Press Freedom
Ireland has freedom of the press enshrined in its constitution. The NGO group Reporters sans frontières named Ireland in joint first position with Iceland in their "Worldwide press freedom index". However, some Irish journalists still campaign for the libel laws to be loosened.
The Troubles in Northern Ireland led to some restrictions on press freedom, though these were primarily in the Republic. The 1960 Broadcasting Authority Act allowed the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs to direct Radio Telefís Éireann "not to broadcast any matter, or any matter of any particular class". This was used between 1971 and 1994 to prevent broadcasts of supporters of violence on RTÉ. From 1977 to 1994, it also applied to Sinn Féin members. Since 1994, the situation in Northern Ireland has had little impact on freedom to report from that area. In fact, the most famous attack on an Irish journalist was not political, but against Sunday Independent crime correspondent Veronica Guerin.
Read more about this topic: Media In The Republic Of Ireland
Famous quotes containing the words press and/or freedom:
“My advice to any diplomat who wants to have a good press is to have two or three kids and a dog.”
—Carl Rowan (b. 1925)
“It is not enough that France should be regarded as a country which enjoys the remains of a freedom acquired long ago. If she is still to count in the world—and if she does not intend to, she may as well perish—she must be seen by her own citizens and by all men as an ever-flowing source of liberty. There must not be a single genuine lover of freedom in the whole world who can have a valid reason for hating France.”
—Simone Weil (1909–1943)