Are you interested in one week's work placement in The Irish Times? Transition Year students can learn first-hand about the workings of this newspaper if their submission is published in Media Scope's weekly Over to You column. Just send us a 200word piece on a media-related topic - if it's published, the placement is yours.
Alan Mulroy, Franciscan College, Gormanstown, Co Meath
In this booming Celtic Tiger, we seemed to have forgotten about equality for all of the inhabitants of this country. The Celtic Tiger seems to have reared a vicious cub, which has made us only think of the "beautiful people that are unflawed"; I hate to tell these people that they are living in a dream world.
Nobody is perfect. We all have problems - some of these problems are disabilities, but that doesn't mean that there is something that is revolting or unsightly about them. The Irish Paralympic team has done us proud. However, they did not get the coverage on the television or newspapers they are entitled to.
I was glad to see that they got the recognition they deserve finally, when they appeared on the Late Late Show last Friday and got a standing ovation.
Ireland is to host another games, the Special Olympics, in 2003 - as most people do not know, due to the poor coverage such games have received by the media. How are we going to treat visiting teams, if we can't treat our own with etiquette?
We should give Paralympians the admiration and the dignity they deserve! It is a shame that, entering this new millennium, some people can be so intolerant and prejudiced.
Conor Healy, Portmarnock Community School, Co Dublin
It is surprising that there is a lack of Scottish Premier League matches or highlights on television - shocking when you take into account the number of Celtic fans there are in Ireland. Sky Sports is the only channel to show Scottish League matches, but it shows at most one match a week. There is such a fan base in Ireland for Celtic Football Club that people would welcome the opportunity to watch Celtic matches on TV.
RTE has copped on to the interest that there is in Celtic's matches and have started to show Celtic's UEFA Cup matches. RTE lost its Champions League coverage to rivals TV3; you would think they would try and get its soccer ratings up again.
Now RTE shows the Irish World Cup qualifying games, a few times a year, and a couple of UEFA Cup matches, plus the Saturday Premiership programme. Couldn't RTE strike a deal with Celtic and organise the games, or at least highlights, being shown?
Write to media scope by posting your comments to Newspaper in the Classroom, The Irish Times, 1116 D'Olier Street, Dublin 2, or faxing them to (01) 679 2789. Be sure to include your name, address and school, plus phone numbers for home and school. Or you can use the Internet and e-mail us at mediapage@irishtimes.ie
media scope is a weekly media studies page for use in schools. Group rates and a special worksheet service (see `faxback', right) are available: FREEPHONE 1800-798884.
media scope is edited by Harry Browne.
