[Bono at the World irish hoo ha in Dublin Castle, 2012]
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“One must ask whether the problem is the law or the self-censorship of RTE. I believe it is the latter and that if RTE had taken a challenge in the courts I do not think the people claiming the offence would have won their court action. Most reasonable people would take such a view also. The reason RTE responded is that it was bending the knee to those with deep pockets, which is all too prevalent in the media and it is something we must examine. Six or seven months ago I was asked to participate in a BBC 4 radio programme on Bono. The BBC is broadcasting the programme this week. The reason it has taken so long is that in the past seven months the BBC has been subjected to enormous pressure from Bono’s legal representatives, to the point that RTE would not even hand over footage of an interview Bono had done with it to the BBC, which normally would be done, due to the fear of litigation and tight control by U2 and Bono in monitoring what opinions went out about them. A similar approach was evident with the penalty points saga where we were aware that media outlets were pressurised by members of the Judiciary who feared they would be named in the print media as having had their penalty points cancelled and information was not put in the public domain as a result.”
Clare Daly during the Broadcasting (Amendment) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] on April 11.
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Transcript via KildareStreet.com
Thanks Oireachtas Retort
