There seems to be a dearth of investigate reporting among local journalists as compared to other democratic nations.

Rather than making front-page news of every silly remark spouted by ministers (and without criticising those remarks too! the silly things our elected officials are allowed to get away with!) shouldn't there be intrepid reporters investigating the state of our schools, hospitals, civil service, and corruption - so widely practiced and acknowledged yet never discovered except by occasional whistleblowers.

Everyone knows about having to 'pay' for a driving licence. Why has there been no expose? No undercover reporters with names and dates? Why has there been no critical analysis of the state of our education system, our health service and what the future may hold for them? Is an analysis of anything considered an attack on the government and therefore taboo?

I simplify the argument of course. I can understand that certain topics can end a career, that certain roads are simply not taken, that there is a lot of self-censorship by media organisations.

But is the media so cowed? I wonder what vast repository of information that lies within the minds of all the journalist out there that will never see the light of day. Things they see and hear but can never report.

Does anyone remember when Dr M (sounds like a James Bond villain doesn't he?) went after the royals? After that, journalists (in the Star I think) felt relieved enough to write that for years, whenever it was this or that royal's birthday, they had to write pages and pages of the highest praise while the truth was something else. Now that burden has been lifted from them. Are we waiting for another moment of upliftment?

It has also always struck me as odd how little we know of our ministers, that most of our knowledge of them comes from gossip rather than reported fact. Are they married? How many children do they have, etc?

I would really like to hear the opinions of journalists since I don't know the system under which they operate. What are the unwritten rules that regulate their profession? And the only true voice in this matter would be someone from inside the media, rather than a somewhat judgemental non-journalist like me.