Freedom of Expression must be protected ... or else

There is much hubbub around Irish blogs and twitter about RTE's decision to pull a report about a mysterious artist's depiction of a naked Taoiseach which appeared in two art galleries last week.

On Monday, RTE News carried a news report concerning the piece of art. The following day, it pulled the story from it's website and apologised to the Taoiseach for reporting it.

So, someone made an artistic point, and the supposedly independent state broadcaster reported it, but after objections from the Government Press Office, caved in and apologised.

So how independent is RTE.

March has been a month where how RTE treats the government has come under the microscope.

First there was the Prime Time interview with Maire Hoctor. We were never told it was pre-recorded, and had it not been for an editorial cockup we might have never known. During the piece which went out over the airwaves, Maire Hoctor was unable to coherently answer a question from the host Miriam O'Callighan. After a second failed attempt, and an interruption in the programme we were given the interview again without hiccups.

Prime Time is not supposed to be a "Happy Happy" programme. It is, or should be, a show that analyses the serious issues of the day. Which is why such a "positive" story about the Ideas Campaign raised eyebrows.

Questions were asked, and the person who asked them was invited to go on a number of RTE programmes and suddenly, uninvited.

And now we have this. what is being called picturegate.

Aparantly, the Gardai are now involved, but where is the crime. The artist didn't steal anything, they didn't cause any damage to any of the gallaries. It would be something if they graffitied the image on the wall of the galleries but they didn't.

And RTE are worse for not fighting Government attempts to dictate what they can and cannot broadcast. If this is allowed we will head down a slippery slope to only hearing what the Government wants us to hear.

After the Lisbon Referrendum, the Government were looking into ways of removing rules stipulating that RTE must give equal time to both the Yes and No sides in referrenda, which would have been to their advantage.

The freedom of expression is a right which should not be surrendered. If you want to know what it is like without that right then take a look at this.

I read today that an Iranian blogger died in prison where he was serving time for supposedly offending religeous leaders and insulting Islam. It is a little extreme, I know, but it is an example of how important free expression is.