Public funding remains elusive for independent radio

Four days before the September 17th application deadline for its new local democracy reporting and courts reporting schemes, Coimisiún na Meán extended it until the end of the month. But the extra time is academic for members of Independent Broadcasters of Ireland (IBI). They have unanimously agreed, with “deep disappointment”, that the schemes — open to print, online and broadcast outlets — are “unfit for purpose”.
The IBI, noting the recent multiyear funding deal with RTÉ, is calling for “urgent Government intervention” to bring about a more level playing field in the media sector. At the heart of the issue, as the 34 stations that make up its membership see it, is that there is no State support for core news and current affairs services in the advertising-dependent radio sector.
The operational details for the two new journalism funding schemes, which were years in gestation, indicate that they are more suitable for print outlets, the same ones that — it won’t have gone unnoticed — benefited from the Government’s move to zero-rate newspapers for VAT two budgets ago.
As Minister for Media Catherine Martin recently suggested to the Dáil, there may yet be a way forward that satisfies the radio sector: an adjustment to the regulator’s Sound and Vision scheme that would allow this licence fee-funded scheme to pay for core news and current affairs. But as this would require European Commission approval, the feeling is it won’t happen overnight.
In the meantime, there’s a budget, then a general election to be fought. After a period of what the IBI called “intensive engagement” with Coimisiún na Meán and Martin’s department “to share concerns and to make constructive proposals, without success”, it will be the turn of hundreds of election candidates to engage intensively with media in their constituency.
The IBI, as well as representing the Bauer-owned national stations Newstalk and Today FM, speaks for the interests of several local stations that command the majority share of listening in their franchise areas. In total, its stations account for 70 per cent of radio listenership. So, if they do venture on air mid-campaign, would-be TDs should probably expect a question or two on the subject of fairness in media funding.