‘Blanket coverage of Pope added to victims’ trauma’
THE head of the Kerry Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre has said that blanket coverage of the Pope’s visit – the vast majority of it she claims was unbalanced and overly positive – has added to the trauma of sexual abuse survivors.
Vera O’Leary said that the general tone of the media coverage had been unbalanced, overly deferential and failed to fully acknowledge the experiences of the countless men, women and children who suffered terribly at the hands of the Catholic church.
“We’ve been inundated in the last week with calls from new and existing clients who have found themselves triggered or re-traumatised by the extent of the media coverage over the last week,” said Ms O’Leary.
‘We sit with victims every day and see their pain. We see what stories and what events resonate with them. I understand that it was effectively a visit by a head of state but in terms of coverage I don’t think the right balance was reached by the media,” she said.
“The media didn’t take on board the feelings of victims,” said Ms O’Leary.
Media coverage of Pope Francis’ visit has been widely criticised for being overly positive; unreflective of modern Irish society and for largely ignoring the Church’s crimes.
RTÉ – which broadcast 17 hours of Papal visit coverage over the weekend – has come in for particular criticism with its coverage slated as being ‘fawning’ and ‘reverential’ by veteran broadcaster Vincent Browne.
Ms O’Leary – who praised Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s impressive and statesmanlike speech – also took issue with the Pope’s statement on Church abuses and his highly publicised appeal for forgiveness.
“I think it fell way short,” she said.
“It seemed – from what the survivors that met him said – that he was very strong on the issue while in conversation with them.
“I believe he went as far as to call abusers ‘filth’. It would have been great if he had followed through on that in his public comments,” Ms O’Leary said.
“He missed a wonderful opportunity”