Sir, – Congratulations to The Irish Times on the conscious decision to increase the coverage of women in sport in your newspaper. The dedicated two-page Thursday coverage, the commitment to increase reporting of women in sport in the main sports pages and the buy-in from the male journalists all lead me to believe that the necessary change in culture is in progress.
I was thrilled to see the picture of Briege Corkery and Rena Buckley, joint winners of the Irish Times/Sport Ireland Sportswoman of the Year award, on the front of the weekend sports section on December 19th. They were worthy winners and deserving of the publicity having won an extraordinary 16 All-Ireland medals each. There was also a further page of coverage of women in sport in the same edition.
I also welcome the open and honest comment from Ian O'Riordan: "If this problem [media coverage of women's sport] is going to be fixed, men – particularly those in the media – are going to have to get over themselves. Me included." ("Corkery and Buckley take top women's sport award", December 19th).
This is a first step in dealing with unconscious bias and sets a great example for other media outlets – radio, television and print – that they badly need to follow. – Yours, etc,
LUCY KEAVENEY,
Ratoath,
Co Meath.