ACP only seeking fair and balanced journalism

IN her column, Colette Browne (Opinion, Nov 30) writes that “perhaps members of the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) who have been screaming bias at every available opportunity since the sorry episode first came to light, would like the entire board of RTÉ to commit hari-kari as a token of their sorrow”.

Since I did most of the media work around the Fr Kevin Reynolds’ case for the ACP, I challenge her to produce a single piece of evidence where I called for resignations from the board of RTÉ in interviews which I did with Pat Kenny, Matt Cooper, Maeve Sheehan or my own article in The Irish Catholic.

Time and time again in these interviews I have reiterated that the ACP supports investigative journalism when it focuses on dark areas of Irish public life, be that in the Church, the banks, politicians, and developers. However, it is not unreasonable to expect that the media also be held accountable. Vincent Browne, who can hardly be accused of having a “Catholic” bias, has written that “it is blindingly obvious that the Prime Time Investigates programme on Kevin Reynolds right from its opening sequence which was titled Mission to Prey was unfair, unbalanced and not impartial.” All we at the ACP are asking for is fair, accurate and balanced journalism, not wild generalisations, without any basis in reality, which can injure the reputation of individuals or associations such as the ACP.