INM warns of RTE threat to commercial media
RTÉ’S increasingly broad role in Irish media threatens the future of commercial players in the market, according to publisher INM.
In a submission to the Future of Media Commission, INM — which publishes this newspaper and others — says RTÉ has become a “vast publisher of written content”, in addition to the TV and radio content in its original remit.
INM praised RTÉ’s content and suggested that RTÉ might require additional public service funding. However, it proposed a number of changes to ensure a sustainable future for both RTÉ and commercial media.
One suggestion is that there should be a cap on digital ad revenue, with advertising limited to a certain number of page impressions and/or content type.
Other suggestions include a clearer definition of public service content, the use of public funding for public service content “with clear oversight and auditing”, and advertising being limited to certain types of content such as movies and sport.
The INM document does not propose direct State funding for commercial media organisations, but outlines a tax credit scheme that could be used to support delivery of newspapers and online content.
INM is owned by European media group Mediahuis.
INM, the media group which owns this newspaper, the Irish Independent and independent.ie, has warned that RTÉ is using its dual funding model “to create a website that competes with commercial Irish media in every way”.
In its submission to the Future of Media Commission, INM said RTÉ was increasing its competition with commercial operators and that threatened the availability and diversity of rival public service content.
“By offering content for free and across the full breadth of the market, eg lifestyle content, the RTÉ website diminishes the value of paid for content offered by commercial media and dominates digital advertising revenue due to the volume of page hits it generates,” it said.
INM says RTÉ produces “exceptional programming and journalism” under its public service remit but “it threatens the future of all other Irish media for it to occupy the entire landscape of the media market, as it does now”.
It says it supports RTÉ’s public service role and even suggested RTÉ might need more public funding but proposes caps on commercial revenues and a clearer definition of RTÉ’s scope
After listening to some of the Commission’s sessions where RTÉ and other organisations had put forward their views, INM publisher Peter Vandermeersch said INM felt that by supporting RTÉ, the Government needed to be careful so as not to kill off viable commercial media groups.
“RTÉ should not try to do everything for everybody the whole time,” he said. “We want the Commission to be clear that defining the position of RTÉ, that they also think about the other players in the landscape.” Commercial players also had an important role in providing public service content.
INM CEO Marc Vangeel, said: “It is very difficult to have a level playing field where an organisation has public money and also plays on the commercial side.”
Proposals from INM include that RTÉ should adopt a hub and spoke model, whereby it would provide content and act “as an engine for Irish media, rather than leveraging its public service remit to dominate the entire media landscape”.
For example, RTÉ would make public service content available to other media, such as footage from HSE press conferences.
“RTÉ should not be a competitor, RTÉ should be the motor for the rest of the healthy media ecosytem,” said Vandermeersch.
He added that defining the role of publicly funded media was now crucial given how quickly the market is changing due to the impact of big tech companies like Facebook and Google.
“There could be an evolution that in the end, there could be Google and a public player. And the rest not existing any more.”
The INM submission said the public service broadcasters cannot take a partisan position on issues.
Therefore, it said, commercial media plays a key role in free and open debate by offering different opinions and ideologies.
INM’s submission did not call for direct funding for the commercial sector but for “arm’s length assistance” through a tax credit scheme for distribution channels for print and digital publishers. It would be modelled on the R&D Tax Credit scheme and qualifying publishers would need to produce a specified amount of public service content.
INM also called for VAT on physical and digital newspapers to be cut to zero as is the case in the UK and for comprehensive reform of Ireland’s defamation laws.