Mr. Dave O'Connell:

The Senator is right that there is a problem if the optics are that she and her friends do not know about the work of the press council and the ombudsman. We are acutely aware and hugely supportive of their work but we need the public to know about it. I will give a simple example. People often ask us how much it costs to place a wedding photograph in our newspaper, to which we reply that it costs nothing and has never cost anything. We know that but if the reader does not know it, there clearly is a problem. On the same basis, there is a need for greater awareness of the work of the Press Ombudsman and the press council.

Ms McKay will not take it the wrong way when I say I have had limited dealings with the ombudsman over the years. She and her predecessors, John Horgan and Peter Feeney, are all very fair-minded people. Likewise, Bernadette Grogan, case officer at the Press Ombudsman, is an absolute rock of sense. Senator Hoey is right as well about weeding out complaints that really are not complaints at all. That will all happen. I find the press council to be a very fair forum to deal with. Engaging with the process is a lot of work; the same amount of work from my perspective as would be involved if we were going through the courts. However, there is not the same cost involved. That is the only difference. Engaging with the council and ombudsman is not a get out of jail free card. It takes a lot of time. We must justify what we have done and if we are wrong, we must apologise for what we did. It is all done in a very measured and reasonable way.

Going back to the Senator's first point, to which the ombudsman responded very well, if there is a lack of awareness, we have a responsibility as an industry, both nationally and locally, to increase that awareness. It is to our benefit that people know there is an alternative to court action.