Mr. Harry Browne:

I will do my best to answer that question. In the absence of other clear professional markers, a code of conduct - an idea that journalists are truth seekers who try to be impartial and who challenge powerful institutions - defines journalism, at least as far as many journalists are concerned. In another sense, it could be argued that some of that is also window dressing - a kind of high language that masks the chaotic reality of producing programmes and publications on a daily basis. In other words, it could be argued that it is a myth or a series of myths that does not necessarily have a lot to do with the day-to-day publishing of a website or magazine.

As the Chairman suggests, they are in some sense codified. The National Union of Journalists code of conduct is guidance for its members. The code of practice of the Press Council of Ireland has somewhat more weight. It is a voluntary code publications are encouraged to sign up and give their commitment to and encompasses fairness, balance, respect of the rights of the people about whom they write and accuracy. The Office of the Press Ombudsman and the Press Council were set up primarily by the newspaper industry in some ways to fend off more statutory regulation that was threatened to some extent by these Houses. They are essentially voluntary codes, although there is some statutory backup for the Press Council. In effect, this is an element of protection for communications with the Press Council. They have fairly weak enforcement methods. Publications are not obliged to sign up to them. In order to take a complaint to the Office of the Press Ombudsman, people need a certain standing in respect of the story. They cannot simply complain that a story is inaccurate. They must complain that it is inaccurate and that its inaccuracy affects them. Property editorial and journalism that is hard to distinguish from advertising, which were discussed this morning, do not really come up in respect of the Office of the Press Council.

Broadcasting is a very different story. The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, BAI, has real and significant powers in terms of the regulation of RTE and the private broadcasting sector and has a code of fairness, objectivity and impartiality in news and current affairs which it is often quite aggressive in enforcing. Broadcasters are generally quite knowledgeable about the requirements they have under that code. The code relating to the press is a far less powerful instrument.

My interest is less in these assertions than in structural facts. Just as light-touch regulation in the economy was not a mistake but was built into the system of breaks and incentives that were established here to attract and reward capital, light-touch journalism to some extent was a predictable feature of the changing face of the industry since the 1980s. It does not require a conspiracy to undermine the standards codified in some of those documents we have talked about - just a set of institutional changes that made those standards less significant in many areas of journalistic work.