Press Releases

It is commonplace today, especially among critics of the print media, to suppose that the advent of the internet has made the traditional media, and the print media in particular, irrelevant or redundant. Nothing could be further from the truth.For one thing, the traditional media are still the main sources for a huge amount of what appears on the blogosphere. A recent US survey showed that the ten news outlets cited most often for original reporting in the American blogosphere included three of the major US newspapers as well as a number of news agencies and television stations. The next twenty news outlets included no fewer than 14 different newspapers. These newspapers must be doing something right – and perhaps repetition, as well as imitation, is the sincerest form of flattery.For another, the traditional press now has an independent regulatory system that is wholly absent from the internet. In time, perhaps, web-based journalism may come to see the value of quality control and best professional practice. If and when it does – and at least one web-based news organisation has already been accepted as a member publication of the Council - we are ready to play a positive role in the light of our own experience and in support of the highest possible journalistic standards. 

   

Press Council to host seminar on Children and the Media

Seminar on ‘Children and the Media’, Monday, 6 December 2010, Morgan Hotel, Fleet Street, Dublin 2

The Chairman of the Press Council, Dáithí O’Ceallaigh, today (8th September 2010) announced the appointment of two new members of the Press Council of Ireland, who will serve for a three-year term.The new members are Professor Aine Hyland, Emeritus Professor of Education at University College, Cork, and Mr Eamonn Mac Aodha, Chief Executive of the Irish Human Rights Commission. They replace two retiring members of the Council, former District Justice Mary Kotsonouris, and Mr Peter O’Mahony, former CEO of the Irish Refugee Council. The appointments were made, on the basis of applications from members of the public, by an independent Appointments Committee, which was chaired by the outgoing Chairman, Professor Thomas Mitchell.Announcing the new appointments, Mr.O’Ceallaigh said “I am delighted to welcome Professor Hyland and Mr Mac Aodha to the Press Council. They bring a wealth of experience in the public service to the Council.” Bio notes for the new members:

I would very much like to thank the organisers of this important Conference for the opportunity to outline Ireland’s experience over the last three years in the establishment and consolidation of the Press Council of Ireland, one of Europe’s newer attempts to self-regulate the print media. While the process was under way there were many lessons learned. Some, I hope, will be of value in guiding the actions of at least some members of this audience in the future.

After reading the accounts of the past few days, I was beginning to wonder whether there would be anything left for me to say, but I will do my best! I come before you as an unrepentant believer in the importance and the role of journalism. From my early teenage years, I wanted above all to be a journalist and, over more than four decades – with the exception of some six years in full-time politics – I have always been connected with journalism in one way or another. I am equally unrepentant in my belief that among the best guarantees of the freedom of the press are the development and maintenance of high professional standards and public accountability.

The Press Council of Ireland has renewed the appointment of the Press Ombudsman, Professor John Horgan, for a second three-year term. Professor Horgan, whose first appointment as Press Ombudsman took effect on 1st September 2007, said yesterday that he was happy to accept the Council’s offer to renew his appointment, and that he looked forward to continuing and building on the work that has been done by the Council and his Office over the past three years. “The system that has been created in Ireland for press regulation, based on an independent Ombudsman and Press Council, and on voluntary cooperation by the print media, is unique, and has strengths not to be found elsewhere”, Professor Horgan added. “The degree to which editors, in particular, have cooperated with its activities is in no small measure responsible for the fact that public knowledge of, and confidence in, the new system, has been growing steadily, and has created a sound foundation for the future". “The formal recognition of the Council and of the Office of the Press Ombudsman by the Oireachtas earlier this year is a further strengthening of our role in the future. In this context, I would also like to pay a particular tribute to the work and commitment of the Council’s outgoing Chairman, Professor Tom Mitchell, and to our staff, whose energy and dedication, I think it is fair to say, has contributed in no small way to establishing these new structures on a sound basis.”