LIMERICK TD and Minister for Communications, Patrick O’Donovan, says he will ask Coimisiún na Meán to review the balance of broadcasting coverage during last week’s fuel protests.
Speaking on Live 95’s Limerick Today this morning, the Minister confirmed that he will ask Ireland’s media regulator to look into the coverage.
The Minister expressed his concerns claiming that the national broadcaster and other outlets provided a “skewed perspective” and claimed there were “lopsided political views”.
“There was a huge amount of airtime given over to this last week, which there should be, because this was a major national problem. But I would have to ask … was the coverage of this based on what I heard and listening to the radio morning, noon and night, was it balanced or was it skewed?”
“We were in the middle of a national crisis and carte blanche was given to some people and obviously that then fed into a huge amount of legitimate concern,” the Minister hit out.
In response, presenter Joe Nash defended local and national media coverage, paying tribute to the station’s, and other outlets’, “very strong and long record of balanced coverage”.
Minister O’Donovan added: “I’ll be asking them (Coimisiún na Mean) in the context of everything that happened last week … from our national broadcaster to others, was there a proportionate and representative view of the public, and the impact that it was having across all sectors of the economy.”
“When something like this happens, how do we make sure that the views of the people on the hard shoulder, the ambulance personnel, fire personnel, An Garda Síochána, that the views of people who don’t agree, and that the views of people who do agree are articulated?”
He said he would be “asking in the context of what happened last week, in the same ways as a security review” by the Department of Justice, “was there a proportionate and representative view of the public and the impact that it was having across all sectors of the economy”.
“We have to be able to make sure in a democracy that all voices are heard, not just some,” he concluded.