Members of the anti-capitalist movement Globalise Resistance are picketing a major conference of newspaper editors being held in Dublin today.
The 56th World Newspaper Congress and 10th World Editors Forum at the RDS is expected to attract more than 1,000 editors and newspaper executives from 88 countries.
Mr Joe Carolan of the Globalise Resistance movement said his group was protesting against concentration of media ownership, among other issues.
He said many people believed the corporate media present a biased view of the world and that this was evident in recent coverage of the war on Iraq. Mr Carolan said the corporate media had also been "guilty of spreading the myth of Weapons of Mass Destruction" in Iraq.
"The conditions of media ownership mean there are fewer diverse voices and radical voices heard. There were few voices outside the mainstream heard during the war. We were called anti-American, even though we had lots of Americans in our movement".
A Garda spokeswoman said the situation at the RDS is currently "peaceful" although there is a Garda presence at the event. The number of protesters is believed to number about a dozen. Gardai said one man was arrested for the purpose of a drugs search.
Seminar topics at the event include press freedom and the role of the newspaper in society. The event continues until Wednesday and will be attended by representatives from The Irish Times and ireland.com.
The conference was opened by President Mary McAleese last night and was to be addressed this morning by the Taoiseach and by U2 frontman and campaigner Bono.