I thank the editor for the note explaining the policy of The Times regarding the details that are published with regard to court rulings, published under my letter Discrimination Against The Church? (April 24).

Yet, some issues still raise some questions in the light of the original framework put forward in my letter. Such as, for example:

With or without a court ruling, some stories are worth pursuing and investigating. Which stories, on acts committed by whom, deserve exposure and to what extent?

Will any journalist or coloumnist pick up issues around sexual defilement committed by parents, grandparents, friends and give it the exposure that the Lourdes Home story was given?

Shall we readers in the near future read lengthy features about children who are harassed or neglected at home with the same amount of criticism that this story has triggered?

Will there be journalists who follow all the details that emerge day after day from such "family" stories and spin a tale?

Will this newspaper publish photos of these people?

Again, I reiterate that healthy criticism is never to be turned down, be it directed to whichever institution and probably some will be susceptible to receive even more.

However, who will be picking up the pieces of people's lives should stories turn out to be slightly amplified? Who will be picking up the pain left in people who are "secondary victims" of such stories, since they are part of the same group and thus get the same labels?

Who will be the watchdog over journalists or columnists, who might project their own biases in the articles published? Will the press be just and accurate in reporting events or shall it fuel irrational feelings?

Editor's note: Decisions on how to cover a story depend on the circumstances of the case. In the Lourdes Home case, it is mainly the different attitudes adopted by Gozo Bishop Mario Grech and that adopted by the Dominican Sisters that is really the story. As to ethics, journalists have their own code of ethics and there is also a Press Complaints Commission.