CAN THE PRESS REGULATE ITSELF?
UK press complaints head at DCU

Wednesday 29th March

Dublin City University is pleased to announce a symposium on self-regulation of the media with Mr Tim Toulmin, Director of the UK Press Complaints Commission (PCC).

DCU’s School of Communications is hosting the symposium on Thursday 30 March, at 4.00pm. Journalists, industry representatives and media critics are among those participating.

Mr Toulmin’s visit comes as controversy about press standards in Ireland has led to the Minister for Justice drafting proposed new legislation, due to be published shortly. The PCC receives thousands of complaints each year, resolving all but a few dozen without the need for formal adjudication.

Graduates of DCU taking part in the symposium will include Senator Kathleen O’Meara (Labour Party, and former journalist), and Mr Simon Bourke (journalist with Ireland on Sunday and Daily Irish Mail, author of a recent monograph on libel law, and DCU researcher), among others.

Representatives of the National Newspapers of Ireland, the National Union of Journalists, the Periodical Publishers Association of Ireland and the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism will also be attending.

The symposium will be introduced by Brian Trench, Head of the School of Communications, and chaired by Prof. Colum Kenny of the School of Communications. It will conclude with a response and critique by Ms Nóirín Hegarty, editor of the Sunday Tribune.

The symposium takes place in CG86 in the Henry Grattan Building.

For further information contact Colum Kenny at 7005235 or colum.kenny@dcu.ie