Head over to our T
“Newstalk calls…”
Read more about: Features, Media 
For anyone who missed it today, Newstalk ran a message to the nation at various points during their programming today. The station is part of communicorp. Owned by Denis O Brien. Tax Exile.
We spend €56bn and have revenues of €34bn.
Scarcely has any politician in the history of our State faced such difficulties as those which face the Taoiseach now. The challenge is daunting. It calls for strong and determined leadership. The decisions required will be difficult to accept. Brian Cowen must now assert his authority.
….
Newstalk calls on the Government to make the hard decisions, to reposition our country; to present us with a Programme for Recovery that creates jobs stimulates business and returns hope. All party leaders, business leaders and trade union leaders must set aside short term gains in all our interests. All TD’s must see beyond their re-election campaigns to support this vision. When this government’s mandate expires voters will have their say.
And I really would like to know what people think of a national, regulated, broadcaster taking a stand like this.
Apropos nothing else in particular:
Broadcasting Complaints Useful Links
Any viewer or listener can refer a complaint to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland or directly to the relevant broadcaster if they are not happy about broadcasting content on an Irish broadcasting service under any of the following categories;
- objectivity & impartiality in news
- fairness, objectivity & impartiality in current affairs
- anything which may reasonably be regarded as causing harm or offence , or anything being likely to promote, or incite to, crime, or as tending to undermine the authority of the State
- privacy of an individual
- harmful or offensive material, in particular, programme material in respect of the portrayal of violence and sexual conduct shall be presented wih due sensitivity to the convictions or feelings of the audience and with due regard to the impact of such programming on the physical, mental or moral development of children
- Code of Programme Standards
- General Advertising Code
- Children’s Advertising Code
The Broadcasting Act 2009 provides for the establisment of a Code of Practice by broadcasters for handling complaints. The Compliance Committee may prepare and publish guidelines for broadcaster for the purposes of ensuring compliance with this requirement.
For further information and/or assistance, contact of the Authority’s staff by e-mail, info@bai.ie, or phone 01 6441280.
There doesn’t seem to be much wrong with this. Newspapers have editorials. The Newstalk radio station should be allowed to take a particular editorial line if it wishes. As a consumer of radio you make the choice whether or not to listen to that station.
In terms of what was actually said, it’s not really massively controversial. Besides a statement of the obvious. Of course, the problem people might have is with the framing of the issue. But then again the reality of the situation kicks in. 34 minus 56. Belts must be tightened.
That aint the principle on which our broadcasters are regulated. Impartiality is a key principle. The observance may be patchy but this goes well over the line.
Bizarre.
Olivia O’Leary went well beyond this on the national station this evening, it was an out and out propaganda statement. She laid the blame for the high prices in ireland on the cost base, not the greed of retailers and professionals here. Where is rip off ireland gone? It is like it never existed. Greed right across the private sector throughout the boom is the major cause of our lack of competitiveness and it has never been addressed. they are just using labour costs as an excuse to drive down wages to keep profits up.
Cian, doesn’t impartiality apply to news coverage? I’d be very surprised if editorials were expected to be impartial, that would seem to defeat their purpose.
As for Denis O’Brien, you may be right to criticise him for being a tax exile, but I don’t think it’s relevant here. Newstalk could just as well be owned by Rupert Murdoch for example.
Interesting but a bit uncomfortaBLE with such an active framing of the agenda. But how is this any different from say rte or the sindo which both do the same thing
We spend €56bn and have revenues of €34bn they say.
But they dont really focus on the fact that while we spend too much we dont have a functioning tax system. If they had come out with that then they would have done something new but otherwise its same old stuff
There doesn’t seem to be much wrong with this. Newspapers have editorials. The Newstalk radio station should be allowed to take a particular editorial line if it wishes. As a consumer of radio you make the choice whether or not to listen to that station.
Radio (and TV) stations are given a special dispensation to enjoy use of the public airwaves, and as such in return there is a requirement for impartiality (anyone can start up and distribute a newspaper, but there’s only so much frequency ranges available for use, and the barriers to entry are substantial).
In practical terms, remove this requirement to impartiality and you get US-style television, driven relentlessly by corporate agendas and the worst types of populism. There’s also the problem that on the printed page there’s a clear distinction between editorial and straight reporting (unless you’re the Sindo), which is much more difficult to maintain in radio and TV.
As for Denis O’Brien, you may be right to criticise him for being a tax exile, but I don’t think it’s relevant here. Newstalk could just as well be owned by Rupert Murdoch for example.
But it is O’Brien, and he’s famously indisposed to editorial independence (neither is O’Reilly, of course).
Thanks for saving me the time to write the same sentiment EWI. Radio and TV do not run like a newspaper – they aren’t allowed by law nor are broadcasters. The idea of impartiality is to allow the news and those who espouse opinion feel they get a fair run. Impartiality is most rigorous at election time through the equal time rules. However in normal time there is still an onus no to engage in editorialising of content by stations.
NT breakfast admitted via twitter earlier this is a management decision, not a staff one. A deeply worrying trend in Irish media life. I won’t wait for the BAI to be bothered about it though.
@EWI
anyone can start up and distribute a newspaper, but there’s only so much frequency ranges available for use
Well that was true in the days of Marconi.
However, digital broadcasting improves spectral efficiency by an order of magnitude over analogue. So you could squeeze ten to twenty times more DAB channels than FM stations into the same width slice of the frequency spectrum.
Which would give us enough talk radio to cover every conceivable viewpoint, and then some.
I quite enjoy Newstalk, but Breakfast, Lunchtime and The Right Hook have all become less and less impartial of late.
It’s funny, but I may soon return to listening to RTE’s Drive Time and breakfast shows again.
@ Proposition Joe
We don’t have DAB yet (and they seem to be thinking about undoing even what progress they’ve made in the UK), so that’s moot.
It’s also irrelevent. We’re still with public airwaves and the here and now of the regulatory environment – never-never’s in the future aren’t a defence (as Liam Carroll found out). So tough cheese for the O’Brien media, and here’s to this coming up when their licence renews. Chin-chin!
I would disagree with very little of the Newstalk editorial. However while Newstalk is a great station it does have a tradition of a strong pro-Fine Gael line. That in itself may not be a bad thing given the amount of time Fianna Fail are wrong but it’s often uncomfortable listening when you recall some of the evidence at the Moriarty tribunal and you have to wonder is there an agenda in the background…
@EWI
We don’t have DAB yet (and they seem to be thinking about undoing even what progress they’ve made in the UK), so that’s moot.
We’ve had DAB in Dublin since 2006, and now RTÉ is expanding the network to a wider swathe of the country.
Well, either that or I was sold a pig in a poke with the DAB radio sitting in my kitchen for the last two years
@EWI
We don’t have DAB yet (and they seem to be thinking about undoing even what progress they’ve made in the UK), so that’s moot.
We’ve had DAB in Dublin since 2006, in Cork and Limerick since 2008, and RTÉ has recently announced plans to extend coverage even further across the country.
Plus it’s quite clear they’re moderating comments on that piece. Despite all the linking to are we supposed to believe that only one comment was made. It’s a bit Pravda.
If you stick your neck out, Newstalk, expect karate chops.
We’ve had DAB in Dublin since 2006
You mean like this? (thank you, John Handelaar!). Yes, I suppose you “have” DAB in Dublin.
But, back to Newstalk. There’s going to be a spanking for O’Brien’s mouthpiece in the near future, I fear, no matter how much “Proposition Joe” may wish it ain’t so!
Spank away, EWI … no skin off my nose.
It won’t change the fact the digital broadcasting undermines the resource scarity argument for strictly “impartial” radio or TV.
No reason why we shouldn’t have a mushrooming of choice in the broadcast media, more niche-oriented channels and less catch-all big tent outfits.
A bit like the auld interweb in fact.