LAST month's drama documentary, Dear Daughter, caused more controversy than anything RTE has broadcast in years. The story of Christine Buckley's childhood in the Goldenbridge orphanage in Dublin and of Sister Xavieria, the Sisters of Mercy nun in charge, was a chronicle of violence and abuse.

There was something about this film and its timing that ensured special treatment by the media. It received wide, uncritical preview coverage. Few questions were asked and little journalistic scepticism shown.

The Sunday Tribune allocated over two pages to the film, with photographs of Ms Buckley (50) now and as a child. It told the now familiar story of a "regime of terror" and "savage brutality".

The Star ran a story under the heading "Sisters of no mercy". It said the "true-life story" was already being called the "dying rooms - Irish style".

The Irish Times headed its preview piece, "Forgotten babies". The Irish Independent ran "The scandal of orphan 89", a reference to Ms Buckley's number in the orphanage.

The following Thursday the film was transmitted by RTE. It was a drama documentary. It had actors, reconstructions and all the techniques of a dramatic telling of a horrific story.

It was not a documentary as a number of newspapers had described it. It was more in the style of 50, 000 Secret Journeys, the documentary RTE refused to screen in March, 1994, because there was no challenge to the view offered in that programme about abortion. It was not journalism and never claimed it was.

For the media it was a story of goodies and baddies, with no room for subtleties. The apology from the Mercy Sisters was considered to be sufficient comment from the nuns. The media were content to repeat the allegations in the film and concern themselves with finding more such horror stories.

The nuns had to ask to go on air. Sister Helena Donoghue, the spokeswoman for the Mercy Sisters requested that she be allowed to take part in a Kenny Live programme.

A number of women tried to interest the media in their different accounts of life in Goldenbridge. One reporter is alleged to have said to women who phoned that they had to be "pets" and he was not interested in their story. Within days, the story included other orphanages run by the same order of nuns, especially St Kyran's in Rathdrum, Co Wicklow.

The Star set the agenda. "Sister Philomena was a beast who laughed while she was beating us ran a page one headline about life in, Rathdrum. One week after the screening of Dear Daughter, the newspaper led with this account of Sister Philomena, who was described as alcoholic and a "willing partner in crime of Sister Mary Xavier". She was a "fanatical second in command". Sister Philomena is deceased. The Star was clear who was to blame, pointing out that "parents were powerless to stop abuse".

It took 1O days before a different story emerged about life in Goldenbridge and St Kyran's. Three weeks after the programme was broadcast, Pal Kenny interviewed a woman who spoke of Sister Xavieria's kindness.

THE story of Goldenbridge is not new. Gay Byrne interviewed Ms Buckley in 1993, when she told the same story on his radio show. There was no media follow-up or reaction, though Louis Lentin heard it and thought it might make a film.

However, in 1996 the media have become used to telling the story of the secret and dark history of the Catholic Church, accustomed to relaying news of clerical abuse.

The story was also dramatic, whose telling by a good film-maker heightened those emotional moments, in the manner of the good drama documentary. It was told in the spirit of that pioneer documentary film-maker, Robert Flaherty, who said the "documentary is a poetic treatment of reality".

Ms Buckley's story was told in a dramatic way. Journalists usually approach such stories differently, testing allegations. In this case, that was not done. The drama, the reconstructions, the use of actors and the memories of Ms Buckley were never challenged, no alternative explored.

Louis Lentin used his film-making skills to tell a simple story of one woman's experience. The media should have investigated the complexities, and examined the content, but by and large they did not do that. They did not even follow up Ms Buckley's view that parents who dumped their babies in places like Goldenbridge were to blame.

It was not as if contrary views were hard to find. From the beginning other voices tried to be heard, but were never given an airing. Today there are those who disagree with Ms Buckley, and without any disrespect to her or her memories, have a different story. They were available three weeks ago, but few in the media were interested in listening.