Readers' blog: Role of media in debate on the Eighth is questionable

The Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment may have made the inevitable referendum official, but campaigners have already been in referendum mode for months. 

And we must examine the role of the media in how the issue is covered. What exactly is the role of the media? Is it merely to function as an amplifier for the campaigns or should it demonstrate an investigative function?

If it serves merely as a broadcaster of the argument rather than an examiner of the arguments then it’s little more than an obsolete arm of social media. It has but to retweet the campaigns’ soundbites and sit back satisfied that its job is done.