Professor Colum Kenny:

I was asked at short notice to give some views on this matter. I sought some further information but I understand the documentation is very sparse and we have no firm details on the proposed takeover. Neither has the committee. There is no advisory group report although I understand one may be in the process of being written for the BAI. In these circumstances, it is extremely difficult to give an informed opinion on this matter. I can only say that, in these circumstances, one has to look to the first principles. I draw the members' attention, in particular, to the form available for applicants in media mergers or takeovers. It is very practical and arises in some respects from the report of the media mergers advisory group, on which I sat. It gives concrete indicators of diversity such that when one is examining a potential takeover, one may have regard to a broad range of impacts, including prior performance of the media organisation proposing to make a takeover, including its employment policies. This is, perhaps, a way of assessing what any organisational impact might be. In the case in question, for example, one could consider the manner in which INM parted company with a particular correspondent in regard to the Garda whistleblower affair and decide whether that raises questions about the positions of staff in the organisation to be taken over. One could also examine a broad range of employment matters, including the likely impact on diversity in regard to such aspects of media as the representation of minorities and gender balance. There are far too many factors and concrete indicators for me to rehearse here in five minutes. I strongly refer the members to the forum I have mentioned, which is of very great value.

Some people regard this kind of takeover in personal terms. I do not although I must say I have some difficulties appearing before a committing looking at a takeover by INM, on which Deputy Michael Lowry sits. I am here anyway at the request of the committee. I believe there is a conflict of interest. I do not see this in personal terms. I believe that INM could be taken over tomorrow by the organisation that includes Fox News or Breitbart News, for example, just as TV3 could be bought by Silvio Berlusconi. These are matters of public interest. It is terribly important at this time that we protect the freedom and diversity of the media. We can see from the United States that when the fairness doctrine was abolished, the media there went on a slippery slope. We have now arrived at a position in which there seems to be difficulty in distinguishing between fact and alternative realities. It is up to the members to make the decisions that matter in these cases.

It is ultimately a political, moral and aesthetic decision on the part of the people who control media policies as to what kind of media we have. It is not a mathematical formula. No competition authority applying sheer statistics in regard to readership, audiences or percentages of ownership can arrive at a satisfactory solution. The kind of media and policy environment we have is one of choice. It is the responsibility of people to make that choice based on the kind of society we want and the kind of media we want.

That will not change. No amount of balancing statistics can replace the decision the Dáil must make.

The procedure is very awkward. I do not quite understand how it came about that at the end of the day the Joint Committee of Communications, Climate Action and Environment is asked to consider the matter before the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, BAI, has considered it and without having access to a report from an advisory council. It puts the committee in a very awkward position, but it can certainly affirm the need for diversity, having regard to the various concrete indicators of diversity that I have mentioned and are in the form that the applicants have to provide to the committee.

I have provided a written statement which goes into much more detail, but I was asked to limit my oral contribution to five minutes. I have spoken for five minutes. I thank the Chairman for the honour of the invitation to come before the committee today and I am available to be of further assistance if I can be.