Press council set to aid minorities

Media self-regulation and innovative uses of civil law are more effective than criminal legislation at protecting minorities from discrimination, an expert on press freedom has argued. Ruadhán Mac Cormaic , Migration Correspondent, reports.

Miklos Haraszti, adviser on the media at the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), said he welcomed the establishment of a Press Council in Ireland because it would encourage media organisations to buy into a "quality club" where legitimate complaints could be handled.

"It is a better means for a nation to address grievances about racism, about inaccuracy, about too-easy handling of personality rights, and all the usual legitimate complaints. That is a much better educational tool than punitive law.

Mr Haraszti was speaking yesterday at a roundtable discussion on racism and the media hosted by the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism (NCCRI).

The director of the NCCRI, Philip Watt, said the two groups most likely to be portrayed negatively in the press were asylum seekers and Travellers.

He pointed out that the Press Council code of conduct, which mirrors the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act, excludes Travellers. "That's a concern to us. The community that probably needs the biggest protection is the one which is left out."

© 2007 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times