The Press Ombudsman - An office that can serve us all
It is more than two decades since such a facility was first proposed by the late Douglas Gageby and the welcome but overdue event is of greater significance than might be immediately apparent.
We are lucky, whether we accept it or not, to have an independent press, and, in the great majority of instances, reliable and objective. This is one of the component functions of a participatory democracy and it is to be cherished and protected.
The Office of Press Ombudsman and the Press Council of Ireland will be in a position to oversee and test the industry’s commitment to the principles so clearly and simply outlined in an agreed code of practice.
That code can be outlined in simple terms: it is a commitment to truth and accuracy, the age-old cornerstones of any press that deserves support or protection. It represents entirely appropriate ethical regulation for any press that has earned its pot of ink.
Though the announcement will not change therelationship between society and the press, it will mark a significant power shift in the balance of that interaction.
Readers, without having to resort to slow and expensive legal actions, will be able to call publications to account as never before. Now the print media can be held to account by its readers without those readers having to risk the family silver in legal fees.
You can have immediate and affordable recourse to an independent arbiter if you feel that you have been misrepresented, misused, lied about, or had your privacy inappropriately invaded.
It is a double-edged sword as by its very existence the Ombudsman will be a powerful catalyst encouraging ever-higher standards in this industry.
The Press Council was designed to avoid the conflict of interest inherent in self-regulation or the imposition of statutory, government-controlled regulation. The 13-member council, although industry-funded, consists of an independent chairman, Prof Tom Mitchell, a former provost of Trinity College, and a majority of independent members representing society in general.
The fact that the press — made up of national and regional papers, the Irish editions of UK titles, magazine publishers and proprietors, editors and journalists — has agreed an independent model for professional regulation is a good omen for society and journalism, which is utterly dependent on the trust of that society in which it operates and serves.
It will be possible for a reader to ask for help and redress from the Ombudsman, Prof John Horgan, to rectify errors, and to confront breaches of acceptable conduct. It can be done quickly at no cost to the individ-ual. The work of journalists will come under scrutiny as never before. Their professional — or unprofessional — behaviour, and the methods used to gather information, will be as open to judgment as the stories published.
It is very easy to be po-faced, vainglorious and overly self-important about the role of the press in society. However, in a country where the most powerful interests in the land would have us believe that black is at the very least a faint shade of grey; where they seem to believe that there is one set of rules for themselves and another for the rest of us, a press free to investigate and comment is essential.
If the Office of Press Ombudsman and the Press Council of Ireland help strengthen the relationship between the press and the society it serves it will have earned our gratitude and deserve everyone’s support.
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