Media witch-hunt must stop - priest

Media coverage of abuse allegations against priests and religious has played a huge role in shaping a negative perception of the church, with some of it unfair, sensational and downright irresponsible, according to Father Gerard Moloney.

In an editorial titled "Media witch-hunt must stop", in the current edition of Reality magazine, he said this had helped create a climate in which a priest or religious accused of abuse was now automatically presumed to be guilty.

It had succeeded in associating the word "paedophilia" in the public mind almost exclusively with clergy. It had helped create an atmosphere of witch-hunt against the church.

"It was such an atmosphere that facilitated the manifestly unfair trial of Nora Wall, and the numerous unsubstantiated allegations published about her in the aftermath of her conviction," he said.

He referred to a recent interview with Boyzone's Ronan Keating in the Irish Independent Weekend supplement in which the singer said the Catholic Church "is so corrupt. Every time you open the paper you read about a priest who has been up to something. It's sickening."

Sadly, there was nothing unique or surprising about Ronan Keating's views in this matter, said Father Moloney.

He referred to an Irish Independent article from June 26th with the headline "Ex-Jesuit student gets longest drug sentence."

It "clearly implied the convicted man was at one time a student priest with the Jesuits. Only on paragraph six does one discover his actual Jesuit connections - he once attended a Jesuit-run secondary school," he said.

The headline was "deeply malicious", Father Moloney said, "for it is that sort of outrageous, gratuitous headline . . . that leads people like Ronan Keating to be so scathing in their attitude towards the church".

Media reporting manifestly was not fair or balanced where the church was concerned, he said.

"The primary responsibility for the church's low standing among the young and not-so-young lies squarely with the church itself," he said.

The church did not expect or deserve favourable treatment by the media.

What it did expect was fairness and balance, he said.