The Public’s Right to Know

We, the people, do have the right to know what’s going on as in the case of the Persian Gulf War when, as you say, news coverage was manipulated and controlled by “President Bush’s Pentagon.” No doubt about that.

But, I believe that during a crisis The Times actually encourages manipulation and distortion when it fills most of the main parts of each and every issue of the paper day in and day out (sometimes for weeks) with little else but the big story, amounting to saturation as bad as TV’s CNN or the MacNeil-Lehrer Report.

Of course, it’s important to know what’s happening during any major confrontation, but not to the point of riveting almost all attention on one area, relegating all other news to back pages and/or trivializing other world and domestic matters that need your constant surveillance and wide coverage.

Yes, we do have the right to know, and therefore you do need to practice more consistently what you preach: Cast a bright light everywhere. (Between crises, I think you do a good job of that.)

MARJORIE BRUNK-FIELD

Manhattan Beach