Report of couple’s big day revealed a narrow-minded attitude

I WISH to express my extreme distaste at your report (February 12) of a wedding held in Killarney the previous day. For some reason your correspondent found it necessary to inform us the newly-married couple were members of the travelling community and that they were both unemployed.

Having supplied us with this irrelevant and unnecessary information, the correspondent went on to ask the groom how much their big day was going to cost.

Fortunately, the young man had the good grace to decline to give an answer to this rude question.

I wonder how your correspondent would have felt were a journalist to ask her the same question on her wedding day? Her interest in this couple’s cultural background and employment status was very distasteful and smacked of prejudice. It seemed the angle she was going for was to imply “big traveller wedding, no obvious source of income, etc, etc”.

I can’t imagine she would dare ask any couple from the settled community how much their wedding cost while standing at the door of the church on their big day. Rude is too good a word.

The narrow-minded attitude scarcely hidden between the lines in the report had the distinct air of begrudgery and prejudice, however she tried to dress it up. If that is the kind of journalism she wishes to peddle, then perhaps she ought to seek employment in a more tabloid-style paper.

Several other publications covered this same wedding but found it unnecessary to discuss the couple’s cultural background, employment status, etc.

The Irish Examiner would do well to follow suit in future and rise above this gossipy journalism. Perhaps an apology would be in order?

On a final note, I would like to wish the young couple well — may they be very happy together.

James Herbert

Tiernaboul

Killarney

Co Kerry