Sir,- In the information age, computers, videos and satellites are a part of all our lives. The media have a responsibility to use this modern communication technology in a balanced manner. Many do not. Bad news is good news, while positive events and the finer aspects of human nature rarely reach the headlines. The most lurid stories are reported in great detail: child sex abuse, rape, pornography, murder, attacks on the elderly and the most vulnerable in our society. These debased acts are reported in a vivid and graphic fashion together with diagrams, blown-up photographs of the scene and the faces of the accused. Some of accounts occupy pages of the newspapers.
But this exhaustive coverage has another aspect. It breeds an element of fear. Bishops are sometimes advised not to pat children on the head. Sexual or physical abuse by priests, nuns or brothers has caused a deep distress among the majority of religious. All of them are now under scrutiny. Teachers have suffered in the same way. A number, when approached by a pupil, leave the door ajar for fear of a false accusations. Bishops and high-profile priests are chased across the globe by invasive reporters. Psychologists are prevailed upon to reveal confidential information imparted by their clients.
The natural instinct of most people to protect the young is now in doubt. It is no longer safe to help a child or take it by the hand, even when astray and in distress. This is the result of the volume of negative reporting. The drip effect has produced a state of national paranoia. Few children go to school on their own. They are driven to and fro by their parents or on school buses, though a number of experts believe this is not in their best interest.
Old people suffer in a similar fashion. They are left to their own devices when crossing fast highways and in other threatening situations. Men will cross to the other side of the road after dark if a woman is approaching in case a complaint of sexual harassment, or worse, is made against them.
But most people have never taken drugs, abused or battered a child, attacked or molested a woman, taken advantage of the old and infirm, been involved in a robbery or received stolen property.
The public is critisised for failing to assist those who are in need, as in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke, 10.30). But today it is not so much a question of not caring as of being afraid to help. It is now easier to come to the aid of a lost or injured dog, wild creature or bird than it is to protect one's kind. It is a bleak scenario. I wish it was possible to do both. - Yours, etc.,
From Paul Devereaux, B.A., B.L.
Crannagh Road, Dublin 14.