The National Citizens’ Parliament on Media and Democracy held its fourth and final day long meeting on Saturday 10 May in Mary Immaculate College in the heart of Limerick.
Twenty people from Limerick city and county sat indoors during blazing sunshine to debate and deliberate on ways to support and use the media to protect democracy.
This has never been more important than now as misinformation, disinformation, “alternative facts” and radical polarisation of society are on the rise.
Some of the resolutions formulated will be presented to the EU next February as they require international regulation and legislation. Con Cronin and Niall Mahon will represent Ireland at a meeting with MEPs and members of the European Commission in Brussels in a delegation composed of citizens from the other countries who have been working on this project.
These high-level resolutions include a call to enforce 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.
Niall Mahon, Moya Ní Cheallaigh and Con Cronin, members of the Citizens’ Parliament in Ireland.
They also include resolutions for national and local politicians, and these will be presented to Limerick City and County Council and to the Oireachtas Committee chaired by Alan Kelly TD in the Autumn.
The citizens call for democracy to be strengthened by establishing town hall types of engagement and more opportunities for journalists to quiz politicians under the full gaze of the public.
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, to establish regional committees with accessible representatives so that citizens can easily avail of the services they provide to the public.
Citizens working on resolutions at the Irish National Citizens’ Parliament meeting.
Responsibility for online safety and for finding objective, impartial, factual news are also seen by the Parliament as the personal responsibility of all citizens. They are demanding that Coimisiún na Meán conduct a range of outreaches and campaigns 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.
The Parliament was addressed by Brian Greene of the Community Television Association and by Calum Fabb of Coimisiún na Meán.
The National Citizens’ Parliament of Ireland was funded by the EU through their HORIZON scheme and is part of a three year research project conducted across ten countries in Europe under the name MeDeMap – mapping media for democracy.
To read more about the Citizens' Parliament and the research project MeDeMap, click here.
