A promotional campaign against racism will begin on RTÉ, TV3, TG4 and UTV today, as part of a new "broadcasters against racism" initiative, writesAlison Healy.
This is the first time all four stations have come together to produce such a campaign.
Each of the four stations has created two advertisements, and all eight messages will be broadcast on UTV, TG4, TV3, RTÉ 1 and Network 2.
It coincides with International Day against Racism, which is tomorrow, and European Week Against Racism, which runs until next Sunday.
A TG4 advertisement shows a black and a white child talking as they leave school.
The white child sees his father's dissatisfaction at this, and later when picking players for his football team he picks a small white child over a taller black child.
One TV3 advertisement shows young children of different races being educated together, calling out colours on cards being held by their teacher.
A UTV advertisement mixes newspaper headlines and radio and television reports on racist attacks to show the reality of such attacks.
One RTÉ advertisement shows rows and rows of identical grey men who are then transformed into a diverse racial mix, giving the message that human diversity is what makes us interesting.
At yesterday's campaign launch Mr Cathal Goan, RTÉ's director general, said racism touched everyone on the island of Ireland, "and the combating of it is an important challenge as our society constantly changes and evolves".
Mr Alan Bremner, UTV's director of television, said it was timely that the indigenous broadcasters were united with such a common purpose, as racist attacks in Belfast had frequently been in the news in recent weeks.
The four stations began discussing the idea of a campaign in December and consulted the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism and the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland before beginning production.