Media and Communications – Page 2

The Broadcasting Act, 2009 (pdf) sets the regulatory framework for broadcasting services in Ireland. It consolidates all Irish broadcasting legislation into a single Act, and establishes a new Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI, incorporating the functions of the current Broadcasting Commission and RTÉ Authority). According to Paul Cullen in today’s Irish Times, the BAI is to be established this week:

A new authority with powers to regulate all broadcasting, both commercial and RTÉ, is due to come into existence this week.

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) is expected to begin operations next Tuesday once the Cabinet approves five nominations to its board by Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan. The remaining four board members will be appointed by the Government on the nomination of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications.

A little while ago, the Sunday Business Post reported that the Committee has decided to advertise those posts, so that it will be some time before they are appointed and that the Board will be only partially in place this week. Whether fully or partially established, there will be much for it to. For example, Cullen reports that

… One of the first tasks of the new authority will be to draw up new rules governing the advertising of junk foods on television, something which is specifically provided for in the new legislation.

…

Journalism and Blogging in the New York Review of Books

5 September, 20096 September, 2009

| 1 Comment

| Blogging, journalism, Media and Communications

There is a wonderful essay by Michael Massing in the current edition of the New York Review of Books about the deepening relationship between print and online journalism. In form, it’s a review of Eric Boehlert Bloggers on the Bus: How the Internet Changed Politics and the Press (Free Press | Amazon), which traces the online events that affected the 2008 presidential campaign and reveals the stories of the internet activists who made them all possible, and Bill Wasik And Then There’s This: How Stories Live and Die in Viral Culture (Viking | Amazon), which seeks to demonstrate that the rise of the internet means that our culture is now created from the ground up. Common to both books is the argument that a small online quiver can easily become a massive earthquake in the real world. In fact, Massing’s piece is a fascinating assessment of the state of journalism on the internet, filled with references to all sorts of blogs, but which only tangentially touches on Boehlert’s and Wasik’s book. In that, I suppose, it’s much more like a long blogpost than a traditional book review.

Indeed, Massing’s piece almost resembles a blogpost in another way: the online version has links to many of the online sources referred to in the piece, a practice other publications could adopt, to save me having to add links when I quote paragraphs from newspaper websites – it is this kind of added value that makes online reporting different from the paper kind, and the sooner newspapers realise that the online version is not simply the text of the paper version, the better.…

Copperfastening the right of journalists to protect sources?

4 August, 200911 August, 2009

| 1 Comment

| Freedom of Expression, Journalists' sources, Media and Communications

Marie McGonagle, NUI Galway, writes in today’s Irish Times that the judgment in Mahon Tribunal v Keena [2009] IESC 64 (31 July 2009) (also here (pdf)) copperfastens the right of journalists to protect sources (with added links):

The vital public watchdog role of the press was upheld by the Supreme Court

… That decision, particularly as it emanates from a unanimous Supreme Court, must … mark a very significant stage in the development … of legal recognition of the right of journalists to protect their sources.

… Mr Justice Nial Fennelly … proceeded to consideration of the High Court judgment, with which he agreed in many respects. There is no doubt that the High Court judgment was valuable, particularly for its examination of the powers and interests of tribunals under the relevant legislation, and of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) Article 10 principles of freedom of expression, including protection of journalists’ sources. Indeed, the High Court accepted that “the non-disclosure of journalistic sources enjoys unquestioned acceptance in our jurisprudence and interference in this area can only happen where the requirements of Article 10(2) . . . are clearly met”. The principle, which had long been denied in Irish law, was, therefore, firmly established.

…

President’s decision tomorrow

22 July, 200923 July, 2009

| 1 Comment

| Blasphemy, Defamation Bill 2006, Irish Society, Media and Communications

For anyone who is as impatient as I am to find out what President McAleese has decided after her meeting this evening with the Council of State, the RTÉ News website is reporting:

The meeting of the Council of State called by the President ended at around 10pm. … The President has indicated she will announce her decisions tomorrow morning. …

Update (23 July 2009): Irish Independent | Irish Times here and here | Jason Walsh here and here | Slugger O’Toole.

And so we wait. Patiently?

Bonus link: meanwhile, the RTÉ news report has a link to the following story from a few weeks ago: OSCE argues against blasphemy law. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) press release to which that story refers is headed: OSCE media freedom representative welcomes Irish draft law decriminalizing libel, asks to drop ‘blasphemous libel’, and begins (with added links):

The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklos Haraszti, welcomed today the Irish Parliament’s final preparations to decriminalize defamation, but warned that the proposal to introduce a new article on ‘blasphemous libel’ risked jeopardizing OSCE media freedom commitments. …

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Seeing justice done?

16 July, 20091 October, 2009

| 1 Comment

| Cinema, television and theatre, Irish Law, judges, Media and Communications, UK Supreme Court

As the slow march towards a new Supreme Court for the UK nears its destination, the Times has a piece about its newly refurbished premises:

The United Kingdom’s new Supreme Court will open its doors for business on October 1, with the first inbuilt facilities in Britain for broadcasting in court. … Broadcasting and internet arrangements are still to be devised but the three courts (two for the Supreme Court, one for the judicial committee of the Privy Council) can be filmed, a first in England and Wales.

As the BBC story on the completion of the refurbishment emphasises, the “decision to televise events from inside the court’s three chambers is a first for England and Wales”. And the Guardian quotes Jenny Rowe, the Court’s Chief Executive as saying that they are “in advanced discussions with broadcasters about the material they will want to use … If broadcasters wish to show it we will make it available”.

I think that it is a splendid idea. As the Canadian blawgs Slaw and the Court point out, since February 2009, the Supreme Court of Canada has provided live streaming of oral arguments and judges’ questions in authorized cases. The whole experiment is working well, and doing the same in the UK is an excellent development.…

European Charter on Freedom of the Press

10 June, 20092 August, 2009

| 1 Comment

| Digital Rights, EU media policy, Freedom of Expression, Journalists' sources, Media and Communications

: Jörges hands over the Charter to Reding (Photo: EUobserver)

On 25 May 25 2009, 48 editors-in-chief and leading journalists from 19 countries adopted and signed the European Charter on Freedom of the Press in Hamburg. In ten articles, the Charter formulates principles for the freedom of the press from government interference. Yesterday, the Charter was presented to the EU Commissioner for the Information Society and Media (hat tip: European Media Blog; see EU press relase).

From the EUobserver:

European press freedom charter launched

In an effort to counter increasing worries about infringement of press freedom by governments in Europe, both within the EU and beyond, the editor-in-chief of Germany’s weekly Stern magazine [Hans-Ulrich Jörges], together with EU media commissioner Viviane Reding on Tuesday (9 June) celebrated the launch of the European Charter on Freedom of the Press … In March, the Open Society Institute‘s media programme – a pressure group focussing on media freedom in emerging democracies – criticised the European Commission in a report that argued that broadcasting across Europe, particularly in the east but also in Italy, is undergoing a “counter-reformation” – a backsliding towards overt political control after the post-Cold War period, when leaders relaxed their grip on TV and radio.

…

World Press Freedom Day, 2009

3 May, 20094 May, 2009

| 1 Comment

| journalism, Media and Communications

Today is World Press Freedom Day. According to Koïchiro Matsuura, Director General of UNESCO [with added links]:

Every year, World Press Freedom Day provides an opportunity to affirm the importance of freedom of expression and press freedom – a fundamental human right enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On World Press Freedom Day 2009 UNESCO is highlighting the potential of the media to foster dialogue, mutual understanding and reconciliation …

The World Association of Newspapers has an excellent website for the day, on the theme of Journalists in the Firing Line:

As they investigate sensitive issues, unveil disturbing truths and question policies, journalists find themselves in the firing line of those directly or indirectly exposed by their reports. … On World Press Freedom Day, the World Association of Newspapers will present the story of many journalists whose work upsets and can sometimes undo the powerful. What do they report on, how and at what price? …

The position worldwide is disquieting. First Amendment Law Prof reproduces some sobering statisticss from the annual Freedom House report (pdf | html, from which the map of press freedom at the start of this paragraph is taken):

* 2009 marked the seventh straight year in declining press freedom worldwide;
* over 80% of the world’s inhabitants live in a country where the press is either “not free” or only “partly free” to operate;
* Israel, Italy and Hong Kong, fell to “partly free” because of increased threats to media independence and diversity;
* the U.S.

…

Safer Internet Day, 2009

10 February, 200913 February, 2009

| 1 Comment

| Media and Communications

Safer Internet Day takes place each year in February to promote safer and more responsible use of internet and mobile phone technologies; this year, it’s today, 10 February (last year’s is blogged here). An excellent contribution to this issue is the ongoing EU Kids Online project at the LSE, funded by the EU’s Safer Internet plus Programme.

As the Irish contribution to Safer Internet Day, the Office for Internet Safety, the National Centre for Technology in Education, the National Parents Council (Primary), Childline, and the Hotline will host a joint Safer Internet Day event in Dublin to launch a TV and online awareness raising campaign focusing on the issue of cyberbullying.

Quick comment: this is all well and good, but every day should be safer internet day.…

cearta.ie

Category: Media and Communications

Broadcasting Authority imminent

Journalism and Blogging in the New York Review of Books

Copperfastening the right of journalists to protect sources?

The vital public watchdog role of the press was upheld by the Supreme Court

President’s decision tomorrow

Seeing justice done?

European Charter on Freedom of the Press

European press freedom charter launched

World Press Freedom Day, 2009

Safer Internet Day, 2009