Perhaps it’s war jitters. Readers are finding fault where none exists. Last Monday began a series of challenges to The San Diego Union-Tribune that intensified as the week wore on and nerves became more jangled.
On Monday, an outraged reader complained because, he said, The San Diego Union-Tribune had nothing about the death of a young woman who was run down by a bulldozer in Gaza while protesting Israeli operations. “I wonder how you’d feel if it was your child,” he wrote. “Your moral cowardice is astonishing.”
I responded with a brief e-mail: “You must have missed the three color photos and story on A-3 today.” Back came a gracious apology.
The following day, a caller complained because he did not see a story on the front page about statements by Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle who said President Bush had failed “miserably at diplomacy,” forcing the United States to go to war with Iraq.
I thought the story had appeared on A-3 and looked for it as the caller expressed his outrage over Daschle’s statements. He said Americans should be supporting the troops, not criticizing the president, while the nation was on the brink of war. We ended the conversation before I located the story on A-13 with a headline that stretched across the page and said: “Daschle says president failed ‘miserably at diplomacy.’”
Even if I had been able to point him to the story, I don’t think the reader would have been satisfied. His position was that the story should have been on the front page, which on that day was dominated by stories on the president’s ultimatum to Saddam Hussein. I think the Daschle story was appropriately placed on Page A-13, which contained the text of President Bush’s Monday night address to the nation.
On Wednesday, a reader complained that he had seen no story about a downtown demonstration during which protesters blocked rush-hour traffic and marched through Horton Plaza. Indeed, the newspaper carried a story, albeit one that was short and to the point. Again, I think the story was handled appropriately.
By Thursday, nerves were indeed frayed. A reader complained about the “large maps” of coalition positions in the Gulf area, calling them “highly inappropriate and irresponsible.” He accurately anticipated the Union-Tribune response that the information was readily available and in the public domain. “I really wonder if the Union-Tribune would have published similar maps and information for the impending D-Day landings on June 5, 1944,” he wrote.
Robert York, senior editor for visuals, assured him and another reader that the information came from publicly accessible military Web sites and that the newspaper is acutely aware that increased access also means increased responsibility. He noted that if the military believed any of the information would jeopardize operations or the men and women in the field, “they wouldn’t make it available for the world to see at the click of a button.”
Also on Thursday, a reader questioned the Union-Tribune’s version of the address President Bush delivered Wednesday. He thought he heard the president close his speech by saying: “Good night and may God continue to bless America.” Yet, he said, the Union-Tribune version said: “May God bless our country and all who defend her.”
“The difference is important to the discerning,” he wrote. “‘May God bless…’ expresses the humble hope that what is being done is accepted with His favor. But to say, ‘May God continue to bless…’ expresses the rather arrogant supposition that God has already blessed the president’s actions and the start of war. Did the Union-Tribune reporting try to soften this arrogance?”
It was a fascinating question. I knew the paper would not change the speech, but was the version obtained by the Union-Tribune inaccurate? I could find nothing to support the reader’s version of the ending. The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times and the White House Web site carried the same ending printed in the Union-Tribune.
The reader said he had found the version that agreed with his recollection on the CNN Web site. When I checked, I understood what had happened. The Web site carried the speech the president gave last Monday night. He ended that speech with: “Good night, and may God continue to bless America.”
When I explained the probable confusion to the reader, he thanked me for setting him straight.
The question I had the least problem answering came from a reader who sent me a series of photographs she was told were taken of the Columbia as it exploded in space. Why hadn’t the newspaper printed them, the reader asked. I had already seen the photos. They came to me in an e-mail from a friend who followed up with a chagrined apology, saying he had learned the photos were from the film, “Armageddon.”
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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.
