Public Deception - Biased Media? What do you think?

national | crime and justice | opinion/analysis Thursday October 26, 2006 02:57 by Ear-bashed

"Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall, when the wise are banished from the public councils, because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people, in order to betray them." --Joseph Story

Would anyone agree that Media bias along with flagrant abuse of licensing conditions is the accepted norm in Ireland?

It is well beyond a perceived notion that almost all public broadcasters abuse the law and openly push their viewpoints, instead of reporting news or airing programs in an objective and impartial way as the Law binds them to.

That bias applies to media as a whole, such as a newspaper groups, or given television or radio networks. The consistency in almost every quarter of harmonised staff opinion and presentation is stark and in my opinion regarding television anyway, and without meaning to lessen the corrupt practices of RTE 1&2, and TV3, TnaG stands out a mile by constantly depicting the Irish past as nothing but the 'bad old days' and the new rosy EU filled future as our only saving hope. The Irish Constitution really seems to provoke them to criminal broadcasting behaviour. It begs the question, Why?

The station has a clear manifesto of denouncing the Catholic Church, constantly ribbing anyone who worked or works for Irish sovereignty in perfect coordination with selective interviews and biased programming.

They are particularly practiced at pushing their strange agenda outside their office hours with Friday evening viewing being typically the most atrocious.

How many of us fully realise that they break the law by doing so?

We should know our laws a lot more!

RADIO AND TELEVISION ACT, 1988
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1988_20.html

9.—(1) Every sound broadcasting contractor shall ensure that—
( a ) all news broadcast by him is reported and presented in an objective and impartial manner and without any expression of his own views;

( b ) the broadcast treatment of current affairs, including matters which are either of public controversy or the subject of current public debate, is fair to all interests concerned and that the broadcast matter is presented in an objective and impartial manner and without any expression of his own views: Provided that should it prove impracticable in relation to a single broadcast to apply this paragraph, two or more related broadcasts may be considered as a whole, if the broadcasts are transmitted within a reasonable period of each other;

( d ) anything which may reasonably be regarded as offending against good taste or decency, or as being likely to promote, or incite to, crime or as tending to undermine the authority of the State, is not broadcast by him;

Advertisements
10.—(3) No advertisement shall be broadcast which is directed towards any religious or political end or which has any relation to an industrial dispute.
Complaints

11.—(1) A sound broadcasting contractor shall give due and adequate consideration to any complaint, which is not of a frivolous or vexatious nature, made by a member of the public in respect of the sound broadcasting service provided by the contractor and shall, whilst his contract is in force, keep due and proper records of all such complaints and of any reply made thereto or of any action taken on foot thereof.

BROADCASTING AUTHORITY ACT, 1960
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1960_10.html

Impartiality

18.—(1) It shall be the duty of the Authority to secure that, when it broadcasts any information, news or feature which relates to matters of public controversy or is the subject of current public debate, the information, news or feature is presented objectively and impartially and without any expression of the Authority's own views.

(4) The Authority shall not accept any advertisement which is directed towards any religious or political end or has any relation to any industrial dispute.