Sir, - While I do not always find myself in agreement with the sentiments expressed by Vincent Browne, his Opinion column of March 10th on "two issues that show how the media are debased" was absolutely spot on. The issues in question were the news coverage, or rather the paucity thereof, by the Western media of the genocide in Rwanda and Burundi, and the UN's apparent indifference to the atrocities compared with the prominence given recently to the Lewinsky interview on RTE's Prime Time.
With regard to the latter, we had two of our TV heavyweights, Brian Farrell and Miriam O'Callaghan, intone in suitably sombre tones the prologue and epilogue to the whole sorry, shabby affair with the gravitas due some earth-shattering event, and afterwards a coterie of distinguished politicians and journalists delivered a post-mortem on Monica's performance.
What is the world coming to that we are entertained to such risible spectacle? A sexy young woman has a crush on a much older married man with a penchant for womanising. She is "comfortable with her sexuality" (translate how you wish). The illicit relationship develops. She eventually tells all. He (being who he is) lies through his teeth. And now she is presented to as a sort of sweet-in-genue whose heart, unfortunately, ruled her head, and there's a big fat book in the bookstores to fill in all the juicy details for the prurient and the voyeuristic among us.
What most of us would like to know is who in Media Land is to decide where to draw the line between news that is newsworthy and news that is sensational trivia? - Yours, etc., Vera Hughes,
Moate, Co Westmeath.