Rónán Mullen (Independent)

I mean Senator Norris's motion on this matter. I am interested to hear people giving out about standards in the media. Senator Alex White said there is an extraordinary amount of opinion to be heard these days in the media. That phenomenon goes back to when Senator Alex White was a producer in the media. The danger with politicians is that we start giving out about the media only when they start saying things that make us feel uncomfortable. When I tabled amendments to the Broadcasting Bill that would have sought to bring a greater emphasis on fairness and impartiality to the media's coverage of a range of issues, there was no support from the Government. People must be careful that they will not sound convincing if they start giving out about the media only when the criticism starts to irritate them. There are issues about media standards in this country. The media is unaccountable in many ways.