Archive for the “Press Council” Category
 Recent press releases from the Press Council of Ireland have announced two key appointments. Retired diplomat Daithi O’Ceallaigh has been appointed as Chairman of the Press Council from 1 August, succeeding Prof Tom Mitchell (Irish Independent | Irish Times); and retired academic Prof John Horgan has been appointed to a second term as Press Ombudsman from 1 September (Irish Times). Both appointments are for three years. Following the recent recognition of the Press Council for the purposes of Schedule 2 to the Defamation Act, 2009, these appointments are set fair solidify the position of the Ombudsman and the Council in their work to safeguard and promote professional and ethical standards in Irish newspapers and periodicals. The time my therefore be ripe for some hard questions.
The UK’s sister organisation to the Press Council, the Press Complaints Commission, has recently completed a thorough and independent review of its governance. The report published earlier this month (pdf) recommended that there should be:
• A clearer role for the Commission;
• Tougher scrutiny rules;
• More industry engagement with the Commission;
• A stronger Board;
• A stronger lay voice on the content of the Editors’ Code of Practice;
• Greater transparency about appointments;
• Greater openness about the system; and
• More rigorous examination of performance.
These are all very welcome suggestions – even if they could have been supplemented – and they could equally be made with respect to the Press Council of Ireland. It should not rest on its laurels; rather, the incoming Chairman and Ombudsman should commission a similar review, at least in part to work out if it is possible to divert some high-profile libel cases from the courts. For example, it was recently reported that businessman Denis O’Brien has threatened to sue journalist Sam Smyth over comments Smyth made in his newspaper column and on television concering O’Brien’s travails with the Moriarty Tribunal. It is interesting that O’Brien is threatening to sue only Smyth, and not the newspaper or television station in question. That being so, making a complaint about the newspaper comments would be a perfect case for the Press Council, and if the case proceeds in the courts instead, it raises questions about whether anything needs to be done to encourage such cases away from the courts. That alone is a sufficient reason for a review of the work of the Ombudsman and Press Council as the incoming Ombudsman and Chairman begin their terms of office.
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The second Annual Report of the Press Council and the Office of the Press Ombudsman (pdf) was launched yesterday. Speaking at the launch, Dermot Ahern, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, announced that he had, on 21 April, signed the Order granting the Press Council of Ireland recognition as the Press Council for the purposes of the Defamation Act, 2009. The full text of the Defamation Act 2009 (Press Council) Order 2009 (SI No 163 of 2010) (pdfs here and here) is as follows [with added links]:
Defamation Act 2009 (Press Council) Order 2009 (SI No 163 of 2010)
I, Dermot Ahern, Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, being satisfied that The Press Council of Ireland complies with the minimum requirements specified in Schedule 2 to the Defamation Act, 2009 (No 31 of 2009), hereby, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 44 of that Act, make the following order with respect to which, pursuant to subsection (7) of that section, a draft has been laid before each House of the Oireachtas and a resolution approving of the draft has been passed by each such House:
1. This Order may be cited as the Defamation Act 2009 (Press Council) Order 2010.
2. It is declared that The Press Council of Ireland shall be recognised for the purposes of the Defamation Act 2009 (No 31 of 2009) as the Press Council.
Given under my Official Seal,
21 April 2010.
DERMOT AHERN,
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform.
This is a very important development. It completes the process of recognition for the Press Council under the 2009 Act; it allows the press to participate fully in the Press Council system; and it affords complainants a quick and easy form of redress.
Media reports of the launch focussed on other issues: Ahern criticises media’s Oireachtas coverage (Irish Times); Ahern concerned over press intrusion (Irish Times); Most of 351 complaints against press about truth and accuracy (Irish Times); Press report (Editorial, Irish Times); Ahern lays down the law on Twitter and Facebook lies (Irish Independent); Social media users ‘not exempt from defamation laws’ (Irish Examiner); 5% increase in complaints to Press Council (Irish Examiner).
Bonus link: Simon Singh, who will be speaking at the Science Gallery in TCD on Thursday evening, writes in today’s Telegraph that reform of libel law is long overdue, and in particular, that bolder defences are necessary for those writing about matters in the public interest.
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 Section 44 (also here) of the Defamation Act, 2009 (also here) provides that the Minister for Justice may by recognise a body as the “Press Council” , and Schedule 2 (also here) to the Act sets out the minimum requirements such a body must meet to be so recognised. The Irish media established a Press Council of Ireland and the Office of the Press Ombudsman with effect from 1 January 2009. Last month, the Minister announced that this would be recognised as the Press Council for the purposes of the Act. To achieve that end, on Tuesday of this week, both the Dáil and the Seanad approved the draft Defamation Act 2009 (Press Council) Order 2010. The full recognition of the Press Council is now simply the stroke of a Ministerial pen away from being achieved.
According to the Irish Times, the Chairman of the Press Council, Prof Tom Mitchell, said the move would greatly benefit the operations of the Press Council, the Office of the Press Ombudsman and the press generally:
This development will strengthen the council’s capacity to work effectively and will allow the press industry to participate fully without fear of legal risk. Formal recognition of the council should serve to encourage more newspapers and publications to become member publications of the council, leading to wider adherence to its code of practice.
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Section 44 (also here) of the Defamation Act, 2009 (also here) provides that the Minister for Justice may by recognise a body as the “Press Council” , and Schedule 2 (also here) to the Act sets out the minimum requirements such a body must meet to be so recognised. The Irish media established a Press Council of Ireland and the Office of the Press Ombudsman with effect from 1 January 2009, and the Minister announced yesterday that this would be recognised as the Press Council for the purposes of the Act (here’s the press release, with added links):
The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr. Dermot Ahern, T.D., announced today that he is asking the Dáil and Séanad to approve an Order by him declaring the formal recognition of the Press Council of Ireland as the “Press Council”.
Minister Ahern said that the application from the Press Council of Ireland under section 44 of the Defamation Act 2009 has been examined with reference to the requirements in Schedule 2 of the Act and that he was satisfied that the application met those requirements.
These requirements involve the objectives of the Press Council, its composition, its independence, the appointment of independent directors, financial arrangements, the role and operation of the Office of Press Ombudsman and a code of standards.
Formal recognition will confer certain benefits on the Press Council. A significant benefit is that qualified privilege will attach to its reports and decisions as well as those of the Press Ombudsman. Subscription to the Press Council and adherence to the Code of Practice for Newspapers and Periodicals will strengthen the entitlement to avail of the new defence of reasonable publication in any court action [see section 26(2)(f) of the Act (also here)]. Non-members of the Press Council will be required to have in place an equivalent fairness regime or to operate an equivalent and publicised code of standards to avail of that defence.
There is more coverage here and here from the Irish Times. At a time when other countries are looking with favour on the Irish model, it heartening to see the final pieces of the Defamation Act jigsaw slotting into place.
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Today’s Irish Times carries two interesting interlinked reports. The first is about yesterday’s Press Council seminar in Cork, the second is about TV3’s exposure of Brian Lenihan’s illness, which – unsurprisingly – was one of the issues discussed at the seminar.
First, yesterday’s seminar in Cork:
Freedom would mean less without a free media, entrepreneur Ben Dunne told a seminar organised in Cork yesterday by the Press Council of Ireland. … He condemned the broadcast of the Brian Lenihan story on TV3 on December 26th, saying that it “crossed a line it did not need to cross”. However, he added that TV3 was not the only offender in relation to breaches of privacy.
Another speaker, Data Protection Commissioner Billy Hawkes, told the seminar that the phenomenal development of the internet posed challenges to traditional ideas of privacy and data protection. …
Tightening privacy laws is a recipe for “non-accountability, secrecy and duplicity”, the seminar was told by Paul Drury, managing editor of the Irish Daily Mail, who added that he was wary of any proposal to legislate for heightened privacy.
Paul Drury will be very well aware that TV3’s revelations of Brian Lenihan’s illness could make privacy legislation more likely, even though the Minister himself seems remarkably phlegmatic about it:
Lenihan says he was rushed into telling children about cancer
Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan has told a local newspaper [the Community Voice newspaper in Blanchardstown] he was rushed into telling his children about his cancer diagnosis on St Stephen’s Day because TV3 had decided to run the story. …
Mr Lenihan said while he did not see what public interest was served between St Stephen’s Day and the new year by TV3 broadcasting the story, he did not intend to lose sleep over it.
Update: Three quick comments. First, thanks, Damien, in the comments below, for pointing me towards the Examiner report on the seminar Dunne slates TV3 for lack of fairness. Second, I couldn’t agree more with Noreen’s comment below that ” the notion that there is supposed to be some kind of journalistic obligation to keep politicians’ secrets is deeply unsettling. It’s in the nature of the media to report the news about public officials. If you’re a journalist, it’s called doing your job”. And, third, there is more about Brian Lenihan’s interview with the Community Voice in a story in today’s Irish Independent.
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From today’s Irish Times:
The Press Council is hosting a seminar on the relationship between the press, the internet and privacy at Jury’s Western Hotel in Cork on Friday.
Data Protection Commissioner Billy Hawkes, businessman Ben Dunne and Irish Daily Mirror editor John Kierans are among the speakers at the seminar, which hopes to generate an exchange of views between members of the media and the public.
The seminar, which is free and open to the public, begins at 2pm.
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Two pieces in yesterday’s Irish Times caught my eye. The first relates to the retirement of the man who has probably the most recognised signature in Ireland. The second relates to the responsibility of those who write other words that many of us read.
 For the past six years, every movie released in Ireland has been classified by his office with a certificate signed by him. He is John Kelleher, and he has just retired as Director of the Irish Film Classification Office:
He’s seen nearly 2,000 films personally and supervised the watching of 55,000 others, yet the film censor John Kelleher only banned one film. Mr Kelleher, the director of the Irish Film Classification Office (Ifco), stepped down yesterday just two days short of his 65th birthday. …
He says his biggest achievement in office was to be involved in last year’s Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, which changed the name from the Irish Film Censor’s Office to the [the Irish Film Classification Office] Ifco. The Act changed his job title to reflect his primary role in classifying rather than censoring films. The phrase “likely to cause harm to children” was introduced into the legislation for the first time. [He said:]
I don’t believe in film censoring for adults, I believe in film classification for minors. I hope that people realised that I was trying to ensure that adults could look after themselves, that it was the welfare of children which was paramount
Established in 2007, the Office of the Press Ombudsman is part of a system of independent regulation for the printed media in Ireland which provides the public with a quick, fair and free method of resolving any complaints they may have in relation to newspapers and periodicals. Prof John Horgan is the Press Ombudsman and he spoke yesterday of the responsibilities of reporters and editors to the their readers:
The credibility of the media is best defended by journalists who recognise that their loyalty to their readers is at least as important as their loyalty to their employers, the Press Ombudsman, John Horgan, has said.
The licence to print is now ultimately granted by the public and can be withdrawn if credibility, reliability, fairness or honesty was put at risk, he warned. “Credibility is like an iceberg: once it melts, it is impossible to reconstitute it.
Prof Horgan, who was speaking at the launch of a memoir by former Irish Times journalist Dennis Kennedy, said journalists were paid to exercise best judgment, though this could be elusive. Editors could find on occasion that such judgment could put them at odds with advertisers or owners, and journalists could find themselves at odds with editors. …
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Principle 10.2 of the Press Council’s Code of Practice provides “The content of this Code will be reviewed at regular intervals”. A piece by Carol Coulter in today’s Irish Times reports on the first revisions of the Code since the establishment of the Press Council:
A number of changes have been made to the Press Council code of practice in the interests of clarity, according to its latest newsletter.
The changes include separating Principle 2, dealing with comment, into two, stating that newspapers and periodicals are entitled to advocate strongly their own views, but also stating that comment, conjecture, rumour and unconfirmed reports shall not be reported as if they were facts.
They also include changes to Principle 8, which had been entitled “Incitement to Hatred”, and which included both incitement to hatred and publication of material thought to be “likely to cause grave offence”. It was considered potentially misleading to single out the most extreme breach of the code as a title for this principle, and accordingly the title has been amended to “Prejudice”. …
The revised Code of Practice is available here.
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