Sir, - Rudyard Kipling said of Mark Twain "get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please". The same might be said of your newsroom.
I refer, of course, to the apparently partisan reporting of recent industrial relations issues at Independent Newspapers, which I'm happy to say have been amicably resolved and protective notice has been lifted. However, readers of The Irish Times wouldn't be aware of this fact, because your newsroom deemed it as not important enough to cover - even after having received a formal press statement. Surprising then, that this story initially necessitated front page coverage on Saturday, November 18th in a story entitled "Independent Issues Protective Notice".
Perhaps it is "the Times we live in", but having dished it out (with no amount of glee, I'm sure), good journalism would have demanded some fair and balanced coverage. Therefore, I would appreciate if you could use this letter to set the record straight. - Yours, etc.,
Gavin O'Reilly, Chief Executive,Independent Newspapers (Ireland) Limited, Middle Abbey Street, Dublin 2.
PS: Did your newsroom catch the fact that we just commissioned our new £50m Citywest printing plant, I wonder?
A report of the facts set out by Mr O'Reilly appeared in our editions of November 28th. We have no knowledge of the formal press statement to which he refers, Ed. I.T.