Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 11 November 2020

Joint Committee on Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht

Future of Public Service Broadcasting and Impact of Covid-19 on the Media Sector: Discussion

Mr. John Purcell:

I support what Mr. Dooley and Mr. Lynch said. It comes back to budget and how we can keep the show on the road. It is not just Covid-19. We have been talking about the decline of local radio, our business model, television and local newspapers for years but this has brought it to an acute phase and nothing can be taken for granted for the future. As Mr. Dooley said, I do not want to be in a position where people say, "Remember when we used to have a two-hour talk programme on our local station in the mornings but they could no longer afford to keep it going". They are done with scant resources, with two or three people at the most. It comes down to the resources. We are obliged by law to provide 20% news and current affairs. We are governed by legislation. We are regulated, monitored and so on yet the other online giants, as Deputy Shane Cassells said earlier, create a toxic environment and do not face half the restrictions. We need action urgently.

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