The Minister for Media, Communications, Culture and Sport, Patrick O’Donovan, has characterised media coverage of the national fuel protests as “lopsided” in favour of the protests.
Minister O’Donovan, who previously said that he wished to combat true but “harmful” information, made the comments on Limerick Live 95 today, saying that he would be calling on the media commission, Coimisiún na Meán, to conduct a review of coverage of the protests by the State broadcaster and others.
“We were in the middle of a national crisis, and carte blanche was given to some people,” he said, adding, “I think there is a role for the Commission to examine how we make sure the views of the people on the hard shoulder—the ambulance personnel, the fire personnel, and the Gardai—are articulated.”
He said that while the “vast majority” of protesters were “decent people” who had genuine concerns, “there was quite a sinister political underbelly in this that had, you know, severe right-wing connotations.”
“One of the things that has to be looked at in this as well, is from the national broadcasters point of view, and from other broadcasters point of view, is the whole issue of balance.”
“There was a huge amount of air time given over to this last week” he said, adding that this was understandable as it is “a major national problem”, however he added, “but I would have to ask…was it balanced or was it skewed? And I think that’s a role for Coimisiún na Meán,” he said.
When asked of it was his view that the coverage of Limerick Live 95 was “unbalanced”; he replied, “I think there’s a question in general with regard to the coverage that some people got last week, and I think that that’s something Coimisiún na Meán will have to look at.”
“Now, Coimisiún na Meán might come back to me and say that they believe that everything was fine, in which case, that’s grand,” he added.
Combatting true information that is “harmful”.
Minister O’Donovan previously admitted that most of the responses to the Government’s Disinformation Strategy were negative, but says the State needs to counteract “gossip” online
Gript’s Ben Scallan bumps heads with Media Minister Patrick O’Donovan on the Government regulating “malinformation” – true information, that’s allegedly “harmful”.
Asked specifically about the definition of “malinformation,” a spokesperson for the Department of Communications previously pointed to the EU DisinfoLab’s wording: “information that is based on reality but is used to harm or threaten a person, an organisation, or a country.”