Rules on referendum coverage criticised

RULES WHICH mean that opposing sides in a referendum must get equal coverage are a "charter for every awkward squad", a Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) conference heard yesterday.

Today FM chief executive Willie O'Reilly, who is chairman of the Independent Broadcasters of Ireland (IBI), said the requirement gave the No side in the Lisbon Treaty referendum more credibility and less scrutiny than it deserved.

The IBI represents broadcasters other than RTÉ, including the two independent national radio stations, Today FM and Newstalk, four regional radio stations and 27 local radio stations. The BCI is an independent statutory body whose roles include the licensing of independent broadcasting services and the monitoring of licensed services to ensure they comply with their statutory obligations.

Mr O'Reilly said there was a clear discrepancy between the mandate of the Yes side, which included all the major political parties with the exception of Sinn Féin, and the No side, which largely comprised groups that were not elected, citing the example of Libertas founder Declan Ganley.

"We need to look at how a charismatic person with funding that was questionable was elevated by default by the media into a position of leading what seemed to be a nationwide campaign, yet that person had no mandate," he said.

Speaking during the BCI's national broadcasting conference at Croke Park, Mr OReilly said there was an inherent conflict between the Broadcasting Act, which tells broadcasters to be fair and impartial and the Referendum Commission, which demands 50:50 airtime.

He said the artificial requirements of giving equal time became a self-fulfilling prophecy by giving No campaigners the same status as Yes campaigners."Achieving real balance as distinct from a division of air time requires that broadcasters and government reflect deeply on these issues."

RTÉs head of public affairs, Peter Feeney, said the station was bound by the McKenna judgment, which stated that public money could not be spent advocating one side of a referendum over another, and also by the Broadcasting Act's requirement for fairness and impartiality. He said giving equal time to groups and individuals who might not have the same mandate was a price worth paying for balanced journalism.

"You are treating almost as equal groups with no mandate whose funding we don't know in some cases, but there is no other way of doing that as long as the major political parties are all on one side," he said.

BCI chief executive Michael O'Keeffe said there had been "no complaints" about the coverage. "You must give equal opportunity to both sides of the argument irrespective of who is supporting and who is not," he said.