Choose Truth: Oped from NewsBrands Chair Sammi Bourke in Business Post
This Op-ed was published in the Business Post on Sunday 28th September.
Every day, Irish publishers in print and digital news media invest in the creation of high-quality journalism that is informative, trustworthy and engaging. We are committed to providing readers with our core product of trusted journalism across a multitude of platforms and the public appetite is not in doubt with 82 per cent* of adults reading our news every week.
This journalism is vital as the public increasingly navigate a challenging online information environment flooded with misinformation and disinformation. This week more than 100 countries, and hundreds of news organisations and individuals have joined forces to highlight why journalism matters and why it should be protected. The ‘Choose Truth’ campaign for World News Day, demonstrates the commitment of journalists to report the facts.
This highlights the growing need for the public to try to differentiate between genuine news and rumours or fiction presented as facts. This task is increasingly challenging in an age of AI-generated content. For journalists, it underscores the importance of reaffirming their commitment to providing the public with accurate, thoroughly verified information.
As a sector, our member news publishers have innovated and diversified, now offering our journalism in whatever form our audiences want, be it print, online, podcast, app, or video. What has not changed is our shared commitment to ethical standards in journalism. As members of the Press Council of Ireland, we strive at all times for truth and accuracy and the highest professional standards. We are committed to independence, fairness and balance in informing people of events and issues, which they have a right to know. If we make a mistake, we are answerable and held to account. This is what sets us apart from the multitude of other online ‘news’ sources.
However, this professionally produced journalism is an expensive business and on a global front news media publishers are increasingly exposed to economic, competition and regulatory challenges. To preserve and further promote the freedom, independence and diversity of journalism, the right political, economic and legal framework conditions are essential.
As the industry body for the news publishing sector, we in NewsBrands Ireland have long campaigned for defamation law reform and highlighted how the high level of awards and related legal costs are seriously jeopardising the financial viability of many local and national news publishers. We welcome the recent commencement of the Defamation (Amendment) Bill in the Dail; it is critical that the Bill is enacted before the election. Good defamation policy is categorically not about giving journalists a free rein to write what they like. It is about setting the right balance in order to protect people’s reputations and the need to defend and promote freedom of expression and the media’s ability to freely report on matters in the public interest.
Another key challenge for Irish news publishers is the lack of effective copyright legislation to support them in seeking fair payment from search and social media platforms for use of their content. News publishers invest millions in generating properly sourced and fact-checked news content that is being used by platforms to engage users and, in turn, capturing valuable data for online advertising and by AI systems to train large language models. To protect a free and diverse press, tech companies must be required to fairly compensate publishers for commercial use of their content. NewsBrands is committed to furthering legislation that provides for the necessary data-sharing obligations for the assessment of the value of publisher content to platforms and for binding arbitration, as exists in other markets.
We take inspiration from the Australian and Canadian models, where direct involvement by Government resulted in tech platforms coming to the negotiation table and making remuneration proposals. We also take inspiration from the French case, where the competition authority validated a negotiation framework for fair remuneration agreements. Effective copyright legislation would preserve the integrity and economic viability of the press and journalism while fostering innovation within the media landscape.
By taking these actions, our government can help create a healthier environment for journalism, which ultimately benefits democracy and society as a whole.
I encourage everyone to ‘Choose Truth’.
