Madam, – The criticism by Greg Higgins, Sarah Carew, Shane O’Hanlon (December 29th) of the TV3 broadcast relating to the announcement of Brian Lenihan’s alleged cancer diagnosis, is in my view somewhat harsh. Mr Lenihan is a senior Government Minister responsible for the most important portfolio dealing with the present dire economic circumstances.
To prevent misunderstandings and obvious hurt to his family, the Government should have insisted that a statement be issued within a reasonable timeframe rather than it being announced independently by the media. Those of us who are living with this illness know only too well the impact this disease can have on our families and are acutely aware of the negative and detrimental impact of recent political decisions on our medical issues.
Mr Lenihan’s position is such that news about his health and well-being is in the national interest and unfortunately that is the heavy price paid by those engaged in the political joust.
Indeed, some would have us believe, their privacy is sacrosanct. Perhaps this is the dilemma between public and private that needs to be addressed in the future.Irrespective, I applaud TV3 for its contribution and do not believe its presentation was unprofessional, or for that matter uncaring, voyeuristic, irresponsible reporting or the like. Indeed some of your contributors should take a step back and live in the real world. Those of us living with cancer have to. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Sean Ward contends that Brian Lenihan “is not a private citizen” (December 30th). Not quite true.
Mr Lenihan’s career and performance is very much in the public eye, to be sure.
However, Mr Lenihan has every right and privilege (as Mr Ward does) to protect or disclose his personal and private data as he wishes.
Would Mr Ward condone his medical records being revealed without his authorisation, for example in some online social networking site? What Mr Ward contends as “a legitimate journalistic exercise” was in fact an unauthorised leaking of a person’s private information.
Such is the seriousness of this privacy infringement that I would expect repercussions at the source of the leak. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – The behaviour of the Irish media towards Brian Lenihan has been nothing short of despicable. All citizens, regardless of their poistion, have a basic right to privacy with respect to their health. This is a concept that every healthcare professional in the State takes for granted and it has been respected by honourable journalists for decades.
Unfortunately, it now appears that some sections of the “professional media” do not share these values, preferring instead to operate in a culture of self serving moral cowardice. As a result,many journalists show a complete inability to understand basic human decency matched only by an enormous capacity for narcissistic attention seeking .
The media of this country have disgraced themselves. They are worthy of nothing but our contempt. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Oh, the hypocrisy of RTÉ and other venerable media organs tut-tutting at TV3’s reporting of Minister Brian Lenihan’s illness and then proceeding to sink their journalistic chops into the self-same story! Surely an agreed collective silence on the matter by the so-called editorial good guys would have been a more genuine (and thunderous) denunciation and isolated TV3 more effectively? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I assume (and hope) the Minister for Finance will receive the best available treatment for his illness and therefore every citizen in Ireland suffering from the same illness is afforded the same expertise on their doorstep. – Yours, etc,