Press freedom - Who would privacy laws protect?

LAST week we had a glimpse of what is possible when powerful interests move to control the public agenda.

Gardaí were sent to a radio station to demand access to email and phone records. The director of our State broadcasting corporation, which we imagine independent, apologised to Government for a piece of banal satire. A thing of nothing became an international farce because someone tried clumsily to silence dissent.

In this context it is disappointing that Justice Minister Dermot Ahern used the publication of the first annual report of the Press Council and Press Ombudsman to raise again the prospect of legislation purportedly designed to protect privacy.