John McGuirk

Buried in the middle of Sarah Carey’s excellent column today on the merits of some of the various current affairs programmes on offer to the Irish viewer is this little nugget:

Worryingly, Browne’s programme is under threat because EU regulations say that news programmes cannot be sponsored.

Other than pointing out this heretofore relatively unknown (to me at least) gem, Sarah lets it go. Personally, I think it’s the most important line in her piece.

What EU committee decided that the poor uninformed population of Europe could not be exposed to news programming which is brought to them courtesy of a corporate sponsor? Are we so gullible  in the eyes of those who govern us that we cannot detect any bias in favour of the sponsor within the programme we’re watching?

Even if that really is the case, did the drafters of this legislation think that even if some bias did exist towards a network’s corporate sponsors that this bias could be eliminated simply by removing the sponsorship from a current affaris programme and directing it towards light entertainment instead? I mean, the money goes into the same coffers, after all.  Finally, if our betters in Brussels foresee a situation where Domino’s pizza might extract favourable news coverage as a result of sponsoring a news programme, is it beyond the realm of possibility that they might extract it for sponsoring a sports show instead?

The net effect of a regulation like this is to diminish the variety of news and perspectives on offer to the viewer, and to tilt the market towards the larger networks and broadcasters who can afford not to have one or two programmes with their own sponsor. It makes it infinitely harder for small television channels to justify a larger current affairs offering, and it institutionalises a view that corporations and their marketing departments are intrinsically unworthy of trust, which in itself is unhealthy.

If this were a one-off, maybe their would be some outrage about this in the independently owned Irish media. However, we’ve gotten to a point now where nearly all of the Irish and European commentariat think it’s perfectly ok, and normal, to treat people like children in almost every walk of life.

I’m sorry, but I’m perfectly capable of factoring in the biases that exist in my news to my interpretation of that news. I know Vincent Browne is a left winger, and I treat his occasional class warfare ramblings accordingly. I also know the Irish Times is slavishly secularist, and I know that the Independent may on occasion reflect the interests of its ownership. If you want an unbiased and uncompromised News media, then force those involved in the production, reporting, and presenting of current affairs programmes to declare their political history in the end credits, or on every show. That’s the only way you’ll allow the public to see exactly what is being presented to them, and by whom.

Of course, it’s also utterly unworkable, and bordering on totalitarian, which is why the media would rightly never accept it. The argument they would use, aside from their own right to private views, is the one I’ve just made. People are not stupid.

As a result of this kind of stupid regulation, it has become harder for TV3 to keep the best current affairs programme on television on our screens. Did any of us who watched the programme when it was sponsored feel dirty or compromised by what we were seeing? Of course not.

The problem with the EU is that it is insatiably pro-Government – as in the concept of Government. It sees something that concerns it, and it slaps a regulation on the problem without ever stopping to consider whether Government action is the best corrective course for that concern or problem. In this case, the best corrective force available is the market. We’re seeing that in the US, where Fox News has seen its ratings rise by 10% since the White House tried to clamp down on critical coverage.

The Nightly News will probably survive without a corporate sponsor, for reasons outlined by Sarah in her article. But it shouldn’t have to. And somewhere across Europe, another news programme is probably not going to survive because of this regulation. If you ever needed a reason to be a Eurosceptic, allow me to present you with this one.