Restructuring irish media for an integrated Europe: A view from the celtic periphery

Abstract

The Irish communications infrastructure is examined within the framework of the relationships highlighted in the concept of a new European information and communication order emerging in the 1990s. The single-most-important factor affecting Ireland's capacity to participate in a balanced way in the post-1992 European communications environment is the sustained attack on the concept of public service monopoly broadcasting, which culminated in a government-designed restructuring of broadcasting in 1990. Given the small size of the country, the impact of this restructuring goes far beyond broadcasting. Possible strategies for dealing with the negative impact focus on the advantage of belonging to the Anglophone world and of benefiting from the incentives of MEDIA 92, although there are dangers involved in trying to enter the global television and film marketplace while also trying to maintain a uniquely Irish voice.