I stand with Tipp FM

Against the overbearing monster that is Coimisiún na Meán

Dear reader,

When the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland ceased operations in early 2023, it had 40 staff.

It was then replaced by Coimisiún na Meán. Which has, as of today’s date, more than 300 staff. Of those 300 staff, more than 10% are on salaries in excess of €100k a year, funded by a combination of compulsory industry levies and your taxes.

The BAI’s budget, in its final year of operation in 2022, was €7.21m. Coimisiún na Meán’s budget for 2026 is €60.6m, which does not include the separate broadcasting fund of €34m that it is responsible for doling out to media outlets around the country.

Of course, the new regulator has responsibilities the BAI did not, particularly in online safety. But the scale of its expansion is nonetheless extraordinary.

The Coimisiún – or as RTE pronounce it, the Commish-oooon – has rapidly become one of the biggest and most powerful state media regulators in existence. Almost a hundred million quid a year, between its own budget and the funds it administers.

Now, it is coming after two small local radio stations with a fraction of its staff and budget, launching investigations into alleged breaches of its broadcasting code.

One investigation concerns a discussion on Tipp FM about men picking rhododendron flowers. The other concerns coverage by South East Radio of a local controversy involving a former county council chief executive.

Neither station has been found guilty of wrongdoing. But the spectacle of this enormous regulator deploying its investigative powers against two small local broadcasters raises serious questions about proportionality, and about the kind of media culture we are creating in this country.

As it happens, I’ve been on one of those two stations – Tipp FM – five or six times in recent years, talking to their morning show host, Fran Curry, on any number of controversial issues, from immigration to crime.

It’s fair, I think, to say that it’s a friendlier experience for somebody of my views than going on Matt Cooper would be. There’s no point pretending otherwise: In Tipp FM’s case, if the charge is that they’re not exactly impartial, then they’re likely guilty.

But so fucking what?

Let’s come back to Cooper, the golden boy of Irish independent broadcasting. Is there a single person in this country who does not know his views on immigration? Or Donald Trump? Or sex ed in schools? Or the dangers of the “far right”?

I would argue that there is not. And I would be right. The same goes for Shane Coleman, Kieran Cuddihy, and half a dozen others. All of whom are people whose views are not especially well concealed, but none of whom seem particularly likely to get a knock on the door from the 300 busybodies in the Commish-ooooon.

This latest development – the monstrously overfunded state agency investigating small media outlets while the political orthodoxies of larger broadcasters go largely unchallenged – is entirely predictable. And is something that should have people up in arms.

We can talk all we want in Ireland about free speech: Technically, we all have it.

But free speech is useless without a diversity of platforms. There’s no point it being legal to criticise Government immigration policy, for example, if every media outlet in the country is terrified to give you a platform because the Commish-ooooon has the power to pursue proceedings that could ultimately result in enormous fines, potentially putting smaller broadcasters out of business.

And having “diversity” in the media is pointless if that diversity does not include diversity of thought.

Coimisiún na Meán is a monster. It is a monster in terms of its size, and it is a monster in terms of the powers it exercises.

Every state agency has both an official purpose, and an unofficial purpose. Take the HSE: Its official purpose is to administer healthcare. But its unofficial purpose is to take the blame away from the Minister for Health for the poor administration of healthcare.

Or take the National Transport Authority, which officially is in charge of public transport but unofficially is in charge of the climate transition™ in transport by building cycle lanes everywhere and buying electric buses for Bus Éireann.

Officially, Coimisiún na Meán is supposed to regulate and support the media in its work. Unofficially, I would argue, it exists to regulate what people are permitted to hear, and what the media says. It does this by dispensing grants for ideologically approved documentaries and programming (what, another documentary on the dangers of climate change? You betcha) while enforcing a code that mandates “impartiality” in a media landscape where impartiality is, at best, selectively practised.

This monstrous behemoth, created under Fine Gael-led Governments, has become one of the single most powerful state regulatory bodies. That its rise has accompanied an almost complete neutering of the Irish media’s critical faculties is no surprise. One might reasonably suspect that was the whole point.

Abolishing it should be a non-negotiable line item in the manifesto of any party that sincerely aims to win your support at the next election. Its necessary functions could be transferred elsewhere, without maintaining this vast new regulatory apparatus.

I suspect that most of my readers are inclined towards parties like Aontú and Independent Ireland. Both of whom should be held to that standard.

There can be no true freedom of debate in Ireland while a regulator with almost €100m at its disposal, between its budget and the funds it administers, exercises such enormous power over the media, including the power to investigate and potentially punish small radio stations and broadcasters who don’t toe the line.

But that’s where we are, in this country.

I stand with Tipp FM.

J