Four sittings of a National Citizens’ Parliament on Media and Democracy were held over spring in Mary Immaculate College in Limerick, as part of a European project to hear ideas from citizens on ways to protect the media as it is integral to supporting and saving democracy.
In all, 20 people gave up four weekends to sit, discuss and make recommendations to be considered alongside those from citizens in ten or more cities across the continent.

“This has never been more important than now as misinformation, disinformation, alternative facts and radical polarisation of society are on the rise,” said Jude McInerney, who co-ordinated the project along with colleagues Dr Rosemary Day and Kathy Cush.

Next year, two Irish participants (pictured above) will travel to Brussels to join concerned citizens from other countries while presenting their chief recommendations to MEPs and members of the European Commission.

The EU is involved because some of the resolutions, if adopted, will require international regulation and legislation.

Among the resolutions are a call to oblige large online platforms to reinstate fact checking and to provide simple, effective routes for citizens to report factual errors and have corrections made in a timely fashion.

Other recommendations made in Limerick are for local and national politicians to consider and will be presented to Limerick City and County Council and to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport in the autumn.

The citizens’ parliament recommends for example the establishment of town hall style engagement events along with more opportunities for journalists to quiz politicians in public settings.

“The media are the only way for citizens to find out what is really happening in the locations of power and the National Citizens’ Parliament has called for Ireland’s media regulator, Coimisiún na Meán (CnM) to establish regional committees with accessible representatives so that citizens can easily avail of the services they provide to the public,” said Jude.

The parliament also wants CnM “to raise the awareness and capacity of people to find their way in the abundance of media that surrounds us every day. In short, they are calling for media literacy for school children and for adults of all ages and stages,” said Jude.

The citizens’ parliaments are a key element of the project. Mary I College also reached out to media professionals for their views, interviewing editors and journalists from print media, radio, and television. Jude said, “All of the Irish media will have been contacted at some stage by this project to take part, through interviews or surveys.”

Changing Ireland was among those glad to contribute on a day dedicated to hearing voices representing minority communities. Speakers who addressed the parliament that day included lecturer Dr Sindy Joyce, a member of President Michael D Higgins’ Council of State and a powerful advocate for fellow Travellers. The parliament also heard from Dr Lylian Fotabong who conducted PhD research on the question ‘How are Africans portrayed in Irish media?’.

The National Citizens’ Parliament of Ireland was funded by the EU through their HORIZON scheme as part of a three year research project called MeDeMap – short for Mapping Media for Democracy. While most countries’ citizens’ parliaments were held in their capital cities, Ireland stood out for having a regional city host the project.

Our main photo shows Con Cronin, Moya Ni Cheallaigh and Niall Mahon at Mary Immaculate College Limerick.

More details can be found at: https://www.mic.ul.ie/MeDeMap?index=0