Sir, – Thank you for a timely and important article by Joe Humphreys (“Belief is waning in lot of things: Christianity, the Irish soccer team, journalistic objectivity”, Unthinkable, Opinion & Analysis, December 4th). It explores crucial issues in media.
One aspect of it worried me. Yes, in theory, an increase in fact-checking is to be welcomed, but there has to be near universal trust in the fact-checkers, otherwise we’ll need fact-checkers for the fact-checkers. As regards RTÉ's “plans for a disinformation correspondent”, I can’t help feeling that there’s something off about that. Surely professional journalists are already wary of disinformation?
Activist journalists may not be so careful. And could it not be that one person’s disinformation is another person’s fact? Who judges? Yes, objectivity can be elusive, but as Joe Humphreys writes, “Objectivity is all about trying”. – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN O’REGAN,
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Arklow,
Co Wicklow.
