War coverage continues to be the top issue with readers, for the second week.
At least a dozen more readers weighed in, mostly critical, on the March 25 decision to run a front-page photo of Iraqis celebrating on a downed U.S. helicopter, which was discussed in this column last week.
Another dozen objected to Monday’s front page photograph of an Iraqi girl trying to leave Basra, calling it an attempt to sway public opinion.
In addition, more than 40 readers voiced their concerns over last weekend’s coverage of two rallies on the same day: one supporting U.S. troops, the other rallying for peace.
Readers questioned why the Third Annual Csar Chvez March and Rally for Peace and Justice, which attracted 650 people, showed the crowd and was about three times longer than the Support America/Support our Troops Rally, which attracted more than 3,000.
Brian Muszynski, who sells software, counted the words: 165 for the pro-troops rally; 446 for the peace rally.
Richard L. Montgomery, who served two voluntary tours in Vietnam, said a “nice, big picture” of the pro-troops rally would have counterbalanced the image of the downed helicopter.
Liudyte Baker, whose brother is a Marine, said “it appears we’re not getting fair coverage” of troop support in Tucson.
Air Force veteran Jim Conklin of Arivaca said the Star gave more prominence to CD pirating in Taiwan (549 words on A2) than to a peaceful rally supporting U.S. troops (165 on A12).
Stay-at-home mom Beth Fedor said she was “tired of the press’ defeatist attitude.”
Retired teacher Susan Norman called troop rally coverage “sparse and slanted with inflammatory and erroneous information. The majority view isn’t getting into the press.”
Readers took particular issue with a sentence in the story that said a man with an anti-war sign “was beaten by the crowd” and refused to press charges.
Assistant Managing Editor Dennis Joyce said editors should have challenged that sentence. “It probably should have occurred to us to check back with organizers on this one fact. Why this one? Because it casts aspersions on a group and out of fairness they deserved a response.”
At the previous Friday’s news meeting, Joyce promised that a new format would ensure that the two rallies were presented in a fair and balanced manner. However, the message wasn’t fully communicated to the weekend crew, one of whom asked that the Reid Park rally story be cut by two-thirds, and another who complied.
“This mistake looks like bias in the eyes of readers,” Editor and Publisher Jane Amari told editors after readers’ comments were read aloud at Monday’s news meeting.
Managing Editor Bobbie Jo Buel gave this guidance to editors and decision makers:
* Select photos that show the news of the day, but also over the course of a week, represent all facets of the war.
* Use the “Taking a Stand/Community Action in a Time of War” formatted listing to report on local rallies to ensure fairness. This allows for consistent reporting of organizers, attendance and quotes from those attending.
* Find war stories that readers haven’t seen on television that day to run on inside pages.
* Compile and run “Lives Lost,” short stories and photos of U.S. servicemen and women killed in the war on Iraq.
* Create “War Briefs,” short stories that quickly cover developments that aren’t in the main story.
* Choose the lead war story last to make sure it has the latest news.
Speakers available
I’m available to talk to your group or find a colleague to be your meeting speaker. Last month I spoke to the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, Saguaro Business Club and Kiwanis Club of Rincon.
