Will the media get the message?

IT’S not just the politicians that people did not believe. There ought to be a lesson in the referendum result for the mainstream media.

Despite overwhelmingly biased coverage in favour of a yes vote, including editorials, columnists and strikingly partisan ‘balanced’ reporting, we did not believe you either.

The hard work of the people who campaigned for a no vote was relentlessly misdescribed as the work of lunatic fringe groups. In fact it was a broad alliance of people concerned with the real human costs of this treaty (not Libertas) who managed to get their message across despite the media’s failure to give them equal treatment. Some politicians admonished us for the result — an insult to the thinking voters who expressed their considered

opinion. It would be equally insulting if we are to be treated to editorials telling us we didn’t understand what we were doing or that we are ‘ungrateful’ to Europe.

Garrett FitzGerald described the result as evidence of a ‘disconnect’ between government and people. The same applies to the media.

Miriam Cotton

Woodlands

Clonakilty

Co Cork