Broadcasters may not abandon stopwatches just yet

Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte has signalled that he is not enamoured by the knock-on effects of the Supreme Court decision in the 2000 Coughlan case, which has created a "stopwatch" mentality whereby news and current affairs producers measure referendum coverage to give "equal time" to both sides.

If broadcasters “feel constrained to give 50 per cent of airtime to both sides of a referendum campaign”, it is not because of anything in the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland codes, he says. The BAI referendum code stresses there is no requirement for “absolute equality of airtime to opposing views”, merely referring to an “equitable and fair” allocation.

A “default” 50-50 provision created an “artificial” debate in the run-up to referendums on the Belfast Agreement, the children’s rights amendment and the establishment of a court of appeal, according to the Minister, who is inviting the BAI and broadcasters to consider “further refinements” to the code.

But broadcasters may not be throwing away their stopwatches. "I think what he is trying to do is welcome," says Bob Hughes, deputy director of news at TV3 group, but "one of the dangers" with abandoning a 50-50 tradition is that there is "a danger in assuming the result before the campaign", he says, citing a much closer result in the children's referendum than was originally expected.

While it would be impractical to observe an equal-time principle in news bulletins or formats such as the forthcoming audience-participation show The People's Debate with Vincent Browne, Hughes says it still makes sense to do so in "the classic formal debates".

Garrett Harte, station editor of Newstalk, describes Rabbitte’s intervention as “a good move”, but would be “surprised if anything is altered ahead of the next referendum”, while a spokeswoman for RTÉ said the broadcaster “will certainly consider, and take advice on, the issues raised” by the Minister. "We would also welcome whatever legal advice the Government has on the matter."