In recent weeks we have had definitive proof of the dangers of disproportionate media power vested in a single company or individual.
The response of Independent Newspapers to Emily O'Reilly's new book, Veronica Guerin: the Life and Death of a Crime Reporter, has illustrated beyond further controversy that the group and its owner, Dr Tony O'Reilly, have excessive power in this society and are prepared to use this power to protect and further their own interests above all other considerations.
Even before Ms O'Reilly's book was published, the Independent group had begun to condemn it in virtually every one of its national titles, including the Irish Independent, the Sunday In- dependent, the Sunday World and the Sunday Tribune.
With the exception of one journalist who appeared at least to have seen a copy, it was clear none of the authors of these attacks had read a word of the book before sitting down to write. Nevertheless, all felt free to attack Emily O'Reilly's bona fides, motives, sincerity and adherence to the truth.
Her book, it was alleged, consisted of smears, character assassination and revisionism, all to the nefarious end of destroying Veronica Guerin's posthumous reputation. It was implied that O'Reilly had a grudge against Guerin, born of professional jealousy.
But as of this moment, Emily O'Reilly's book, published a week ago, although as open to criticism as any piece of work, stands up much better than the poisoned articles which anticipated it.
True, it contains anecdotes which detail less than exemplary episodes in the past behaviour of Veronica Guerin, but in no sense could these be said to amount to a character assassination. Without exception, they are contextualised and authenticated stories with a view to painting a truthful picture of Ms Guerin.
Nothing in the book, either in isolation or in combination with other details, amounts to a damning indictment of her. All that is involved is an apparently accurate and honest account of a complex person whose collection of everyday human shortcomings combined with her strengths to make perhaps the finest journalist in the living memory of this society.
Anyone who reads the book with an open mind will put it down with an undiminished view of Veronica Guerin's heroism and achievements, and perhaps with an even greater sense that the tragedy of her death might have been avoided had her particular weaknesses been taken into account.
Most of the anecdotes peddled by indignant critics before the book's publication do not appear in it at all. Those which do appear are invariably treated in a different manner than was implied by the Independent's journalists.
The indignation which these writers professed to feel on behalf of Ms Guerin's memory and the sensitivities of her family did not prevent them being the first - and in retrospect the only - public peddlers of material which might indeed be said to damage the memory of Veronica Guerin.
Emily O'Reilly's book is infinitely more balanced than any of the articles which have condemned it sight unseen. It is scrupulously fair about acknowledging Veronica Guerin's many strengths and talents, and in the end paints her as no better or worse than most of us would dare expect from a close scrutiny of our everyday behaviour.
It is clear from Emily O'Reilly's book that her purpose in detailing dubious aspects of the methodology of Veronica Guerin was not to discredit the murdered reporter but to paint a thorough picture of the main player in a story which is about something different: the role of Independent Newspapers in the Veronica Guerin saga.
And this, rather than sensitivities on behalf of Veronica Guerin's memory or family, is the reason this book was rubbished in advance by the Independent group, which from the outset has done its utmost to suppress discussion of its own responsibility in this matter.
It was inevitable that the anguished public reaction which followed her death would result in the canonisation of Veronica Guerin.
But what we are now witnessing is the manipulation of that public sense of her undoubted heroism to protect her employers from facing uncomfortable questions.
The killing of Veronica Guerin raised many questions - about Irish society, criminality, journalism, politicians, and a range of other issues. But many of these questions seem to have been buried with her. Veronica's brother, Jimmy Guerin, raised some of them in a letter published in The Irish Times on July 27th, 1996, a month after his sister's murder.
He wrote that for most of the time she worked for the Sunday Independent Ms Guerin had been in great danger and that steps could have been taken to protect her. He pleaded that the lessons of the tragedy be absorbed and heeded by those who run Irish newspapers, and urged proprietors and editors to examine the dangers to which they were exposing journalists.
Given the previous saturation coverage of the killing, one would have thought such an intervention by the brother of the murdered journalist would be front-page news. It should, objectively speaking, have been a sensational development in a story still sending shock waves through the population. But the reaction of the media, as Emily O'Reilly writes in her book, was "a public averting of heads". The letter was ignored and then politely dismissed in a reply from Independent managing director, Mr David Palmer.
This odd circumstance alone would have been enough to justify Emily O'Reilly writing her book. That the Irish media, even while still celebrating Veronica Guerin for her commitment to truth, should ignore her own brother's grief-stricken plea for the lessons of the tragedy to be heeded, amounted to a profound indictment of the overall quality and courage of Irish journalism. It most certainly did nothing to honour the memory of Veronica Guerin, who, in different circumstances, would have been the first journalist to knock on the door of such a letter-writer.
The truth is Emily O'Reilly has attempted no more and no less than might have been expected of a healthy public debate at a much earlier stage of this affair. Just as Veronica Guerin was a brave and distinguished journalist who contributed much to the quality of Irish democracy, so also is Emily O'Reilly. She has shown particular courage in taking on the Independent group, the most powerful monolith we have.
The past fortnight has illustrated yet again that the Independent is incapable of fairness in matters relating to its own interests. While it is possible to write about criminals and not necessarily get murdered, it is not possible to challenge Independent Newspapers without being pilloried and abused.