THE NATIONAL UNION of Journalists (NUJ) has strongly criticised the Minister for Communications and Media for his plans to seek a review of RTÉ and other news organisations’ coverage of the fuel protests.

NUJ Assistant General Secretary Séamus Dooley said the comments this morning from Minister Patrick O’Donovan were “sinister and deeply disturbing” and an interference in editorial independence. 

“During the past week many journalists were abused by protesters, including key personnel involved in organising blockades. It is ironic that Deputy O’Donovan has decided to join the ranks of the anti-mainstream media critics in his verbal onslaught at professional broadcasters simply because he disagreed with the arguments and actions of the subject of legitimate news coverage,” Dooley said. 

He added that journalists have a duty to report news and provide coverage of events as they unfold.

Earlier today, O’Donovan suggested that media coverage has been “lopsided” in favour of the fuel protest and that “carte blanche was given to some people”.

He said he will be asking Coimisiún na Meán to review the coverage from the national broadcaster, RTÉ and others.

“We heard a lot of lopsided political views,” the minister claimed, adding that he “didn’t hear” any of the views of economic actors, such as employers, who were negatively impacted by the fuel protests last week. 

He made the comments today during radio interviews with Waterford’s WLR and Limerick’s Live 95. 

“One of the things that has to be looked at in this as well, is from the national broadcasters point of view, and from other broadcasters point of view, is the whole issue of balance.

“There was a huge amount of air time given over to this last week, which there should be, because this was a major national problem, but I would have to ask…was it balanced or was it skewed? And I think that’s a role for Coimisiún na Meán,” the Limerick TD and Minister said on Live 95.

Coimisiún na Meán is Ireland’s independent media regulator, with responsibility for regulating broadcasters, video-on-demand providers and online platforms in Ireland.

 Asked if he believes Limerick Live 95′s coverage was “unbalanced”, O’Donovan said: 

“I think there’s a question in general with regard to the coverage and that some people got last week, and I think that that’s something Coimisiún na Meán will have to look at.” 

“Now, Coimisiún na Meán might come back to me and say that they believe that everything was fine, in which case, that’s grand,” he added.

In particular, the minister seemed to take issue with the fact that he was only on Live 95 once last week. 

“I’m just saying, that taking out of this, one of the things I will be looking at as Minister for Communications is to see if you have a panel discussion, for instance, on a national broadcaster, where there’s three or four from the opposition and one from the government, is that a legitimate debate?

“And I think it’s about time that we had that discussion because the Minister for Justice will be looking at the Garda response, and the Minister for Defence will be looking at responses, I too will be looking at responses as to we live in a democracy, all voices should be heard, not just some,” O’Donovan said. 

Responding to his comments this afternoon, Dooley said the minister was drawing a “false equivalence” between his role and the roles of the minister for justice and defence  “in order to justify interference in the editorial independence of the national public service broadcaster and licensed radio servicers”.

Dooley said: “I find these comments sinister and deeply disturbing. The Media minister is not a bystander but is in a position to influence the allocation of funds, the approval of commercial radio licenses and overall policy on broadcasting.

“It is not his role to dictate to the independent regulator or to apply pressure on media organisations.

“RTÉ is a public service broadcaster not a State broadcaster and is independently regulated in the interests of democracy. You cannot have a ‘slightly independent’ public service broadcaster.”

Dooley added that the NUJ would ask the Minister to respect the role of independent journalism. 

He added:

“There’s no place for Trumpian ad hominem attacks on journalists and the minister’s comments have caused genuine concern”.

‘Dog whistle’

In recent years, there have been calls from other politicians to examine media coverage of news events. 

In 2024, O’Donovan’s party leader Simon Harris attacked Sinn Féin when it said it wanted RTÉ to review its news coverage of Israel’s actions in Gaza post October 7 2023.

Harris said that Sinn Féin’s general election manifesto pledge to independently review RTÉ’s coverage of the war in Gaza was a “dog whistle to conspiracy theorists”.

Harris said the Sinn Féin proposal was “chilling” and “despicable” and “an effort to undermine media freedom in this country”. 

When contacted by The Journal, Coimisiún na Meán said: 

“We are aware that the Minister has expressed concern in relation to recent broadcast coverage of the fuel protests.

“Coimisiún na Meán operates a statutory complaints process under the Broadcasting and Other Media Regulation Acts 2009.

|If any individual wishes to make a complaint regarding broadcast content they believe has not complied with statutory standards or An Coimisiún’s Media Service Codes and Rules, they can find more information on our website.”

RTÉ declined to comment.