Policing the Press: The Institutionalisation of Independent Press Regulation in a Liberal/North Atlantic Media System Stephen Dunne, B.A. (Hons), M.A. Thesis submitted for the award of PhD School of Communications Dublin City University Supervisor: Prof. Kevin Rafter September 2017 DECLARATION I hereby certify that this material, which I now submit for assessment on the programme of study leading to the award of Doctor of Philosophy is entirely my own work, that I have exercised reasonable care to ensure that the work is original, and does not to the best of my knowledge breach any law of copyright, and has not been taken from the work of others save and to the extent that such work has been cited and acknowledged within the text of my work. Signed: ____________ (Candidate) ID No.: 56828078 Date: _______ DEDICATION For Sarah, Dixie and the one yet to say hello. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I would like to thank my supervisor Professor Kevin Rafter for his patience, guidance and encouragement during the course of this research. I could not have been more fortunate and will be eternally grateful for his support. Second, I would like to thanks the School of Communications at Dublin City University. All the staff, including Head of School Professor Pat Brereton, have been immensely supportive during this research. In addition, I would also like to thank my family, friends and work colleagues for their unfailing support and understanding. CONTENTS Chapter 1: Introduction ..................................................................................................... 1 1.1: Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1 Chapter 2: Literature Review ............................................................................................ 6 2.1: A theoretical framework for press regulation ........................................................ 6 2.1.1: The political economy tradition .......................................................................... 9 2.1.2: Schudson and Bourdieu .................................................................................... 13 2.1.3: Hallin and Mancini ........................................................................................... 16 2.2: Libertarianism ...................................................................................................... 21 2.2.1: Liberal weaknesses ........................................................................................... 26 2.3: Social responsibility ............................................................................................. 30 2.4: Press responsibilities ............................................................................................ 38 2.4.1: Press functions .................................................................................................. 39 2.4..2: Press principles ................................................................................................ 41 2.4.3: Press actions ...................................................................................................... 43 2.5: Accountability ...................................................................................................... 46 2.6: Media accountability ........................................................................................... 50 2.7: Press Councils ...................................................................................................... 55 2.7.1: The United States .............................................................................................. 65 2.7.2: Canada .............................................................................................................. 67 2.7.3: The United Kingdom ........................................................................................ 67 2.8: Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 69 Chapter 3: Irish Press Regulation ................................................................................... 71 3.0: Introduction .......................................................................................................... 71 3.1: 1968-1991 - Initial debate .................................................................................... 71 3.2: 1991-1997 - Momentum grows ........................................................................... 81 3.3: 1997-2002 - Changing attitudes ........................................................................... 87 3.4: Legal Advisory Group 2002 ................................................................................ 90 3.5: 2003-2005 - Industry responds ............................................................................ 95 3.6: 2006-2008 - Legislative proposals....................................................................... 98 3.7: Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 103 Chapter 4: The Press Council of Ireland ....................................................................... 107 4.1: Introduction ........................................................................................................ 107 4.2: Founding documents .......................................................................................... 107 4.3: PCI, 2008 ........................................................................................................... 110 4.4: The Defamation Act 2009 ................................................................................. 115 4.5: 2009-2011 – PCI’s initial phase ........................................................................ 117 4.6: 2012-2013 – PCI continuing operation .............................................................. 120 4.7: 2013-2014 – PCI criticism and praise ............................................................... 126 4.8: 2008-2014 – PCI statistics ................................................................................. 128 4.8.1: Total complaints received ............................................................................... 129 4.8.2: Complaints not examined ............................................................................... 131 4.8.3: Informal resolution and conciliation ............................................................... 132 4.8.4: Formal adjudication ........................................................................................ 135 4.9: Types of complaints ........................................................................................... 138 4.10: Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 139 Chapter 5: Methodology ............................................................................................... 142 5.1: Introduction ........................................................................................................ 142 5.2: Methodology and methods ................................................................................ 143 5.3: Research type ..................................................................................................... 146 5.4: Grounded theory ................................................................................................ 148 5.5: The research method .......................................................................................... 151 5.6 Comparative ........................................................................................................ 157 5.7: Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 159 Chapter 6: Accountability and independent press regulation ....................................... 161 6.1: Introduction ........................................................................................................ 161 6.2: Consistency – Member publications .................................................................. 163 6.2.1: Publication by ownership ............................................................................... 168 6.2.2: Publication by type ......................................................................................... 170 6.3: Consistency – Complainant background ........................................................... 170 6.4: Consistency – Gender ........................................................................................ 174 6.5: Consistency – Legal representation ................................................................... 176 6.6: Consistency – Appeals to the PCI ..................................................................... 178 6.7: Consistency – CoP principles ............................................................................ 180 6.8: Responsiveness – Complaint timeframe (a) ...................................................... 183 6.9: Responsiveness – Complaint timeframe (b) ...................................................... 190 6.10: Responsiveness – Complaint timeframe (c) .................................................... 193 6.11: Compliance ...................................................................................................... 195 6.12: Decision publication timeframe ....................................................................... 202 6.13: Decision publication day ................................................................................