Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has accused sectors of the the Catholic press in Ireland of displaying a “growing tendency to tabloidism”.

The Catholic leader said there was a “growing and worrying” phenomenon of blogs that were “not just partial and sectarian, but at times very far away from the charity with which the truth should be expressed”.

The Archbishop made his remarks at the “Faith of our Fathers” conference in Kilkenny on Friday.

He called for Catholic journalists and publications to live up to the highest standards of the broader profession to which they belonged, the Irish Times reports.

“This requires balance in reporting and the normal professional standards about verifying sources. Accuracy is more important than the exclusive ‘scoop’ which may often be unfounded,” said Dr Martin.

Speakers at the weekend conference include Fr Brian McKevitt, editor of Alive newspaper, Irish Times columnist John Waters and founder of Libertas and entrepreneur Declan Ganley.