Ted Turner

The July 11 article on Ted Turner’s apology for the error made by his CNN-TV on the unverified nerve gas attack in Vietnam by U.S. forces demonstrates once again the willingness of the media to believe the worst about actions of our military people. When sincerity of Turner’s sorrow over the incident is examined it can be summed up in this quote: “Nothing has upset me as much in my whole life,” said Turner, who said the debacle was worse than his Atlanta Braves “losing to the Yankees in the World Series after being up by two games, the failure of two marriages, the death of my father. It’s the most horrible thing.”

A specter haunts the life of Turner and its name is failure.

The American people should give thought to the weaknesses in our financial/political system that provide paths to wealth and power for airheads like Ted and Jane Turner.

FRANCIS J. WARD

Port Hueneme

* It really didn’t take long for one of the media apologists to come up with excuses for the bogus CNN/Time story on poison gas use in Vietnam. Marvin Kalb’s sorry cop-out (Commentary, July 10) for CNN’s and Time’s continued anti-military crusade doesn’t fly. He says it’s not the media’s fault because the competition is so brutal, because the news business is now a 24-hour one, because TV anchors have become celebrities and because CNN was inaugurating a new series. So ignoring facts in a story makes you more competitive? Give me a break.

Since when is there any legitimate excuse for making up a story by ignoring facts just because some of the facts were contrary to the agenda being advanced? Kalb’s article highlights what many of us have known for some time--that the media think they shouldn’t be held to the same honesty standards as the rest of society.

ROBERT L. FRANZ

Placentia