Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 14 September 2022

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media

Future of Media Commission Report: Discussion

Photo of Niamh SmythNiamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and her officials for coming here today. I feel strongly and passionately about all of this. I was that European Commission President von der Leyen make a strong speech this morning about where we are in terms of our democracy and the fragility of our democracy. This is our big opportunity to do something about that in this country, not just with the Future of Media Commission but also with the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill. We have to really take this seriously.

We have to make a big commitment to ensure that our media outlets are allowed to continue, that they are not weakened by running after advertisements all the time and that they are given the space to allow journalists to be journalists and report on what is important. They are the most important people we come across when we talk about democracy. We have voices here but we must have that outlet for the media and journalists. As discussed by Senator Cassells, The Sunday Times let 11 senior journalists go over the summer. That is frightening but it comes down to money and sustainability. Those types of outlets are trusted media outlets. They are the media outlets on which people depend and rely upon, and that they read and know as being objective and balanced. President Von der Leyen talked about outside influences. It has been happening for years. Europe has not taken that seriously. We have not taken that seriously as individual countries. I hope that not only by her recognition of that today but by talking about putting money into that now, we are beginning to wake up and smell the coffee about how we and the public are being influenced by fake news and so forth. We have a big opportunity. I encourage the Minister to continue the work she is doing in grasping that.

I thank commission members who made these 50 recommendations, all of which, as Senator Carrigy said, we came up with in our own reports. We concur with all of that. There is talk in the Minister's Department about the national counter-disinformation strategy. Could the Minister tease that out a little more for us? I am very passionate about that aspect of all of this.

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