In the last edition of Hot Press

In the last edition of Hot Press, we printed the first part of an interview with the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Michael D. Higgins. A substantial portion of the piece dealt with the question of ownership of the print media, and the way in which the power which this bestows can be used as a weapon in the shaping of public policy, and public opinion. In particular, he spoke about his belief that the Sunday Independent and the Sunday World have waged a campaign against both Dick Spring and himself since Labour's decision to enter into a coalition arrangement with Fianna Fáil, and especially since he delivered on the promise in the Joint Programme for Government to lift the Cap on RTE's advertising income. That there has been a campaign is not in doubt: the explicit threat contained in a Sunday World editorial - if you think that's bad Michael D., you ain't seen nothing yet - makes that clear. So too does the apparently wilful misrepresentation of his position in a number of Sunday Independent articles, most notably a piece of personal vilification from Eamon Dunphy that was as hypocritical and illogical as it was stupid and vile.

Answering questions about his own response to these attacks, Michael D. said that he had the articles on file. "And I would like," he added, "when I get my next communication from the NNI, for Joe Hayes to go back through all those things that were written and tell me how they fit with what he told me - and I accepted at the time - about their interest in ensuring standards in the newspaper industry." Now, in a humorous sort of way, I happen to think it's a fair request - though I would also insist that the thrust of government policy on the media should be to minimise the level of state censorship and to broaden the public's access to information in a way which would allow journalists in general and national newspapers in particular to deal more effectively, and more quickly, with abuses of public trust of the kind revealed in the Beef Tribunal, the Telecom enquiry and the land rezoning controversy.

Since the interview was published, there has been no comment whatsoever either on the thrust of what Michael D. Higgins said, or on the background to it, by any of the other national newspapers. As Hot Press is being put to bed, The Irish Times, the Irish Press group, the Sunday Tribune and the Sunday Business Post have so far remained completely silent on an issue that goes to the very heart of what they are, how they define their role, what place they have in what Michael D. Higgins calls 'the communicative order', how their activities should be regulated - if at all - and how all of this bears on their ability to compete against multi-national competition, and their status in relation to taxation. And so it is left to the Sunday Independent, by definition coming at the subject from a highly selective if not prejudiced point of view, to deal with what are issues of major national importance. It is incomprehensible, especially since some of the newspapers in question happily devoted space to a throwaway line from Michael D. as to whether or not U2 and Neil Jordan's work should be studied in Irish universities and schools. The Sunday Independent wheeled out Conor Cruise O'Brien to attack Michael D. for his reference to keeping a file of the articles. To describe the Cruiser's indignation as somewhat absurd would be to put it kindly - this, after all, is the man who, as Minister for Post & Telegraphs himself, on an infamous occasion, produced a file of letters to the editor, and other writings on the North which had appeared in the national press, an seemed prepared to threaten the suppression of the Irish Press on this basis.

There are major issues here which deserve careful consideration, among them the serious abuses which do occur of journalistic privilege and of the ownership of media. But that is just one vital theme among many. Indeed, across the complete 10,000 words of the interview with the Minister, there is almost as much of substance discussed as in the average term of the Dáil. Clearly what Michael D. Higgins is saying represents a challenge. His honesty deserves more than the knee-jerk reactions that the interview has elicited to date.

• Niall Stokes