Single media watchdog suggested as part of defamation law review

A single oversight body for all media including online media is being considered as part of a major review of defamation law.

A Law Reform Commission discussion document says that the two existing bodies, one for print media and the other for broadcast media, were set up before the advent of online media reporting and don’t fully cover it.

The LRC paper said material may be put online and within a matter of hours, minutes “or even seconds” can be seen by a “vast audience”.

It said the traditional news media “may no longer be the first to publish news stories”.

It said this raised the question of who should be considered as the news media, and said a High Court ruling meant that online bloggers may be considered as journalists.

It said the Courts Service had a working definition of bona fide members of the media as: members of the press (including online media) who hold a press card issued by the National Union of Ireland, or people who don’t have such a card but have a signed letter from their editor or publisher.

It said that one proposal for oversight was a “media standards body” that would regulate “all forms of media”, not just print and broadcast. It said that there was a Press Council of Ireland (for print) and a Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (broadcast).

“These bodies were established before the advent of internet media reporting that we see today, and so they do not take full account of this significant development,” the LRC said.

It said that two possible solutions were a single regulatory body for all media or more express provision for online media within the existing framework.

The review is also considering if legal protections provided to journalists should also be extended to unregulated bloggers and so-called citizen journalists.

The LRC is also examining if journalists should have protection where they make an honest mistake in their report.

n The deadline for submissions from the public is October 26.