7 FF media policy: Good idea, confused result By Michael Foley


If Fianna Fáil’s new media policy underlines one thing, it is the need for comprehensive inquiry into the media in Ireland, which might help inform Fianna Fáil’s own media policy. The party’s recently published policy document, Newspaper Publishing: A policy to sustain high quality journalism in Irish public life, is to be welcomed as a signal that at least one political party is taking journalism and the media seriously. The pity is the document is confused and at times bizarre. The reason for formulating the policy, we are


told, is because the impact of the online environment and especially digital advertising has meant “Irish newspaper publishers are no longer able to allocate adequate resources to provide high quality journalism.” Other countries aid their newspaper industry, the document points out. In France, €262 million was made available in direct support to newspapers in 2016. Other examples are also cited.


The document was prepared by the party’s


spokesperson for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Timmy Dooley. In it he proposes a full cabinet minister be appointed for the media, so that all media issues come within one portfolio, something many in the media would welcome. The headline-grabbing item is a fund to aid journalism or media or newspaper publishers; it’s not quite clear which. In government, it states, Fianna Fáil would


develop strategies to support public service journalism – have fun defining that – through “innovative new schemes to support the work of journalists, through the dispersal of grant aid to support newspapers publishers in providing public service content at national and local level”.


This would be overseen through a new Print Journalism Unit within the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. Why the BAI is puzzling. Its expertise is in broadcasting and working within a strong legal regulatory system under the Broadcasting Act – very different from print and even online.


The policy document says training courses for


young journalists would be funded to address diversity within journalism. It is not clear what the relationship between this new training and that offered by the universities and colleges would be, if any. While one would be supportive of the essence of what the policy is trying to address, one suspects it is much more complex


than simply providing courses or funding internships for those groups not represented in the media today. Mr Dooley does call for the establishment of


what he calls an “expert group” that would “consider and make recommendations on how best to preserve the future of high quality national and local newspapers in Ireland”. There would be particular focus on advertising and the role of digital search engines and social media platforms. But if there is to be an expert group it must


have a far wider remit than is outlined in this policy document and must include not alone the impact of social media on advertising, but diversity in journalism, journalism education, standards and ethics, fake news, employment, and above all ownership. The document is to be welcomed. It


recognises the importance and role of media in democratic societies, it sees the dangers to journalism in the decline in the numbers employed by newspapers and the role of dedicated newsrooms. It acknowledges the impact mega technology companies such as Google and Facebook are having on news media. It recognises a problem, but is unclear as to what can be done. It is also unclear whether it is addressing journalism or newspaper publishers and if state aid should go directly to proprietors or to journalists. It is also confused about whether the funding to be dished out by the Print Journalism Unit could go to online journalists employed in some of the biggest online publishers in the country, including those owned by newspaper publishers, such as The Irish Times and Independent News and Media. In its wish to help print journalism, the question


arises: Would an online start-up hoping to establish a new hyperlocal, online publication be precluded from funding? Within the terms of this document, it would appear so. The document addresses only print media and


sees the threat to print media as an existential threat to journalism itself. Some of our members working in online media as well as in broadcasting might disagree. However, Mr Dooley is correct when he says there is a need for an inquiry or expert group. The Constitution guarantees a free press and if that is imperilled, it is the duty of politicians to address that. This policy document might be a first step.


Michael Foley represents the Republic of Ireland on the NUJ’s Ethics Council


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