A call was made yesterday for the establishment of a self-regulatory media complaints commission to deal effectively with complaints from the public in relation to the print and broadcasting sectors.
Dr Colum Kenny, senior lecturer in communications at Dublin City University, said such a commission would replace the existing Broadcasting Complaints Commission and would have a Press Complaints Commission as part of the new body.
Speaking at the "Redefining Roles and Relationships" conference organised by Rural Resource Development Ltd (RRD) in Ennis on the need for a press complaints commission, Dr Kenny said "for a press council to work effectively our draconian libel laws need to be reformed".
He said the public deserved a new mechanism for dealing effectively with complaints.
He said the absence of a press complaints commission was partly due to the failure of successive governments to implement the findings of the Commission on the Newspaper Industry in 1996.
He said that any press complaints commission that was appointed ought to be self-regulatory, robust and chaired and composed of people who had no connection to the media industry.