There is no legislative way to prevent "fake news", Minister for Communications Denis Naughten has said.
“Investment in quality journalism, I believe, is the only way,’’ he added.
He said this investment might include supporting journalists individually through bursaries or some kind of public service remit for such journalism, whether in print or broadcasting.
He said the Oireachtas communications committee would come up with suggestions on the matter after considering the complexities surrounding the funding of quality journalism.
Mr Naughten also said he had raised the issue of “fake news’’ at a debate in Dublin a month before it surfaced in the US presidential election.
The Minister was responding in the Dáil on Wednesday to a Private Member’s Bill on media ownership moved by the Social Democrats.
Moving the Media Ownership Bill, 2017, Social Democrat TD Catherine Murphy said that, as far back as 1973, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) had expressed concern about media plurality in the State.
“While there have been various flashpoints over the years, effectively, nothing has changed,’’ she said.
“There is an increasing concentration of ownership in the hands of a smaller and smaller number of entities.’’
Distribution of power
Party colleague Róisín Shortall said the Bill did not interfere with the distribution of media power in any way.
She said it extended the Minister’s remit and provided for greater scope for existing regulatory measures.
Mr Naughten said he believed the current method of assessing media mergers was working well.
“I do not intend to make any amendments to the current system, especially amendments which, I am advised, are legally unsound, despite the Deputies’ best intentions,’’ he said.
