Public Service versus the Market--A False Polarity? The Case of Irish Broadcasting.

The challenge to public service forms of broadcasting posed by the adoption of neo-liberal communication policy strategies by a number of western European governments has presented the left with a dilemma. Traditionally these public corporations have been characterized as ideological instruments of class domination. Today, however, sections of the left have rallied around the public service ideal arguing that this is the last bulwark against the cultural barbarism of the marketplace. An examination of the development of public service broadcasting in the Republic of Ireland shows that the political economy of the media requires a more informed analysis of the complex relationships that obtain between the corporate state, capital, and public broadcasting, than is to be found at present in the critical literature. In Ireland today, the state's direct financial control over Radio Telefis Eireann (RTE) serves as an increasingly important instrument of political regulation of media content, reinforcing the effect of the existing censorship legislation. The current political campaign against this legislation and the struggle of the trade unions to defend jobs and services in the public sector media field must be linked to demands for an end to censorship and for an extension of access to communication resources. Television program output statistics for home produced programs and financial information on RTE are appended. (21 end notes, 15 references) (Author/CGD)