TV3 wants end to broadcast media blackout prior to election
Image: Gruenemann via FlickrUPDATED 13.45
TV3 IS “DEMANDING” an end to the moratorium which forbids broadcast media from reporting most political coverage just prior to a general election. …
Currently, a 48-hour moratorium is applied to such reporting on the day prior to polling and on the day the country goes to the polls. … In a statement today, TV3 says … that “there is no legal requirement for the moratorium under Irish law” and that there is no provision in the Broadcast Act of 2009 for such a moratorium. TV3 also questions the legality of the moratorium in relation to the free speech guarantees set out in the Irish Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. …
The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland confirmed to TheJournal.ie that they have received the submission for TV3 and are giving it their “full consideration”. A spokesperson for the BAI said that the body is currently working on the final draft code for broadcasting during and in the run-up to the election. (This is the Draft Election Code, which can be viewed in full here) …
The moratorium flows from the BAI’s interpretation of s39 of the Broadcasting Act, 2009, rather than from the Act itself (following similar interpretations of earlier legislation by the BAI’s predecessor bodies). This particular practice has yet been challenged in the court, but since it is a restriction upon political speech, any case taken by TV3 should in principle have a good chance of success, though a strong interpretation of Murphy v Independent Radio and Television Commission [1999] 1 IR 12, [1998] 2 ILRM 360 (28 May 1998) (doc | pdf) may stymie them.
In any event, I would be grateful if anyone can point me towards the TV3 submission to the BAI, or even to the full text of TV3’s statement.