Broadcast watchdog backs radio election gag

THE under-fire broadcasting watchdog ruled yesterday that a radio station was right not to refer to Fine Gael in its coverage of a consumer affairs story.

On Thursday, the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) controversially gagged independent radio stations from covering stories that might influence the outcome of the election, following a complaint from Fianna Fáil. That resulted in accusations it had bowed to pressure from the party.

Yet when Fine Gael queried yesterday whether Dublin local radio station FM 104 was correct to not mention the party by name when it reported upon a pint price survey, the BCI said this was a correct position for the station to adopt.

On the day before an election and on polling day, independent stations are not allowed to broadcast stories about the election.

Immediately before the survey story, FM104 broadcast a brief interview with the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, which could be interpreted as having the potential to influence the outcome of the election. However, the BCI saw nothing wrong with that either as stations are allowed to broadcast content encouraging turnout.

The query about FM104's bulletin was made by Fine Gael political director Gerry Naughton. He said since FG carried out the survey, it would not be a breach of the guidelines to name the party in the report.

Responding to the query, BCI head of broadcasting Ciarán Kissane said the approach adopted by FM104 was in keeping with the principles which underpin the campaign moratorium.

"Coverage was limited to the facts of the story and the station correctly avoided making any links to electoral interests which would breach the moratorium," Mr Kissane said.

Last night a BCI spokesperson defended the commission's stance and said the FM104 was better to err on the side of caution.

"There is not an inconsistency with having the Taoiseach on encouraging people to vote," the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, RTÉ welcomed a High Court judgment overruling a decision by the Information Commissioner regarding the release of records of in-house monitoring of RTÉ election campaign coverage.

The Information Commissioner had ruled that the national broadcaster must release records of its monitoring of its own election campaign coverage.

But RTÉ argued that the release of the records could undermine its journalism, which, the broadcaster said, depends on a degree of confidentiality and it should therefore remain outside the terms of the Freedom of Information Act.