As the owner of a newsagents I can tell you that news papers don’t give a crap about their readers just a tv broadcasters don’t give a crap about their viewers, all the money comes from advertising. They deserve nothing.

None of them should be funded by the state. There is no reason why it can’t be self funding. It’s just another way to f*** us over!

There’s no way I want a cent of my money I ever go towards some of the rags of the Irish press. There would be no way to do it fairly/evenly and keep everyone happy.

The local radio news broadcasters, I can see more of a point, but as this takes up a small proportion of their hours, and a lot of their ‘news’ is read from Reuters or similar, they should get a sliver rather than a slice of the pie, if anything.

There should be NO state funding for any form for media if they can’t fund themselves by sales and advertising, cease trading like any other business if they can’t survive.
RTE should never have had any state funding unlike then BBC they they actually have commercial brakes and have sponsored programmes
I believe it is the right time for government to give the people a break and get rid of the TV licence and stop propping up RTE,TG4 and TnaG.

Let every enterprise rise or fall by its own efforts.
If we ALL start businesses in the area of media, that shouldn’t automatically entitle us for ever, to state money just because we have done so!

There are many other non-media businesses in the country. They don’t and won’t get same state public consistent funding!
…”O’ but its the media! Thats different…” Some media owners will try crying!

Absolute rubbish!
Your a business, same as the rest.
Stop shoving your hand out and robbing public money! Make your own business pay – or get out of the business!

R.T.E should be sold off immediately. It’s a bloody den of more nepotism. The contracts and salaries are insane. Is it any wonder the the tv licence is constantly going up to cover its costs. In recent months has anyone noticed all the old faces have been hired back after they had retired with fine pensions and lump sums years ago.Must have got cleaned out in the crash. Give someone else a chance or sell the fu..king place. This country and it’s side dealings and under the counter crap!!!!! Will we ever learn how to change? PS. That RTE news is a propaganda machine for the government. It gives the appearance of being fair and balanced, but all the while it’s aim is to scare the living shit out of people. The greatest tool the government has is a fearful mind within its people.

I bought my own TV, I bought my laptop, i pay my own Internet and UPC bill. Can someone explain what the hell I have to pay anyone else for?

RTE have let the public down in recent years. They’ve given almost no recognition to causes like occupy ds, Shell to Sea and fracking. They produce awful 3rd rate, UK / US rip off programming and unlike the BBC, haven’t had the decency to scrap advertising. They deserve nothing from the Irish public. Why are we linking the overinflated pickets of their stars and getting a hack job of a national network in return.

Scrap the media charge altogether. We don’t get a proper informing, unbiased, hungry service as we’re meant to so deal is off!

Fuck that, they can’t impose a fee like this. I use the internet to watch movies etc, but I pay for my broadband and the Government take VAT on that, so how can they justify a ‘Universal Broadcasting Charge’? They are complete and utter gangsters, our Government!

Yeah I think its super important to give more of our money to Denis O Brien, and Tony O Reilly. That will really help the whole practice of “truth to power” in the corporate media whilst play such a significant role in our democracy.

I’ll pay it the day after I pay the household charge.

We shouldn’t have to pay for a license, RTE make a income from advertising, why should we have to fund them as well. 90 to 95 percent of programs they show or make are absolutely crap. With this new intended charge it’s just another way for the government to screw us to the wall.

broadcasting charge me hole!! best of luck trying to get people to sign up to it ahahahahahahahaha

There should be no charge. If rte wants to stay in business they should do so out of advertising revenue, of course they will say the can’t bring in enough money that way. There are a couple of reasons why they can’t make enough from advertising 1. their programs are crap and 2. they pay the likes of Pat Kenny way to much.

Give it all to TG4, best quality programming and film selection I’ve ever seen on this Island.

How’s about businesses that can’t keep above water learn to live in the real world rather than running to government and the taxpayer to subsidise them?

Is there nothing special interest groups won’t call on government to pay for…?

Could someone help me out here. I vaguely remember reading some years ago about someone who was able to prove in court that they couldn’t get any of the Irish stations on their TV and therefore didn’t have to pay a TV licence.
I know someone who recently bought a Freesat satellite box and this isn’t capable of getting any Irish stations so you can guess where I’m going with this. Just a thought.

The print media receive enough money from advertising, and the public buying the paper, and you have to pay to view the paper online as well, why should the people of Ireland give them anymore money?
The ordinary Irish person has been sold up the river to many times in the last 10 years. So just incase I didn’t get my message across, they should NOT get any of this money that we are going to be charged.

To answer Dianna
you are correct to say that RTE have a similar level of funding to the BBC but the BBC do NOT have commercial breaks and are not allowed have any sponsorship
Ch 4 and ITV are totally private and obviously do have sponsorship but they get no money from the TV Licence like TV3 here
You should check you facts before you comment

It seems to me that most of the contributors to these online forums would be entitled to pay a reduced charge because they live in a one channel state of mind and can only see the world in black and white. :)

It will mean that everyone with a computer or any device capable of receiving media will have to pay a licence just like we do with a tv. Clever little fuc***s.

If it gets RTE of the teet?
Yes

What percentage of the population don’t have broadband, despite more than a decade of promises? This proposal is reminiscent of the tax on phone texts a few years back.

I voted yes although I disagree that newspapers should get money from a broadcasting charge. It’s a dead media. The majority of people get their news from online sources like Twitter and thejournal.ie

Funded by the state? The state can’t even afford to fund the things it should be funding like hospitals and special needs education. All broadcast, print and new media should be self funded, and if it can’t be, then so be it.

Seen as though RTE at best withhold news/facts (sopa and occupy), and at worst broadcast propaganda for their failure to report these stories, I voted yes. If RTE were independent of governments then I would’ve voted no

Double questioning to one answer poll?!
Do you think newspapers provide a public service-no. Do you think online outlets such as this one should be regulated-yes but not by Quinn. I voted I don’t know!!

Actually one of Ireland’s greatest ever journalists, Alexander Cockburn (who you seldom, if ever, find in the Irish media) wrote this three years ago.

“Who Needs Yesterday’s Papers?

I read the anguished valedictories to our sinking newspaper industry, the calls for some sort of government bailout or subsidy, with mounting incredulity. It’s like hearing the witches in Macbeth evoked as if they were Aphrodite and her rivals vying for the judgment of Paris. Sonorous phrases about “public service” mingle with fearful yelps about the “dramatically diminished version of democracy” that looms over America if the old corporate print press goes the way of the steam engine………..

any exacting assessment of the actual performance of newspapers rated against the twaddle about the role of the Fourth Estate spouted by publishers and editors at their annual conventions would issue a negative verdict in every era.
Of course there have been moments when a newspaper or a reporter could make fair claims to have done a decent job, inevitably eradicated by a panicky proprietor, a change in ownership, advertiser pressure, eviction of some protective editor or summary firing of the enterprising reporter.
By and large, down the decades, the mainstream newspapers have—often rabidly—obstructed and sabotaged efforts to improve our social and political condition”.

I want to pay €1000 p.a. for my television licence. It is worth at least twice that. We should all consider exceeding the amount we currently donate to our national broadcaster. RTE is the lifeblood, the very soul of our small but vibrant little religious community.

I especially enjoy the Angelus. There is nothing better than the the ringing of a few oul bells whilst I sit back and silently contemplate the adorable looking head on my pint. Of course, I like to remember I am catholic, I like to remember all the great things my church has done for Ireland. Yes I like to be reminded twice a day about that.

I would like to thank my national broadcaster for doing this.

People should pay for what they see or read
But the government owes It to the-people to support Irish culture, so if a media promotes Irish culture then they should have access to funding for that alone.

So Join me,we can hold hands whilst our visa debit cards ring out collectively to the sound of T. V licence heaven. Together we can lobby for more bells, more religious programming, for more visuals of more venerable holy rollers deep in thought, thinking, contemplating upon how the big fella might have got it all done in 6 days and somehow managed to smoke spliffs and head out for a curry on the seventh.

This is our inheritance, our history.

So the same news papers that for years championed the free market for years and called for increased cuts to social welfare are now seeking massive state-intervention to and are requesting state handouts?
Richard Dawkins wept.

Sorry such viewspapers convinced me years ago that the taxpayer shouldn’t be funding the inefficient and the lazy and that the free market knows best.

Pat Kenny should have more money, in fact we should be down on our knees begging him to accept more. We look to Pat, Miriam, Joe and Ryan to light our way. Our intellect is inexorably linked to these personalities. We must pay, we simply must. Together we must bear the cost, the future of our collective intellect depends on those massive salaries.

RTE destroyed Sean Gallaghers chances of becoming president. Then they accused two priests of child sexual abuse, destroying their names. Give them nothing.

How is this going to be collected?

Raoire Quinn Wanting control of online media means he would like to control the content like RTE – how come there in never a prime time investigates into the corruption in Dublin City Council or into Raoire Quinn and the rest of the TD’s and Councilors ? The sponsored stations are complicit in the corruption in the government and government agencies by ignoring them and letting it happen.

No Hanly. More religious programming is what we need. The continued incorporation of religion into the very fabric of our identity will serve us well. Sure who wouldn’t have had the Cloyne report without it. We Irish need our daily serve of double standards with a generous dollop of make believe. Fiddle dee diddle doo, fiddle dee diddle dee diddle doo.

Opps, sorry about that, touch of the oul tourette’s. Comes upon me when I’m feeling especially patriotic.

i dont know about this, i think the money should be diverted to RTE, but the distribution will become a political weapon i think. Anyone whio wants the funding will be in favour of Fine Gael, just like the sun in Britain was in order to protect the editors interests politically

Well again money but in Germany we ALWAYS had that, GEZ, licence for ALL media…. no yes or no as it is so frustrating to pay AGAIN more money….

If we need to fund a national broadcast service, I don’t see how it can’t be done directly out of taxation. The number of people in the country who never use TV, radio or a computer must be near zero. So if everyone uses it, and it needs to be paid for, everyone should pay for it. It would save some money and bureaucratic hassle. Or is there something I’m missing?

Who still has a TV?? Everything is online now.