?" he asked. "But the price of this law reform is two steps back. The Government's advisory group has recommended establishing a statutory press council. Not an independent one. There's a big difference," he said. In effect, the Government wanted to select its own press council. It wanted to appoint all the members of that council, he claimed.
Speaking to The Irish Times after delivering his speech, Mr Cullen said the editors and chief executives of the national newspapers would be meeting next week for a forum on the press regulation issue. He said two legal experts would be addressing the group. The NNI represents 12 national newspaper titles.