The National Union of Journalists has described as “sinister and deeply disturbing” the call by the Minister for Media and Communications Patrick O’Donovan for a Coimisiún na Meán review of media coverage of the recent nationwide fuel protests.
Earlier on Monday O’Donovancriticised the media coverage of the blockades last week, and suggested an RTÉ report was used to encourage protesters to show up to Whitegate oil refinery in Co Cork.
O’Donovan said he was concerned about “balance” in some of the coverage, including some of the content posted online.
“Ironically, it was being reported on RTÉ News on one particular evening that there was nobody at Whitegate, and it was almost like a flare went up – you know: ‘There’s nobody here at Whitegate at the moment, come on down.’ Of course, they started gathering and the rest is history,” O’Donovan told the Tipp Today programme on Tipp FM.
“One of the things that I will be doing is examining it as well from a media and coverage point of view. Particularly social media, and particularly from a balance point of view.”
He added he didn’t see “too much” coverage of people who agreed with the protest but didn’t agree with the methods that it was using.
“There was a lot of businesses that were at risk of going under because of the supply chain, I didn’t see too many of those people get air time. A lot of hospital appointments were missed. I didn’t hear too many doctors being asked how things were in particular hospitals.”
The Minister said he agreed that a lot of people protesting had genuine grievances.
He said it was “important to have a fuel protest, but what was not important was a fuel blockade”.
“There was a place for anger and frustration,” he said. “But I don’t think that the place for anger and frustration was to deny chicken in Co Limerick meal, to deny cattle feed, to deny people hospital appointments, to deny people the right to the access to Dublin Airport”. .
The Minister said people have a right to protest, “and sometimes I feel like protesting myself,” but he was against a situation where unelected demonstrators were telling pregnant women if they did or did not have the right to travel to a maternity hospital after their waters had broken.
In a separate interview on WLR FM, the Minister confirmed that he planned to raise his concerns about the fairness and balance of some media coverage with regulator Coimisiún na Meán.
NUJ assistant general secretary Séamus Dooley said he found the Minister’s comments “sinister and deeply disturbing.”
“The Media Minister is not a bystander but is in a position to influence the allocation of funds, the approval of commercial radio licenses and overall policy on broadcasting,” he said. “It is not his role to dictate to the independent regulator or to apply pressure on media organisations. RTÉ is a public service broadcaster not a State broadcaster and is independently regulated in the interests of democracy. You cannot have a ‘slightly independent’ public service broadcaster.”
“During the past week many journalists were abused by protesters, including key personnel involved in organising blockades”. Dooley said it was “ironic” that O’Donovan “has decided to join the ranks of the anti mainstream media critics in his verbal onslaught at professional broadcasters simply because he disagreed with the arguments and actions of the subject of legitimate news coverage.”
“There’s no place for Trumpian ad hominem attacks on journalists and the Minister’s comments have caused genuine concern,” Dooley said.
Meanwhile, Social Democrats TD Sinéad Gibney described O’Donovan’s interview as “jaw dropping” and “sinister.”
“This is a transparent, and frankly pathetic, attempt to defray blame for the Government’s own botched approach, not just to the protests – but to the cost-of-living crisis, which has endured now for years,” she said.
“It is also a dangerous attempt by Government to exert editorial control over the media in an attempt to muzzle it. A cornerstone of any strong democracy is a free media. Any attempt by the Government to chip away at this will be fiercely resisted.”
RTÉ said it had no comment to make on O’Donovan’s claim about its coverage of Whitegate oil refinery.