Inquest on Aberfan Sm.—Stuart Hood's article 'Inquest on Abcrfan' (October
28) was marred by one glaring omission. He made no reference to ITV's programme 'The Mountain that Moved,' a nation-wide broadcast at
the peak religious vie%ing time of 6.55 p.m. on Sunday. October 23. This was not spontaneous coverage; it was a (presumably) carefully chosen and edited programme made up of episodes from the immense amount of material collected during the frightful disaster and its immediate aftermath. It showed in detail interviews with sad, shocked children, the interviewers persistently nagging them with question after question in order to wring the last ounce of pathos from the innocent 'victims': it trampled cruelly and flat-footedly into and over the private grief of stricken parents and relatives, and it stripped all dignity and humanity from the decent. God-fearing, closely-knit community that is Aberfan. By its calculated brutality, seemingly geared to titillate a specialised audience of weird, sadistic and 'curious' tastes, it offered an indelible insult to the memory and work of Miss Jennings. her staff, her pupils and the others who suffered, whether now alive or dead.
Some coil:agues in our factory at Dowlais. Merthyr TOM. were personally affected when relatives and friends perished in the disaster. They, and others in South Wales to whom I spoke about this programme, e pressed their displeasure; some had even tele- phoned TWW and the local press in protest. There %%ere no acknowledgements of this, on television or in the papers.
This disregard of all that is decent, and the re- fusal to recognise a breach of basic good manners, give unnecessary ammunition to those advocating stricter censorship. More sense of responsibility by senior executives of television and press would avoid this, and have spared many people much pain.
THOMAS ADLER
'7' horn field ,* A berthin, Cow bridge. Glam.
P.S. No one to whom I spoke had anything but praise for the LIVE television coverage, especially by the BBC.
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