Greater resources should be allocated to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland so it can "monitor and take a view on the output of broadcasters" without having to wait for viewers and listeners to complain, according to Fianna Fáil.
The party’s submission to the authority’s consultation process on its draft code of fairness, objectivity and impartiality in news and current affairs programming also says there should be a statutory requirement on all broadcasters to notify the BAI of all complaints it receives, which the BAI should then log and publish.
The BAI should “take a pro-active role” in monitoring broadcasts and initiate an investigation if it feels that a broadcaster’s output has breached its code, the party says. “Relying solely on the active participation of listeners and viewers is insufficient.”
The submission also says enforcement of guidelines prohibiting current affairs presenters from expressing partisan views “has been found wanting in many instances previously” and that the party has “concerns that this will continue to be the case going forward”.
Rules governing the coverage of elections and referendums “should not be drafted in an ad hoc manner”, it says . In a reference to last year’s “tweetgate” incident , the party argues that “recent criticism by the BAI of one broadcaster’s conduct during the Presidential election demonstrates the need for strong, comprehensive rules”.
Fianna Fáil was the only political party to make an official submission to the consultation, although members of Fine Gael and the Labour Party did so in a personal capacity.
In a section of the Fianna Fáil website devoted to “media balance”, the party invites members to take action against “what many members feel is an unfairly aggressive approach taken by some elements in the media” and includes a link to a BAI list of the complaints sections of broadcasters’ websites.
