Commercial Motor Tax: a media farce
Posted by info on 25 Aug 2010 | Tagged as: Group Affairs, Transport
August is generally a quiet news month, so journalists have to be a little resourceful when it comes to creating news.
None more so than Treacy Hogan, the Environment Corresspondent at the Irish Independent, who decided on Monday last that he would invent a story a about ‘new’ regulations for people applying for commercial motor tax.
According to the article, ‘thousands of people were facing a €900 increase in motor tax’, and anyone in breach of the regulations would face ‘fines and possibly prison.’
As the Greens have learned, being in Government means you have to take a lot of flak, and take a lot of blame, even if you aren’t to blame for what you are being blamed for.
You expect criticism, you expect vilification, and you expect unpopularity.
However, you also expect that national newspapers will present facts, not fabrications, and that you will be given a voice to put your side of the story.
Treacy Hogan and the Irish Independent have moved away from this principle.
Facts no longer appear to be a prerequisite for stories that appear in the Irish Independent, and Treacy Hogan has apparently been given license to write whatever he wants, even if that involves him making stuff up.
Equally, the Irish Independent has decided that the Green Party should not be allowed to present their response to Tracey Hogan’s articles.
On numerous occasions over recent months, Hogan has written scathing articles about the Green Party, but despite numerous requests by the Green Party Press Office to publish a counterpoint article, the Irish Independent has steadfastly refused to allow this.
This is a pretty good marker as to where journalism is in Ireland at the moment. It now appears to be an entirely commercial enterprise, where content is scanned for reader appeal rather than accuracy or newsworthiness.
In relation to Commercial Motor Tax, there have been no changes to the system, other than to require applicants to provide a PPS number when first registering a small vehicle or SUV. This change was notified to Local Authorities after the Department of the Environment became aware that large numbers of SUVs were being registered as commercial rather than private vehicles.
This has been confirmed by the Department of the Environment here.
While this might all appear like great fun and a bit of political sport, it has serious connotations.
All media organisations in Ireland, other than RTE, are privately owned, which gives enormous power to the owners of those organisations.
The implications of this are clear: if the media is to continue to have a role in our democracy, it must act responsibly. Otherwise it becomes no more than a tool to further the interests of a small group of wealthy individuals.
