Dr. Roderick Flynn:

I have two comments. The implied question is whether there is some relationship between ownership and editorial. Our problem is that there is very little research in Ireland and internationally on what happens when something gets taken over by an existing media group. The one piece of research I would point to, and modesty forbids it, is my own, but it is a very small piece of research that is tentative. It compared Independent News & Media coverage with every other newspaper group's coverage of events relating to the major shareholder over the course of the past few years. It did not point to a glaring distinction between Independent News & Media's coverage and that offered by other newspaper groups, but it did point to a distinction. It was a distinction of emphasis rather than a distinction such as "someone is good" and "someone is bad". It was not remotely that obvious, but there was clearly a distinction. To me, that tentatively suggests that there is some connection. If we have a situation, as we already do, where one newspaper group accounts for between 45% and 50% of daily and Sunday newspaper sales, that constitutes some kind of influence, albeit one that is diluted by the increasing availability of other media forms.

The second point is on the emphasis on consolidation being the only way of saving things. I am a political economist and I know the maths involved. There were 1.2 million Sunday sales in 2007 and 650,000 in 2013. That is a collapse. It is not as bad in the daily market, but nor is it good. At its peak, Johnston Press spent €300 million acquiring its 18 titles. It sold 14 titles for €8.5 million. That is a collapse and I get that the maths are significant. However, this is our question: is it better to let something go under and not have it exist or to allow it to be part of a much larger media group?

There may be an alternative to consolidation, however. It is outside the gift of the committee to introduce it but the idea that consolidation might be the only way that we can preserve the vital function played by regional and local media needs to be examined. We need to seriously contemplate whether this is the point at which we contemplate public funding of not just broadcasting in the country, but of public service media production. That could involve print and online platforms. I see no particular reason for the BAI sound and vision fund to be limited to supporting broadcasting.