A reply has been received by the Clerk from the Private Secretary to the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs to a letter sent by the Clerk to the Minister by my direction and at the request of the House, with reference to the misreporting of the debate in the Seanad on the wireless news from Athlone Station last Tuesday night. Before reading the reply, I propose to read the letter sent by the Clerk, in order that the reply may be better understood. The Clerk's letter is as follows:—
"I am directed by the Cathaoirleach of the Seanad to draw your attention to a statement which was contained in the wireless news broadcast from the Athlone Station last night and which, no doubt by inadvertence, was inaccurate and misleading. The statement in question was contained in the account of yesterday's debate in the Seanad on the Constitution (Amendment No. 19) Bill, 1933, which is the Bill which proposes to reduce to three months the period of suspension accorded to the Seanad by the Constitution. The House was informed of the matter to-day by Senator Douglas at the commencement of public business and the Cathaoirleach was directed by the House to communicate with you with reference to it.
It would appear that the broadcast account contained a statement that the Committee responsible for the drafting of the Constitution in 1922 submitted three reports, two of which recommended that the Seanad should have power to delay legislation for six months and one of which recommended a delay of only four months.
A statement to this effect was made by the President of the Executive Council in the Dáil during the progress of the Bill in question and was repeated yesterday by the Minister for Justice in the Seanad. But it was pointed out in the course of yesterday's debate that it was incorrect to state that one of the reports of the Constitution Committee had recommended a delay of only four months, the fact being that the recommendation was that, in the case of a non-Money Bill held up by the Seanad, the Bill should be dead after four months unless a referendum had been held on it and the result thereof was favourable to the Bill. In replying to the debate, the Minister for Justice agreed that this was so.
In the opinion of the Cathaoirleach a statement made in a House of the Oireachtas which is contradicted, and the untruth of which is admitted by the person who made the statement, should not be reported, either in the wireless news or elsewhere, unless the contradiction and subsequent admission are also reported.
In the case under notice, the statement that one of the reports of the Constitution Committee suggested that the Seanad should have its power limited to a delay of four months is likely to mislead the people in forming a just opinion on the merits of the Constitution (Amendment No. 19) Bill now before the House; and in the opinion of the Cathaoirleach it would be desirable for the statement to be corrected in the broadcast news as early as possible."
The reply is as follows:—
"With reference to your letter of the 12th instant relative to a news report of the proceedings in the Seanad, broadcast on the 11th instant, I am directed by the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs to express his regret that the report in question should be regarded as having given an incorrect impression. I am to explain that all news must, of necessity, be broadcast in an abridged form and that it is impossible, therefore, to include in the summaries all points of Oireachtas debates. The Minister agrees, however, that in a case of the kind now in question where a statement made in the early part of a debate is later amended or corrected the relative broadcast news item should be in such terms as to give a correct impression of the debates by covering the essential points thereof. The Minister has, therefore, arranged for suitable instructions to be given to the staff responsible for the preparation of the news reports and he hopes that any similar cause for complaint will not arise in future.
As regards the request contained in the final paragraph of your letter, the Minister is inclined to the view that the course suggested would create a precedent which he would like to avoid, and which might involve the staff of the Broadcasting Station in future difficulties, and he trusts that the Cathaoirleach of the Seanad will share the view that in the circumstances it would be undesirable to advert now in the broadcast news to the report in question."