Sir, – Many people I know share my concern at a malaise that seems to have taken hold of our broadcast media. At a time when we are all struggling to keep our tails up during the third, and ever-extending, lockdown, they seem determined to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory on almost any topic.
A key principle appears to be that, for every bit of good news there must be an equal and opposite bit of bad, and it is their bounden duty to expose it.
Take the vaccination programme, for example.
The only meaningful gauge in performance is that vaccines are fairly distributed at the same rate as they are delivered to us. Yet we have to listen to some poor Government or Department of Health official being tortured with the same repetitive and meaningless interrogations on side issues from dawn to dusk.
I know lots of people who, for mental health reasons, are having to limit their daily dosage of radio and TV news. Is it not obvious that, during these tough times, special care needs to be taken with broadcasting in terms of balance and tone?
Perhaps the best example here is Prof Luke O’Neill. While never sugar-coating facts on the response to Covid-19, he always balances his presentations with the positives. And there are so many. – Yours, etc,
JOHN GRIFFIN,
Kells,
Co Meath.