Irish Examiner view: A free and fair media is vital to a free and fair life

Last January, we produced our 63,000th issue and during the year we also reached the milestone of having attracted 20,000 digital subscribers but,  like media around the world, we are locked in a struggle for survival. File Picture: Dan Linehan

It is a truism of modern life that we — collectively and individually — do not appreciate something until it is gone.

That is particularly pertinent when it comes to the media we consume on a daily basis — print, broadcast, and digital. As we turn into a new year, we are witnessing, whether we like it or not, a huge decline in the effectiveness of those entities to bring to us news and reportage which is truthful, credible, and sustainable.

We here at the Irish Examiner, who have been reporting on the events which shape us from a local, national, and international point of view for 183 years, are exemplars of the times in which we live.

Last January, we produced our 63,000th issue and during the year we also reached the milestone of having attracted 20,000 digital subscribers but, like media around the world, we are locked in a struggle for survival.

This despite having sent reporters around the world in the past 12 months to cover events such as America’s turbulent presidential election; the razing of Rafah in the Gaza Strip; the ongoing growth of China; European elections, and much more.

We report on world events and the effects they may have on Ireland and our people, and we are committed to educating our readers about the whys and wherefores of what is happening internationally and the knock-on consequences; we are equally committed to what is happening on our own doorstep in Cork, politically, socially, and economically. 

We are also unswerving in our concern about the climate and the environment and what the world can do to reverse hundreds of years of untrammelled ignorance of the effects of human activity and industrialisation.

There is good reason to be fearful of the increasing attacks on legitimate media and its credibility. One simply has to look west to America, where the second coming of Donald Trump as its president is imminent, along with his persistence that a free and fair media is poisoning the view that he wants presented of himself and the world he occupies. 

This is nothing short of terrifying to any free- and fair-minded person.

Trump, along with his new Cabinet picks — so aptly described as "an embarrassment of wretches" — aim to instil in the media a fear of reporting fairly, correctly, and truthfully.

Expect to see, shortly after his inauguration in less than a month, a blitz of measures against media outlets both in court and by way of legislation as he and his allies try to shut down free and fair reportage in favour of the misinformation that suits their ends best.

The next US president is not alone, however. The world is awash with autocrats only too willing to break the free press and instead mould an insidious, disingenuous media that reports only what they want it to. That it could engender a personality cult only serves their needs all the more.

Ireland itself has faced many challenges in the past 12 months in terms of the stability with our neighbours and EU colleagues, threats to our trading conditions with partners worldwide, and accusations of antisemitism over our country’s principled stance on the war in Gaza, but because we have a free press we have been able to analyse and address any issues.

It is hugely important therefore for all fair-minded people to gather behind journalism that is independent in its worldview and committed to reporting the truth. It is vital because, if mainstream media does not report on the facts, then our hard-won democratic norms will vanish and we will all be impoverished morally, socially, and economically.

French philosopher and author Albert Camus once noted that “a free press can of course be good or bad but, most certainly, without freedom it will never be anything but bad”.

Ours are salutary times, but one thing can most certainly be said of a free and fair press: You will miss it when it is gone.

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Share fortune with those who have less

To our readers — each and every one of you — we wish a happy and healthy Christmas. Indeed, it is a wish we extend to the people of Ireland and to those who have come to our country seeking succour and solace.

Ours has become a hugely diverse community in front of our eyes and in a truly short period of time. Ireland has grown from being a huge emigrant contributor globally to having a large, diverse, and welcome immigrant community.

There are those, of course, who balk at this turn of events and shout from the rooftops about "keeping Ireland for the Irish" and bark loudly at the supposedly insidious threat to our culture.

They do not speak for those who understand the norms of a modern, cultured, and culturally disparate populous.

Thankfully, such voices are in the minority and our cultural mindset of being a welcoming and inclusive race has come to the fore in even sometimes trying circumstances.

Christmas provides us, even just for a short time, with a period of peace and harmony and it should provide us with time to ponder the good things in life and what we can do to make it better, not only for ourselves and our families, but also those not fortunate enough to enjoy the happiness and stability that is the way of it for so many here.

It gives us time to reflect on those not blessed with security, safety, or even with enough to eat, time to think what we can do to help rather than hinder.

This is a special time and it should be so for everyone. Do what you can to make sure that is the case.

And — above all else — please, everyone, have a happy, peaceful, safe, and harmonious Christmas.