Senator urges ownership debate after Smyth ‘de facto sacking’

A GOVERNMENT senator has called for a debate on media ownership following what he termed the “de facto sacking” of journalist Sam Smyth from Today FM.

Labour Senator John Whelan said press freedom and fair comment were fundamental values of democracy.

“Fair comment in the public interest is a pillar of a real republic. I was shocked to learn at the weekend of the de facto sacking from Today FM of the prominent press man, Sam Smyth,” he said.

“There is a fundamental matter of press freedom, freedom of speech and fair comment in the public interest, no matter who it concerns. Everyone in this country would be a lot poorer if we did not have an unhindered press. We must also deal with the issue of proprietorial interference.”

Mr Smyth is to be dropped from his long-running Sunday programme on Today FM on November 6.

The board of the station said the decision to drop Mr Smyth was taken to “address the decline in listenership over several years” rather than because of the legal action being taken against the journalist by Today FM owner, Denis O’Brien.

Mr O’Brien is suing Mr Smyth over an article he wrote in the Irish Independent, and comments he made on TV3, relating to the Moriarty Tribunal.

The tribunal found that former Fine Gael minister Michael Lowry helped Mr O’Brien’s Esat consortium to win the state’s lucrative second mobile phone licence in the 1990s.

The tribunal also found Mr Lowry had benefited from a number of British property deals worth in excess of £720,000 (€825,000), which were linked to Mr O’Brien.