Sir, - It baffles me how your columnist Fintan O'Toole (Irish Times. November 8th) and also on The Week in Politics (RTE 1, November 9th), commenting on the recent spate of writs taken by Irish politicians against the media, can devote an entire article to the changing attitudes of politicians to their public image, and not even once reflect on whether the media, as the other main component in this scenario, have any responsibility to bear.
Surely when, for whatever reason, the media are coming up against this increasingly common action, the question needs to be posed as to whether the changes in quality and standards of what is acceptable to print are not part of the issue. Mr. O'Toole's article was entitled "Political good name depends on work, not writs". I suggest that there is ample material for a further article "Good (or popular) journalism depends on analysis of facts, not opinion
Yours, etc.,
Le Vere Terrace, Harold's Cross, Dublin 6W.