Ahern lays down the law on Twitter and Facebook lies
JUSTICE Minister Dermot Ahern warned Facebook users last night they could be sued for posting slanderous comments online.
He was speaking at the launch of the second annual report of the Press Ombudsman, who is responsible for handling complaints made against the country's national and regional newspapers.
Mr Ahern said that defamation law applied to "social media", which includes blogs (online diaries) and sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
"Anybody who puts anything up, they have to understand it can go around the world in a few seconds to a huge number of people. Quite a number of people in public and private life have been slandered by comments made on these internet sites, some on purpose, others by mistake," he said.
Social media sites can apply to be regulated by the Press Ombudsman, who has the power to rule on whether comments or articles are in breach of standards of truth, accuracy, privacy and children's rights. Last year, there were 351 complaints to the office -- an average of almost one per day.
While most were resolved with the newspaper in question, 33 went forward for hearing. Around half of these were rejected but the other half were either upheld or resulted in the newspaper taking action to resolve the complaint. The Press Ombudsman John Horgan said yesterday this was evidence that it was providing a "fair hearing" for those with complaints about newspaper coverage. He also praised the introduction of the Defamation Act 2009 by Mr Ahern, which gives newspapers the right for the first time to publish apologies without fearing massive libel awards.
Nasty
Mr Ahern said he had been hoping to put the press watchdog system -- which was established three years ago -- to the test after a newspaper wrote a "pretty nasty" article about him.
"I've a thick skin but this was clearly over the line," he said. "I was disappointed that the paper in question pulled in their horns and apologised. I wanted to see how the Ombudsman's office worked in practice."
Mr Ahern also criticised newspapers and broadcasters for not paying enough attention to what went on in the Dail and Seanad -- and concentrating too much on "soundbite-ism" and "personalities".
"Sometimes the soundbite takes away from the substantial work that Oireachtas members do on a daily basis in relation to pieces of legislation," he said.
Last year, the Press Ombudsman rejected a complaint from businessman Sean Quinn about an article published in the 'Sunday Tribune', saying that he had been offered a right of reply by the newspaper. However, the Ombudsman upheld a complaint made by Health Minister Mary Harney about a headline in the 'Irish Daily Mail'.
The Press Council has a majority of lay members to deal with appeals and important cases. It heard complaints about press coverage from the family of Michael Dwyer, who was shot dead in Bolivia last year. It ruled the 'Irish Daily Star' and the 'Irish Sun' were justified in publishing photographs of his dead body because the way he was killed "had relevance to the truth of what happened".
- Michael Brennan Political Correspondent
Irish Independent
