New guidelines for Irish media to cover the Lisbon Treaty referendum take effect at noon Friday (7 August).I think there's only one way of interpreting that, isn't there?
Announced by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI), the new guidelines clarify that there is no requirement to allocate an absolute equality of airtime to opposing sides of the referendum debate during editorial coverage.
The guidelines cover "commercial, community, institutional and temporary broadcasters," but do not mention the internet (Photo: EUobserver)
The proportion of airtime allocated to opposing sides must however "be fair to all interests and undertaken in a transparent manner."
The Irish are to vote on the Lisbon treaty for a second time on 2 October, after a majority rejected the document in a referendum 12 June 2008.
In previous referendum campaigns public broadcasters were obliged to give equal coverage of both the Yes and the No campaigns, after a former professor at Trinity College, Anthony Coughlan, made a complaint at Irish courts in June 1997 over unbalanced media coverage by the public broadcaster RTE, which gave 42,5 minutes coverage to the yes-camp and 10 minutes to the no-camp in a referendum on divorce.
The BCI has also announced a black-out on Lisbon treaty media coverage from the morning of the 1 October until polls close on 2 October.
During this period broadcast output must not include "material which relates directly to the content of the Treaty of Lisbon and/or the constitutional amendments associated with the Treaty."
The new guidelines cover "commercial, community, institutional and temporary broadcasters," but do not mention the Internet.
The outcome of the Irish referendum will be eagerly awaited in the rest of Europe, with the text to create important new posts in the EU hierarchy, give more voting power to large EU states, reduce the scope of national vetos and give more law-making
HT Mr Eugenides.
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