Media ownership ‘threatens public interest journalism’

The failure of the political establishment to address the issue of media ownership could have serious implications for public interest journalism, the Irish Secretary of the National Union of Journalists Seamus Dooley has warned.

Speaking ahead of a conference in University of Limerick on April 7 that will examine how journalism is impacted in times of crisis, Mr Dooley said there is a need for an informed public debate on the implication of concentration of ownership.

“The issue of media ownership and control is all too frequently assumed to be about direct editorial interference by owners and shareholders in editorial content. That is a simplistic notion and ignores the reality that ownership shapes media content in a variety of ways.