Press Ombudsman says journalists always necessary

The Press Ombudsman, John Horgan, has said journalists will always be necessary and reporters are more interested in editorial standards than many people give them credit for.

Speaking at a media conference in Dublin to mark World Press Freedom Day, organised by Paul Gillespie of The Irish Times , Prof Horgan said the cost of good journalism was becoming harder and harder for print and broadcast outlets to meet.

“In this world of fragmented journalism and fragmented media, where we are in danger of being submerged in a flood of information without meaning, we will always need journalists and we will need journalists with standards to know what we can rely on.”

Prof Horgan said journalists needed support because they tended to live and work “in a bubble”, like those in many professions.

“Journalists are generally more interested in standards than many people who read newspapers or listen to radio and television give them credit for,” he said.

However, he said they tended to be most affected by the approval or disapproval of their peers and the outside world could sometimes not impinge as much as it might. This could lead to a "dangerous situation", particularly when the economic model of journalism was suffering hugely.

Internet 'chaff'
Turning to new media, Prof Horgan said outlets that were "reliable, authentic and credible" would over time become separate from "the chaff that swirls around the atmosphere" on the internet.

Some websites specialised in “fairly high octane news of a doubtful character” and were “heavily patronised by the public at large”. He said research showed that when people wanted certainty and confirmation “of what they’ve read out there in the Wild West” they tended to come back to “the big websites of the national newspapers, the national broadcasting stations, public and private”.

Minister of State for European Affairs Lucinda Creighton, in a submission to the conference, praised the work of the Press Council. “Freedom of the media is paramount and should be universal in application. But with the exercise of that freedom comes responsibility. Ireland has shown how it can be done,” she said.