The Fourth Estate!

 The Fourth Estate!

Watching a clip of Alan Jones on Sky News, Australia and his take on the Covid restrictions there ~ right or wrong I leave it to you to decide ~  one can only wonder at his bravery and note the absence of any such dissent in our own country where everyone seems to be on central message. But that is not the duty of the Fourth Estate, theirs is to protect the interests of the governed and whether they be the national broadcaster or any other parts of the mainstream media an even and balanced broadcasting of both sides is of such importance in any democracy that dismissal of one side as cranks or conspiracy theorists without their views being subject to cross examination does the public no justice at all. Bring them on and let the public decide whether their arguments stand the test or not. If you don't then what you are broadcasting or printing has no real validity. I wrote this poem before the last great financial crash when we were threatened that if we didn't do what we were told a financial bomb would go off in Dublin and only Ballydehob said no! And now here we go again, do what you are told - settle into apartheid. What ever happened to the fighting Irish?

The Fourth Estate

Embedded in such legalize
As please M' Lords
A little wheeze
Could show good cause
To such respect
When body politic
Dissect.

That every class
Of hound or hack
Was safely muzzled
Round the back.
Or carcass nailed
In some debate
That prowled about
The Fourth Estate.

Frank Murphy