A journalist based in Cork has launched a High Court challenge against the Press Council of Ireland after his website was denied membership of the body earlier this year.
JJ O’Donoghue, the founder and editor of local newsletter Tripe+Drisheen, has initiated judicial review proceedings, alleging that the media body failed to give adequate reasons for its decision.
The council’s chairman, who is former senior civil servant and diplomat Rory Montgomery, told Mr O’Donoghue in March that his application did not “meet the criteria as set out” on the Press Council’s website.
However, Mr O’Donoghue told The Irish Times in May that the council had not told him which of the nine criteria Tripe+Drisheen had failed to meet.
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He has now started judicial review proceedings, alleging that the Press Council failed to give adequate reasons for its decision to deny Tripe+Drisheen accreditation.
The case is up for mention in October.
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Mr Montgomery said last week that he had no comment to make on the matter.
Mr O’Donoghue also declined to comment.
The Irish Times reported in May that the website was provisionally selected last year to receive €38,000 funding under a Coimisiún na Meán scheme aimed at supporting local democracy and court reporting. It planned to use the funding to hire two part-time reporters and expand its coverage.
However, the release of the funds depended on recipients being accredited member publications of the Press Council. Mr O’Donoghue told The Irish Times that he started the membership application process last November.
Mr Montgomery then told him of the council’s decision in March and apologised for the “unavoidable delays” in dealing with the application.
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In response to questions in May, the Press Council chairman said he could not go into “specifics”, but said the board had considered the website’s application “on a number of occasions” before the decision to reject it in March.
Tripe+Drisheen is published on Substack, a US-owned platform that allows journalists to earn subscription income for blogs, newsletters, videos and podcasts.
Mr Montgomery denied that Tripe+Drisheen’s presence on Substack was an issue for the board when it was considering its application.
The chairman also said the Press Council had set up a subcommittee in April to review its membership procedures and criteria.
Asked last week for an update on the status of the membership review, Mr Montgomery and the Press Council declined to comment.
