DENIS O'BRIEN has rejected allegations by Eamon Dunphy that he has been interfering with editorial content or pursuing agendas through his ownership of Newstalk.
Rejecting claims that he “hates journalism”, Mr O’Brien insists he has invested millions of euro in Newstalk without making a profit and has never faced an official complaint of editorial interference.
In an opinion piece in today's Irish Times, Mr O'Brien writes that Dunphy left the station because of money and says he was opposed to the veteran broadcaster being allowed to air a final programme.
"If I had the editorial control as alleged I would not have allowed his final programme to be aired. I doubt RTÉ or any other print media company would have taken that risk. After his first stint at Newstalkin 2006, he described me as 'bitter . . . small-minded'. He was subsequently re-hired in 2008. So much for my supposed editorial interference."
Referring to a decision by Today FM– also owned by Mr O'Brien – to drop presenter Sam Smyth, Mr O'Brien said that since the move he had been subject to a "disturbing trend of nastiness and cynicism" by much of the media.
"Because Today FMdecided to drop a presenter of a programme that has been running for 14 years and had falling audience numbers, suddenly there is an eagerness to depict me as a pariah among journalists, columnists and broadcasters," he writes.
Mr O'Brien is suing Sam Smyth over comments the journalist made about him on the TV3 show Tonight with Vincent Browneand in an article in the Irish Independent.
He is also pursuing the Sunday Independent, part of the Independent News & Media (IN&M) group in which he has a 21.6 per cent stake, over two recent articles.
Mr O’Brien has also threatened to sue Dunphy over the remarks made on his own station, in which he claimed producers and reporters were being “intimidated and blackguarded”.
Dunphy last night declined to comment for legal reasons.
The businessman is particularly critical of IN&M and writes that the organisation has led a “prolonged, nasty, well-orchestrated campaign against me” across a range of issues.
The “hostile reaction” to his shareholding in IN&M has been “seamlessly executed through the editorial pages of all their publications. The editorial pages reflect the views of senior management faultlessly”.
These articles, Mr O’Brien writes, invariably include references to the Moriarty tribunal where he spent 10 years “giving evidence and opening up all my files and bank accounts”.