Sir, - In defending his columnist Ms Mary Ellen Synon, the editor of the Sunday Independent, Mr Aengus Fanning, has been disingenuous. His statement, predictably, invoked the freedom of the press, declaring that it was "wrong to censor the work of any columnist". This is entirely specious. The exercise of editorial discretion has nothing to do with censorship. Censorship, as Mr Fanning surely knows, involves the interference of an agency other than the press itself.
The purpose of this unconvincing smokescreen is to distract critics and to prevent their concluding that the publication of Ms Synon's contemptible screed could have resulted from only two editorial scenarios. In the first, Mr Fanning is guilty only of negligence or a lapse of judgement. In the second, however, he colludes with his columnist in the deliberate and cynical provocation of public outrage as a cheap boost to circulation.
Ms Synon's absurdly venomous comments on the Paralympic Games necessitate no substantive debate. The merits and achievements of the athletes involved cannot be seriously questioned. What we should be concerned with is the cowardly abuse of the principle of journalistic freedom to disguise shabby and injurious practices. - Yours, etc.,
Paraic O'Donnell, Herbert Park, Bray, Co Wicklow.