Update to Milbank on Conyers Hearing

I should mention, as an update to the piece I did recently on WaPo's treatment of Rep. Conyers' Downing Street hearings, that the ombudsman agreed with many of us: it was shoddy reportage to assign a columnist and not also provide a reporter for the event.

There was a torrent of critical e-mails and calls about a Washington Sketch column on June 17 by Post columnist Dana Milbank that appeared in the news section and was about the unofficial hearing on Iraq held by Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) and other opponents of the war the day before. I thought it was a serious mistake for editors to assign a columnist to cover a news event. There are large numbers of people who oppose the war and care about what Conyers was trying to accomplish, and a reporter should have covered the event as news. If a columnist wants to write a separate piece with his take on it, that's fine. But it is not enough by itself.

Exactly. Sure turned around quick on the DSM from last week--Page A01 story on the day of Bush's Iraq speech. Interesting!

--TJ

Comments

[Ron Rutherford]

Is TJ on a roll with 2 posts?
TJ did you get my email on linkchecker?
I agree that the assignments may have been sloppy.
This artcicle by Ombudsman points out some other aspects of reporting in:
Almost every week, I get one, two or three calls or e-mails like this one from people upset about the way military losses are reported and presented.
I think their point is important because it goes to the question of whether the reality of the war in Iraq has become sanitized in the newspapers; there are almost no pictures of dead or wounded Americans, and very few stories about U.S. casualties make the front page or get a main headline.
I know this will be an unpopular position but...
I don't want this to be pounded in our heads at every possible chance. I can find out what the casualties are if I so desire. I don't want it plasted in a salacios manner on the front page. I got tired of McNeal-Lehrer News report having a moment of silence for each of the fallen heroes. Or Santa Barbara putting 1500 crosses on the beach.
Every death is a tragedy!
But what about these deaths:
Highway crashes claimed a total of 42,815 lives in 2002, up from 42,196 in 2001.Alcohol-related fatalities remained at 41 percent of the total with 17,419 deaths in 2002.
And Drugs and Doctors May be the Leading Cause of Death in U.S..
Doctors Are The 3rd Leading Cause of Death in the US, Causing 225,000 Deaths Every Year
And Every year over 232,090 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer, and about 30,350 die.
One death is a tragedy but a million is a statistic.
Just reporting deaths with no context or background leads to a myopic view of the world.