Cyrus M. Vafi was disturbed by the front-page headline Wednesday on the story about the Senate’s move to prohibit an abortion procedure that foes describe as “partial-birth” abortion.
The headline, “Senate votes to prohibit ‘partial-birth’ abortions,” lacked neutrality in Vafi’s view. “Regardless of a person’s stand on abortion and whether they identify with the right to life or a woman’s right to choose, it should be the Union-Tribune’s goal to present the Senate’s recent anti-abortion ruling in an objective and accurate manner,” he wrote in an e-mail.
Although quotation marks were placed around “partial-birth” to indicate it is not a universally accepted term, Vafi noted “it still conveyed a negative (and somewhat supportive) connotation.”
Mike Sappington, the copy desk chief who oversees news headlines, said the reporter made it clear that it is a term used by critics. Because it is language favored by opponents, a photo caption with the story called it “the so-called partial-birth abortion procedure.”
The story, which was carefully balanced about a difficult topic, explained the medical name for the procedure is “intact dilation and extraction.” “Partial birth-abortion” is the term used by critics, it said.
Vafi suggested a more objective headline would have been: “Senate passes anti-abortion measure.” That, however, strikes me as too vague. Does the headline mean that the Senate is banning all abortions?
The main headline in The New York Times said: “SENATE APPROVES BILL TO PROHIBIT TYPE OF ABORTION.” Below it were two other headlines: “BUSH SET TO SIGN MEASURE” and “Ban on What Foes Label ‘Partial Birth’ Method Court Fight Seen.”
The Los Angeles Times said: “Senate OKs Ban on Abortion Procedure.” Below it was a block of copy that said: “Barring of ‘partial-birth’ operations is the first federal sanction in 20 years. Bush has said he will sign bill, but court challenge is expected.”
The Union-Tribune was right in putting quotation marks around the term, although some readers may not have understood what was being signalled. Even so, the story was fair, with both sides well-represented.
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Some readers were upset by the prominence given the Junior Seau story on the front page of Sports on Thursday. Over the main headline: “New on menu for Seau: racial flap” were two stories. On the left was Nick Canepa’s column and on the right a story by Jay Posner. The two articles were separated by quotations. On top was the one from Seau, now with the Miami Dolphins, that started the flap. Below it was the response from LaDainian Tomlinson of the Chargers and the target of Seau’s remarks. The Chargers and the Dolphins play tonight. Seau, as nearly everyone in San Diego knows, is a former Charger.
He is quoted as saying the way to stop Tomlinson is “Just kind of give him a couple of watermelons, load him up with some fried chicken and just say, you know, ‘Keep eating.’ ” Below it is Tomlinson’s response: “I think Junior likes chicken and watermelon more than any of us. I wasn’t offended at all.”
But some Seau fans were offended by the Union-Tribune’s coverage. Reader Zac Cuddy said he was surprised by the prominence given the story. “It is a non-issue. Period. A joke. End of story.”
“Talk about locker room jokes having no place in polite society,” wrote Marshall Hiner, “how about locker-room reporting? The way I see it, Junior’s comments were based on a level of friendship and respect for L.T. that could only be misinterpreted by a complete idiot, or a muck-raking columnist with space to fill.”
Seau’s remarks were made to the Miami media and, as Canepa noted, resulted in the “Dolphins PR people doing some quick spin work.” They were not made in private between two friends, and that’s the problem.
However, I don’t think either Canepa or Posner misinterpreted anything. Both did a good job of putting the remarks into perspective. Canepa noted that he was certain Seau was trying to be funny, and Posner’s first line said: “LaDainian Tomlinson just laughed.” Not to report the story would have been a disservice to readers, although whether it should have been the top story is open to question.
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Kenneth Seid, who teaches English at the 32nd Street Naval Station, was taken aback by Tuesday’s front page. In large letters over a headline that said: “AIRLINE ‘TEST’ BRINGS CHARGE” was a quotation from a Transportation Security Administration official: “Amateur testing of our systems do not show us in any way our flaws.” Instead of “do not,” it should have been “does not.”
Seid suggested the Union-Tribune should have either corrected the grammar or inserted “sic” to show it was quoted correctly. Since it’s newspaper policy to do neither, there was only one option: Not highlight the quotation on the front page of the Union-Tribune.
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Gina Lubrano’s column commenting on the media appears Mondays. It is the policy of The San Diego Union-Tribune to correct all errors. To discuss accuracy or fairness in the news, please write to Gina Lubrano, readers representative, Box 120191, San Diego, CA 92112-0191, or telephone (619) 293-1525. Send e-mail to: readers.rep@uniontrib.com.
Copyright 2003 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
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