Fair Press?
To the Editors:
Over the years, I have come to think of the press as a puppeteer who wants to control every facet of our lives. Your article "Journalism Under Fire" [Dec. 12] confirms my opinion. Serve us. Do not rule us. Martha G. Huey
Atlanta
I have never seen any group so bitter and hostile as the television newscasters who were denied the right, which they consider constitutional and God-given, to cover the Grenada invasion. These are the same individuals who trampled the rights and privacy of others by engaging in the unbelievably tasteless pursuit of families awaiting news of loved ones in the Beirut suicide bombing. The press serves a valuable function, but it has built too lofty a pedestal on which to display it.
Howard F. Bowles Jr.
Newtown, Conn.
Sure, the press has its faults. But God help us if the press, the only watchdog we have on the Goverment and other institutions, ever loses its freedom.
Frank K. Seifert
Minneapolis
The American people will continue to be suspicious of the press until it becomes a nonprofit and independent public corporation. In our country no industry should have such awesome power and at the same time be protected by the First Amendment.
Edward J. Powers
Fort Myers, Fla.
Conservative critics who say that the press is biased toward the left show how isolated we are from the rest of the world. Of the 1,700 daily newspapers in the U.S., name a single one that has the slightest doubts about the divinity of capitalism.
Abbie Hoffman
New York City
Why were none of TIME'S excesses reported? Physician, heal thyself.
Mark Johnson
New York City
A free press is absolutely essential, but the flap over Grenada shows that spoiled brats represent it.
Arthur H. Hanson
Stockton, Calif.
If journalism is under fire, then TIME'S shoddy reporting of one episode with which I have some familiarity merits further fire from the public.
Over a picture of me interviewing General William Westmoreland, you write, "Fairness can be sacrificed when reporters go into a story with a preconceived thesis." Yes, it can. But fairness will not be sacrificed if that thesis is tested. And we did test it. When CBS News went into research for The Uncounted Enemy: A Viet Nam Deception, we talked with over 100 different sources. Many of them substantiated the charges of "cooking the books" by Military Assistance Command intelligence officers in Viet Nam during 1967 and 1968. Some did not. Both sides of that research were taken into account during the reporting, filming and assembling of the documentary.
Strangely, you failed to report that CBS News stands by the substance of the broadcast. And though your reporter had been briefed by me and others about material proving the thrust of the broadcast, you failed to report any of it. I look forward to the day, after the litigation is over, when Americans who did not see the broadcast the first time around will have the opportunity to view it and determine for themselves whether charges of corrupt intelligence practices leveled not by us, but by former high-ranking intelligence officers from the military and the CIA, were or were not accurate.
Mike Wallace
CBS News, 60 Minutes
New York City
I read with dismay the comment by Barbara Walters. She says, "The news media in general are liberal. If you want to be a reporter, you are going to see poverty and misery, and you have to be involved in the human condition." Walters' premise is that only a liberal cares about those in dire straits or has the answer to the problem. How untrue. How unfair. How naive. How typical.
Delmar G. Esau
Sebastopol, Calif.
Mayor Hatcher of Gary has the right to repeat his litany of complaints about his home-town newspaper. He and TIME ought to make sure his complaints are factual before printing them. Unfortunately, Hatcher's two examples of the Post-Tribune's "unfairness" to him are false. He says the paper "never even wrote the story" about a study of municipal fiscal policy where Gary came out No. 1. The Post-Tribune did publish two stories. Hatcher also complains, "I was just re-elected with 90% of the vote. After the election the Post-Tribune wrote in an editorial: 'There is no consensus on his leadership among the people of Gary.' " Yes, Hatcher was re-elected in November with a huge majority, but the Republicans did not field a candidate. The real election was the earlier Democratic primary, which Hatcher won with only 53.3% of the vote.
James G. Driscoll, Editor
Post-Tribune
Gary, Ind.
The American people have never forgiven the press for Watergate--not because the press caused the situation, but because journalists reveled in it. Former President Nixon may have sealed his own fate, but the pursuit of him by the press was almost too cruel to witness. It was like dogs cornering a wounded hare.
Gail Funaro
Cerritos, Calif.
A free press will make mistakes. That is its freedom. It is the public's duty to evaluate the information. I hope we will never read that our President is suffering his eighth week of a severe cold.
Edward A. Espinoza
Carmel, Calif.
Part of my job as a small-town newspaper editor is to field complaints, many of which are similar to those noted in your story. I find that the most difficult thing is to narrow the objections down to specifics. Plenty of people tell us what we should not do, but few let us know what they want of us.
Thomas W. Pantera, Editor
Cumberland Advocate
Cumberland, Wis.
Yes, I am rude, accusatory and cynical. I have been accused of being unpatriotic, anti-Israeli, anti-Arab and anti-American. I meddle in politics, harass illegal businesses and cause other untold difficulties for governments. Some say I am arrogant and self-righteous. I am glad. That is what makes good reporters.
David Browde
WNEW-TV
New York City
During my 16 years as the public affairs officer for a U.S. agency in Europe, I was never misquoted. However, it is my observation that deadlines often assume more importance than the need to get complete information. Too often, interviews resemble inquisitions, and cute phrases take precedence over hard facts. I have marveled at how different a story turns out after it is rewritten from the wire-service account, even when the quotes remain absolutely correct.
Allen Dale Olson
Karlsruhe, West Germany
Americans get what they thirst for: stories of violence and war. The problem is not the press but the human condition.
John Bunch
New York City
Irresponsible editors and smug television anchors brought distrust of the press the old-fashioned way. They earned it.
Alain Wood-Prince
Lake Forest, Ill.
Cheer up, TIME. You are not one-half as bad as television.
Miriam S. Monroe
Harrison; Me.
The most startling revelation is the number of people who support censorship. A free press is anathema to Communism, fascism, Nazism and, apparently, America's conservatives.
Alexander F. Livingstone
Franklin, N.H.
When publishers adopt as their credo "Is this fair?" rather than "Will this sell?" reporters will quickly follow suit.
Jim Austin
Sterling, Ill.
Pay no attention to the carpers who say that the press is unpatriotic or should support the President's policies. These complainers would settle for a government without a strong press or without any press. There is a name for that kind of government, and it ain't democracy.
Charles Curry
Hubbard, Ohio
The news media are too quick to be "Monday-morning quarterbacks." If television commentators know all the right answers and can so quickly assess every new development, why are they not running the country?
Chester E. Morrison
Port Charlotte, Fla.
Many people do not realize that human rights cannot be maintained without freedom of the press. Criticize our press but do not crush it, for then all is lost.
Merle Martin
Wooster, Ohio
The criticism of the press is due in large measure to an ever increasing torrent of unwelcome news borne by a messenger that is perceived to be officious. It is frightening to see an insecure citizenry seek refuge from this bad news by surrendering its freedoms, particularly the right to a free press, which so many have sacrificed their lives to preserve.
Colin Languedoc
New York City
Part of the problem is that some journalists force themselves on unsuspecting or helpless people. Before questions are asked, maybe a statement should be read: "You have the right not to respond. If you choose to respond, anything you say can be used by the news. You have the right to terminate the interview at any time."
John B. Prior
Plainview, Texas
Sorry, but this television journalist will not be scrambling aboard the "soul searchers' " wagon. Certainly we have our faults, but we are striving to correct them. The major problem in journalism today is not our alleged poor performance. It is that most Americans do not believe the press should be free to print and broadcast things that upset them.
John W. Whelan Jr.
Evanston, Ill.
I will take Dan Rather's version of the facts over Ronald Reagan's any day.
Scott Tucker
Seattle
Considering that you are viewing the press from the inside, TIME handled the subject honestly. Most journalists are sincere and do a good job of making Americans the best-informed people. The media's sins of rudeness, arrogance, insensitivity and overzealousness are shared by the rest of us. But what distinguishes the press from the public is that journalists have power and they abuse it.
Euell Augustine
Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Vive la presse! People like things simple. But life is complex. When the press reports complexities, simple minds become annoyed. So, reporters, go on covering reality as you see it.
Eric W. Johnson
Philadelphia
Your story discussing the sins of the press called to mind a saying I once heard: "A journalist is someone who does not know what he is talking about but says it very well."
Todd Gibson
Marion, Iowa
Castrating Rapists
The three men who raped an 80-lb. woman [Dec. 12] are terrified by the judge's sentence of castration or prison. Commenting on their dilemma, a law professor says that castration may be no more cruel than incarceration because in prison "you can be gang raped." Gang rape is something these men seem to approve of. They committed it.
Charles D. Poe
Houston
Rape frequently is an act of sadistic rage resulting from drives far more complex than pure sexual desire. Quite often, sexual climax is not achieved during rape. Thus a castrated rapist might become even more sadistically enraged.
Thomas W, Dugdale, M.D.
Hartford, Conn.
Castration or prison prison? Why not both?
Kathryn Tankuns
Killington, Vt.
Dogless Peking
The meticulous extermination of dogs that is currently taking place in Peking [Dec. 12], reflects man's return to a savage state. Not only are we selfish, but we inflict cruelty upon the less-developed species. It is naive to expect men to coexist peacefully with one another when we permit such genocides to occur.
Alejandro Nusenovich
Worcester, Mass.
Your report on the government-sponsored drive to remove all dogs from Peking illustrates how public policy can run amuck. Research shows that humans can benefit from their relationship with animals. Banning dogs from China's capital could presage even more horrendous policies toward other "troublesome" populations like the nonproductive old and poor, the deformed, the retarded, the diseased and the unwanted young. More enlightened municipal approaches than Peking's current destruction of these poor canines are called for. We must preserve the respect and reverence for all life that are so inherently necessary for species survival, including our own.
John F. Kullberg, Executive Director
American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
New York City
Ivy Football
How could you mention Harvard football [Dec. 12] without printing the famous cheer, "Repel them! Repel them! Make them relinquish the ball"?
Warren E. Peterson
Seattle
Your report of the Harvard-Yale football game is obviously the product of an embittered Princetonian whose application was rejected by both Harvard and Yale.
William G. Wood, Yale '31
Princeton, N.J.
Writer Skow (Oberlin '53) was not rejected by Harvard or Yale. He never applied.