Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the witnesses for coming in and for their presentations. Finance is the central question. The option of a household broadcasting charge was considered but we have moved away from it. The figure quoted for online advertising is staggering. How much is the overall advertising revenue in the broadcasting sector? Are there any statistics on its decline or increase in recent years? Can the Department and BAI indicate the shortfall in revenue from advertising, coupled with the fact that the licence fee has not increased and that there is approximately 13% evasion? Figures for that would be useful. We hear calls from commercial radio and TV for part of the licence fee. I am a firm believer in a strong public service broadcasting sector.

There is also a counter view on the commercial sector and the stand-alone operators. I would like to hear the views of the Department and the BAI in that regard.

The last matter I will ask about is election coverage. While not all sections of the media are guilty of this, analysis was carried out after the recent general election and published online about three months after the election which showed that the party I represent, Sinn Féin, did not get fair media coverage and was consistently exposed to a high level of negative coverage. The broadcasting sector was not the worst offender. One particular print media outlet was guilty of most of the negative coverage. Let us forget which party I represent; let us just consider the matter from the point of view of fairness. Mr. O'Keeffe outlined in his opening remarks the importance in a functioning democracy of having good public service broadcasting, and I think we all agree with that, but has any analysis been done of that coverage? Have conclusions been drawn from it? Are there safeguards in place? I would like to hear Mr. O'Keeffe's views in that regard because it is important. While every party might complain and shout that it does not get a fair crack of the whip, even in how interviews are carried out and so on, I think any fair analysis of the last election would show - and even opponents of Sinn Féin have commented - that the coverage we received and the way in which we were presented in many of the different media outlets were a long way from fair. Sections of the print media, particularly Independent News and Media, INM, were the worst offenders. I acknowledge that much of the broadcast media was very fair. The interviews on RTE and so on were fair, but many other elements were not. I would like the witnesses to comment on that.