| Publish and be Damned? Comment
Five national newspapers in Ireland have been compelled into publishing
grovelling apologies — three of them on their front pages — for running
wholly false stories surrounding the death in a car accident in Moscow of
former politician Liam Lawlor.
It has prompted the Irish government to announce that it is re-examining
proposals to set up a statutory press complaints commission to regulate
Irish media.
We already have such a body here in Britain and The Irish Post adheres
to the rulings and codes of practice that it hands down.
Let us be clear about this newspaper’s position. We come to the debate
with a prejudice in favour of free speech and against unnecessary regulation.
But the conduct of certain sections of the press in Ireland on a daily
basis is now somewhat unbecoming.
The sections referred to in particular are Irish versions of British
newspapers that are increasingly gaining in circulation and which have the
profit motive uppermost in their minds.
These publications have scant regard for people’s privacy and are behaving
far in excess of what they would be allowed to here in Britain where their
conduct is, once again, already regulated.
We are reminded of the comment made by the then government Minister here
in Britain before the establishment of the Press Complaints Commission that
certain newspaper journalists were: “Drinking in the last chance saloon”.
No journalist, and no newspaper proprietor welcomes State interference
that undoubtedly affects their power and freedom to go about their business.
But the coverage of Liam Lawlor’s death by certain newspapers in Ireland
has prompted Minister for Justice Michael McDowell to say that privacy legislation
will be introduced in Ireland by Christmas.
If it happens, it will certainly affect London-based newspapers that
circulate in Ireland. It could also lead to a re-opening of the debate about
the effectiveness of press regulation here in Britain.
Mr McDowell has been a long-time advocate of some form of press control
in Ireland. As he ponders over his plans in the coming weeks, he will undoubtedly
be considering the European Convention on Human Rights and how that interacts
with the Irish media.
Article 8 of the Convention effectively guarantees and imposes on the
Irish State an obligation to uphold the right to privacy.
This is balanced by Article 10 of the Convention, which allows for freedom
of expression.
It is the interface between those very often competing rights that is
at the core of the debate around press freedom, defamation and the protection
of privacy that is currently taking place in Ireland.
Much of what purports to be journalism in Ireland at this time is nothing
more than invasive and intrusive behaviour that does nothing to further
the role of a free press in society.
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