Sir, – Fintan O’Toole’s criticism of the Government’s lack of action on political reform is well made (Opinion, June 26th).
He fails to appreciate, however, that the situation in which this country finds itself derives as much from the failures of Fintan O’Toole’s own journalistic profession as it does from the faults of the structures that under-pin our democracy.
He, therefore, misses the real significance of the story he tells about the Tammany Hall boss who had so much control of the political scene in his area that he ‘was secretly running the Citizens’ Union as well’.
During the boom too many members of the free press in this country were just reprocessing spin-doctored press releases from the great and the good in government, financial institutions etc.
Instead of holding the powerful to account they were, like the Citizens’ Union in the Tammany Hall story, being run by the publicity machines of the most powerful in the land.
Let us have political reform by all means. But the free press should look to its own faults and failings and get back to doing what it should be doing ie telling the rest of us what is going on inside the corridors of power.
When our problems were being caused we were all told that everything in the garden was rosy and the people in charge were doing a good job.
It was the absence of knowledge by the ordinary citizen of what was really going on, rather than the format of the institutions, that has this country bankrupt. – Yours, etc,