Why 'culture' is the dirty word in the corridors of power

The long-awaited new Broadcasting Bill is a mixed bag. But the simple fact that we have had to wait so long for it reveals the political establishment's indifference - if not active hostility - towards arts and culture. And then there's the implied threat of censorship...
In a sense, it is extraordinary that there has been so little in the way of legislation in broadcasting over the past 10 years. During that period, the nature of media has been transformed – and yet there has effectively been nothing doing in Government circles since Michael D.Higgins was Minister, back in the 1990s.
In some respects, that’s a reflection of the endemic uncertainty about what broadcasting is, or how it should best be viewed in the context of national development. Are we talking about a technical arena in which the function of government has to do only with the allocation of licences and frequencies; a branch of the telecommunications industry where policy first and foremost i about issues of ownership and methods of distribution? Or is broadcasting a cultural activity, one that is properly defined less as a medium than according to the messages that are being imparted? Or to put it another way, which is more important, content or delivery?
In Ireland somewhere along the way, we seem to have developed a phobia about acknowledging the cultural dimension. Yes, broadcasting is a business – but it is also much more than that: it is a forum for ideas, a medium of expression, a platform for indigenous talent and more besides.
Almost across the board, the prevailing political attitude is to be suspicious of the arts, and of intellectual and cultural activity in general, and that has spilled over into the official attitude towards media. There are very few politicians for whom music, theatre, art, literature or movies rank high among their personal priorities. You could count the intellectuals in the Dáil, or indeed the Seanad, on one hand, with the effect that the few individuals who are thinkers and readers first, like Michael D.Higgins, David Norris and Martin Mansergh, seem almost like a breed apart.
As a result, under Bertie Ahern the word culture – far too French-sounding that!– was quickly dropped from any departmental brief. Broadcasting was shunted into the Communications portfolio and thus away from the arts – which some would argue were also downgraded by being lumped in with sport and tourism. The effect of this shuffling of departmental responsibilities was to set back the legislative process by as much as five years. In the end, under the latest coalition arrangements, the broadcasting brief has landed on the desk of a Green Minister, Eamon Ryan. A cynic suggested to me recently that this is evidence that all of the big decisions in relation to licenses have been taken. In radio, for example, the country has been carved up, the era of rapid diversification in the number of stations and services is now over – and we are entering a period of retrenchment.
The publication of the Broadcasting Bill 2008 has to be seen against that backdrop. The bones of the bill have been around for years. The idea, for example, of a broadcasting ‘super-authority’ – the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland – that would encompass the functions of the RTÉ Authority and the BCI, and have responsibility for the regulation of the various RTÉ radio and television stations as well as the entire independent sector, was first mooted back in the 1990s. It is clearly the right way to go: the only reservation is that it has taken so long to implement.
The bill contains a number of other potentially very positive initiatives. Chief among these is the introduction of an Irish Film Channel. The potential benefits for Irish film-makers are self-evident. On the one hand there is the simple fact that films will no longer be dependent entirely on what are inevitably commercially-motivated decisions on the part of RTÉ and TV3 as to whether they will be seen at all on Irish television – and as a result the smaller films will have a far greater chance of reaching a mass audience. But it is an idea that also has international potential: there is no reason why the channel should not be carried on a variety of satellite and cable platforms around the world, offering Irish film-makers access to a far larger audience that ever before.
In contrast, Irish musicians, bands and songwriters will be disappointed that, so far, there is no attempt to address the issue of airplay for Irish music in the Bill. However, there is one immediate plus in this regard: under the new single authority, it will be possible to establish a consistent regime across every station in Ireland – thus potentially eliminating one of the genuine historical bugbears when this issue was discussed with independent stations: the fact that the BCI (or the IRTC before it) did not have any function in setting quotas for RTÉ Radio 1 or for 2fm.
The bill does provide that it is in the power of the new authority to vary the terms of contracts with stations, suggesting that current inadequate agreements in relation to Irish music content need not be ultimately binding. There is, then, an opportunity still to re-address an issue that remains a source of major grievance for Irish musicians. It might well make sense for the Minister to do it by way of an amendment to the bill.
Now to the downside: the Bill proposes that the Regulator will be in a position to fine stations for breaches of contract. In itself this may not be a bad thing. Until now, in cases where there was blatant or persistent breaches of contract, the only sanction open to the BCI was to withdraw its license from the offending station. It was Armageddon or nothing – a situation that led on the one hand to a perception that the regulator was toothless and on the other to a feeling of excessive grievance on the occasions where the ultimate sanction was threatened or invoked.
However, the range of potential misdemeanours capable of triggering the imposition of fines is far too wide. In Part 3: Broadcasters – Duties, Codes and Rules, the bill sets out that broadcasters must ensure that “anything that might reasonably be regarded as offending against good taste or decency… is not to be broadcast by the broadcaster.” If the bill is passed, therefore, in the future it will be possible for the new broadcasting authority to impose fines of up to €250,000 for alleged breaches of editorial standards.
This is unnecessary, unjustified – and utterly inimical to the spirit of editorial freedom, which is essential to quality broadcasting in Ireland. In the past, where editorial matters were concerned, a slap on the wrist from the Broadcasting Complaints Commission was as far as it could go. While no one wanted to invite this, it was not enough persuade commercial stations to adopt an unnecessarily conservative policy or to muzzle individual broadcasters. But a fine is a different matter. The threat of being hit for anything up to a quarter of a million euro has the potential to herald a new era of neutered broadcasting, in which stations put the emphasis on playing it safe, above every other consideration.
I doubt that Eamon Ryan really wants to give the Broadcasting Authority the power to interfere with the editorial freedom of any station or indeed any individual broadcaster or journalist. Nor do I imagine that he would be conservative himself on matters of “good taste and decency.” But that is not the point.
In the future the Authority itself might be extremely conservative. There is the risk that the small number of cranks who make a fetish of wanting to impose their 'standards' on everyone else will be allowed to dictate the agenda in relation to the definition of “good taste and decency”.
The last thing we need is a return to the era of censorship. Better to act now to eliminate the possibility than to risk a slow erosion of the editorial freedoms that have been hard fought for and won.
Irish broadcasting is in a strong and healthy state. There is a high level of editorial freedom, which – in the vast majority of cases – is exercised with care and responsibility by stations. In that climate, it is possible for broadcasters of courage, insight and ability to express themselves freely, without having to be too concerned about looking over their shoulders at where the thought police might be lurking.
Let’s keep it that way.