Media Services Codes for Broadcasters.

The course will cover: 

• Overview of the Codes
• What policies and procedures need to be in place to comply with the code ( i.e. Code of Practice on Complaints)
• Editorial considerations required in advance of broadcast ( this will mainly apply to the Fairness Code i.e. “what is demonstrably in the public interest”, doorstepping and secret recording)
•  Interviewing children and vulnerable adults and obtaining proper and full consent.
• How to deal with a complaint and when to escalate it.

Sarah Kieran, Media Lawyer

Sarah  is an Irish qualified solicitor who cut her teeth as a media lawyer in the Irish public service broadcaster, RTÉ, for six years, working mainly on pre-publication advice, litigation and broadcasting regulation. She then moved to Brussels to work in European regulation and policy making. Sarah has particular expertise in pre-publication clearance advice and media related litigation.

She has worked on many of the flagship current affairs and factual programmes produced in the Irish market. She has also been involved in many high-profile litigation actions for defamation, breach of privacy and copyright infringement. On Sarah’s return to Ireland she worked variously with MediaLawyer, Solicitors during the firm’s set up stage, in a policy-development position with the Central Bank and The Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice on human rights related issues.

She then re-joined Media Lawyer in January 2015, became a Partner in 2016 and took over the firm as Principal in January 2021.