Mr. Harry Browne:

I have done some critical scholarship about philanthropy for journalism. I have my own questions about philanthropic foundations and the agendas that they might bring in funding journalism. I do not see philanthropy as a cure all. The amount of money involved is nothing compared to what the market can bring or what the State can bring. Ultimately, what we want is a plural media. We want space for alternatives, something that brings us past mere professionalism and understands that journalism should be challenging and can be partisan and still be honest.

It seems to me that the distinction I was making earlier between journalism and the commercial institutions that support it is one that is worth pulling apart. I do not think we have to concede that, just because the institutions have these structural relationships to power, journalism itself is doomed to being dominated by stenography for the power.

It happens in many places around the world where media get public support. One does not have to look beyond Ireland, of course. The most important media organisation in this country is one that gets paid for out of the licence fee. That is a model that is in place in large parts of the world. It is the best media organisation in the country by some distance as well. It has many, many faults but it does an awful lot of things and it does a good 30% of them very well.