As I write it's Christmas Eve and I'm reluctant to intertwine the arrival of the saviour of the world with the stinky world of journalism, but there are a couple of examples of how stories should NOT be reported that cry out to heaven for comment.
Stinky Story 1: The Irish Times a day or two ago had an article which, in keeping with that paper's anti-republican stance, tries very hard to link the secret world of child sexual abuse with the secret world of IRA operations during the Troubles. The implication is that the same sort of thought process goes into both areas of activity and the same sort of thinkers work well in both. Since the article doesn't tell me that the writer is a qualified psychiatrist/psychologist, I'm not going to conclude, as some might, that his article shows him to be a complete idiot. I'll settle for guessing he's a half-wit.
Stinky Story 2: This one's from yesterday's Daily Mail. Ah yes, the Daily Mail, the comfort blanket for all those who enjoy slippping into a nice warm prejudice at some point in the day. "Revealed - The full chilling story of how Gerry Adams lied to protect his paedophile brother - and helped him work with children". Got that? None of this rubbish about being innocent until proven guilty - 'paedophile brother'. And the bit about 'helped him work with children' - you know, helped the paedophile in his pursuit of prey.
Maybe there's a new dawn coming when journalism of this sort will be used in media classes to show students how NOT to go about covering a story. But if we look at the Irish media's treatment of the Murphy Report and now the Liam Adams case, you can see that such a dawn may be a long time coming. Christmas, mercifully, will come with tomorrow's dawn, which means we're all safe for at least twenty-four hours. Nollaig shona duit...
I've know Gerry since the early 1970s.
ReplyDeleteOf course they were linked - the IRA covered up a mountain of sex crime.
What do you think happened to sex criminals in Ballymurphy, Turf Lodge etc. when there was no police?
Minister Ruane - also refused to ban sex offenders from working in her schools.
Gerry Adams is a child protection disaster policy area.
"None of this rubbish about being innocent until proven guilty - 'paedophile brother'. And the bit about 'helped him work with children' - you know, helped the paedophile in his pursuit of prey."
ReplyDeleteSF are a pro-pedo party, they especially like the poet and artistic type & etc.
Due process simply doesn't apply to child protection - and quite clearly to any member of the Catholic Church. Why should it?
SF has a child safe sex offender theory, and woe betide anybody raising the issue publicly. The party are like common thugs.
C. Ruane went out on a limb not to ban sex offenders from schools.
The IRA is or was sitting on as much sex abuse as the Catholic Church.
FARC were also a bunch of drug-dealing girl abducting rapists.
The IRA and FARC had a lot in common.
Where was Gerry when the Kesh was being burnt? What was his status in Cage 11?
http://www.lobbywatch.org/lm_watch.html
SF are exactly like the LM pro-pedo crazies. I know both very well and I can't spot the difference.
SF are definitely suspect in the sex offender department.
Sex offenders ‘may be working as teachers’
Published Date: 20 March 2008
Minister Catriona Ruane said she did not know whether or not any such offenders were currently working as teachers here but she affirmed that so long as their sexual offences etc.
http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/Sex-offenders-may-be-working.3896882.jp