Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)

One of the reasons for strong broadcasting values and so forth is quite interesting. I was Minister with the relevant portfolio from 1993 to 1997. On Tuesday, 21 September 1993, François Mitterrand gave a speech, having received an honorary doctorate from the University of Gdansk, in which he stated:

We must be on our guard. Although the spirit of Europe is no longer threatened by the great totalitarian machines which we have successfully withstood or by war, it could be more insidiously endangered by new masters, namely economism, mercantilism, the power of money, and in a certain way, technology. Just think of the tremendous impact which audio-visual media are having in our lives.

He went on to state:

So I ask the question, can media ratings and commercial profit override the demands of thought and ethics without serious consequences? Europe has generally been successful in reconciling the freedom to engage in business with the freedom to create, the expansion of wealth and the development of the arts and ideas, competitiveness and our national identities.

He continued:

It was no joy to me to know that I did not succeed in holding back the sea of American domination in European culture. What do our American partners want? They want to include the production and distribution of images in the general agreement.

He went on to raise the question of why should we be so dominated. What are our broadcasters doing to establish something that is distinct? Mitterrand quoted Jean Claude Carrière in arguing:

Imagine if the Germans were to say to the Irish "You listen to Bach and Beethoven far more often than your own composers, so just stop making music. And if the French said to the Portuguese "You read Balzac and Proust more than your own authors, so you should stop writing".

The idea that a Minister would give a Second Stage speech and not introduce any of the issues I mentioned fills me with great despair and disappointment. Broadcasting is located within culture and culture has to do with citizenship. To have a long elaborate statement of how all the technical adjustments will be made to what is essentially a commercial ethos, without discussing these issues, is a source of sadness. I will return in detail to all these issues on Committee Stage.

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