CRITICISM of what is described as the as a failure of the political establishment to address the issue of media ownership has been voiced in advance of a major conference in the University of Limerick.
Irish Secretary of the National Union of Journalists Seamus Dooley also warned that this failure could have serious implications for public interest journalism.
IMr Dooley was speaking in advance of a conference that will examine how journalism is being impacted by the crises it is currently going through.
‘Journalism in Times of Crisis’ will bring together journalists, media academics and theorists, to discuss the role of journalism in the 21st century, conditions for journalists in the contemporary newsroom and prospects for the future of the media industry.
“If the industry is dominated by a small number of owners whose dominant values are those of the market and who increasingly view journalists as ‘content providers’ and journalism as mere data to be shared in the most commercially advantageous manner possible, there is little space for public interest journalism,” said Mr Dooley.
Investigative Journalist Gemma O’Doherty, Ger Colleran (Independent News Media), Bryan Dobson (RTE), Eoin Devereux (UL), Gavin Titley (NUI Maynooth), Julian Mercille (University College Dublin), Harry Browne and Tom Clonan (DIT), Helena Sheehan and John O’Sullivan (DCU) are among more than 30 leading figures in journalism and media theory who will be taking part in panel discussion and presentations over the course of the day-long event.
According to conference organisers and lecturers in the UL journalism department, Henry Silke and Fergal Quinn, the conference will explore issues relating to media ownership, deteriorating working conditions and technological changes for journalism as a profession.
UL Head of Journalism Mary Dundon said the debate which would be stimulated by the conference was a timely one.
“The new Government needs to understand the implications of the current media landscape in Ireland and needs to review current legislation covering competition within the media here,” Ms Dundon added.
Head of the School of Culture and Communications Tadhg Ó hIfearnáin said, “This will be a profoundly stimulating encounter between professional journalism and media scholarship at a time when multiple crises of local, national and world scale coincide with rapid and far-reaching changes in how they are researched, reported and ‘consumed’ by audiences.”
