Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein)
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I thank Mr. Kiely for his presentation. It was informative but I read in it that he did lean heavily on RTE. Some of the points he made are very valid.

I have a concern around not having a public sector broadcaster operating in the media landscape. TV3 has provided a good service and as well as being a viewer I have been on some of the "Tonight with Vincent Browne" shows. I found it in the main to be very fair. My concern is around a solely corporate sector in this arena and the influence it would have. I will give an example of the newspaper media. I am not arguing for a State newspaper or a publicly funded newspaper but newspapers are solely commercial. Four years ago I raised an issue in the Dáil Chamber during a debate with a Minister. The next day one of the newspapers, which could be counted as one of the more credible newspapers, carried a story on the debate. The newspaper printed a substantial article that noted the fact that the issue had been raised and what had transpired in the Dáil Chamber. While Deputies are not in the Chamber all the time, the article quoted a Fianna Fáil source who was not in the Chamber for the debate. It quoted a Green Party person who was not elected to the Dáil or to the Seanad but there was no mention of a Sinn Féin representative. I met the journalist a day or two later and I explained that while I was happy to see the issue being covered - obviously that is important - the article had quoted two parties who had not been in the Chamber and had not mentioned the party that had brought the topic forward. I asked what had happened. The journalist told me that it must have hit the editor's floor. That newspaper, which is the one I buy the most, would pride itself on being a newspaper of record, I am told.

I have searched through the daily newspapers and one can find a political thread running through them and a particular political lean and slant in them. I am concerned that we would wind up with a broadcasting industry the same. TV3 has produced good programmes. Some people may have found Vincent Browne combative and quite argumentative but he certainly opened up much debate in Ireland about important issues. This is a concern of many Deputies and much of the public.

I have my criticisms of RTE. I heard some serious criticisms of RTE here last Wednesday, especially around the content of some of its weekend programmes and the issue of the usual suspects being on air every week. In the context of protecting the public interest, how does Mr. Kiely see this panning out? Throughout my lifetime I have not found any place where he who pays the piper does not call the tune to some extent. I am not saying that advertisers would stand over the broadcasters' shoulder breathing down their necks or holding the editor's pen. Inevitably, if a broadcaster or publication is solely dependent on major advertisers it presents the advertisers with significant power. It has the potential to put the station, or any station solely dependent on that revenue, in to a compromising situation where balanced content may not be the main issue or it may not come through.