Some readers have been questioning the Beacon Journal’s civic commitment lately, saying terrorist attack coverage is going too far, providing too much information. Here are some examples:
One woman said the paper shouldn’t reveal the location of military ships and bases. “I don’t need to know how many planes we sent over. We should trust our government to handle these things without us having to criticize it or approve it.”
She added, “Our freedom is going to kill us.”
A Cuyahoga Falls man said the Beacon Journal’s coverage is hurting the economy and therefore the country. “You’re not letting people get back to normal news. This is exactly what the terrorists want.” He said this view was shared by 30 others.
A story about problems with the new security measures at airports brought this comment: “That made me sick. I was so offended by that, I can’t tell you. In this day, we need to look for opportunities for how we can come together, not how we can undermine the system.”
One reader was vocal in criticizing the story about the vulnerability of nuclear power plants to terrorist attack. “If that isn’t one of the stupidest things to print in the paper,” he said. “Why don’t you just tell them how to go about doing it?”
Another caller said the Beacon Journal made a “grievous mistake” when it included in a wire-service story information about gold and silver reserves remaining in the basement of the World Trade Center. “That will just encourage more looters.”
Even the comics came under scrutiny.
Joe Barnette of Akron objected to Thursday’s Boondocks strip, in which one young character suggests this title for TV coverage: “How about `America stops and thinks about why some people hate us’?”
Barnette said he interpreted that as meaning the attack on the World Trade Center was the fault of the United States. “The content goes beyond the expression of free speech, particularly in the format of the comics.”
A Stow woman’s letter in Voice of the People said she felt safer knowing she didn’t have “a namby-pamby, `I love the trees’ president like Al Gore.”
That brought strong criticism from Richfield’s Mike Samolis, who said the letter should not have been printed. “Choosing that one was bad taste at this time. She shouldn’t resort to name-calling, that was inappropriate.”
Hartville’s Karen Hout said she was “mortified” by the large photo and story about Osama bin Laden in last Sunday’s paper. “He may deserve a small article when he is laid to rest, but other than that, don’t bother wasting your ink.”
Not all of you shared these opinions, however.
Wooster resident Dan Shortridge reacted to last week’s column in which several readers said a story about bioterrorism was helping the enemy. “I shudder to think of the fate of America with people like that in charge, people who think civil liberties are to be cast aside with the flick of a wrist.”
Akron’s Mary Klug also defended the bioterrorism story. “Anyone who doesn’t think this could occur needs to wake up and understand that this is a distinct possibility. As a newspaper, you need to print all of the information.”
Brenda Miller of Orrville said: “Terrorists already know about biological warfare — it’s time the average American does, too.
“Please leave space always in the midst of all this unity for a voice of dissent. To whatever extent terrorism causes us to relinquish our freedom to learn facts, to hear truth and to disagree, terrorism wins.”
Perhaps Micheline Shableski, an Akron nurse, summed it up best: “Just give our citizens the information that they need, even if it isn’t always what they want.”
