Are you so sick of hearing about The Pope's Children by David McWilliams that you can't bring yourself to read it? To save you the bother, here's a condensed (and satirised) version of the book

The rush to tell the story and the pressure for constant and instantaneous reporting led to the misreporting of the fate of 13 men trapped in a mine in West Virginia, highlighting once again the absence of fact-checking in often tragic stories

Ironically, the Irish Independent, which vigorously pursued the story, often makes much of its disregard for PC values. A similar incongruity could be observed in the recent treatment of the story of the death of Liam Lawlor, when several newspapers which have been assiduous in promoting the idea that sexual morality should not be subject to the collective conscience, went big on a story in which the "sting" had to do with the exact "moral" values such newspapers have worked assiduously to dislodge.

Familiar, gravelly women's voices held their own in the hours around noon on the second Sunday in January. Listeners now used to Marian's presence for two hours every Saturday and Sunday realise she has mastered (or mistressed) this new gig on a relatively familiar territory (Marian Finucane, Saturday & Sunday 11am-1pm). Her review of the Sunday papers began with a discussion of the newspaper coverage of the Frankie Byrne/Frank Hall documentary to be screened the following night.

Tomato fondue

Having shied away from the subject for the last few years, Hollywood is now turning in full force to the events of 9/11. Heather Timmons reports

Ancient gods, spot prizes, sports heroes, Irish artists: Dermot Bolger has his choice of idols on TV this week

Colin Murphy sees a new young company tackle a big theme and – just about – pull it off, in displace

A forthcoming survey on otters may reveal high levels of a chemical harmful to human health in Irish water. By Shay Fennelly

This story was submitted for the RTÉ Francis Mcmanus Award 2005, and was broadcast on RTÉ Radio One. Pádraig Standún is a priest and novelist who has had novels published in English and Irish,as well as writing for theatre, television and magazines.