Counting on the News

David Shaw’s Nov. 18 article, “Media Under Public Barrage Over Content of War Coverage,” seems to suggest that Americans want even less information than we’re getting now. Don’t believe it. Portland Oregonian editor Sandra Mims Rowe is right: “Asking tough enough questions, examining inconsistencies, being suspicious of pat answers and evasions” is the most patriotic thing American journalists can do.

We are living in dangerous times. And the greatest danger, in my opinion, comes from a government that has used a horrific assault on American citizens to further a preexisting agenda of government secrecy, unaccountability and curtailment of civil liberties--all led by the man who has “joked” that his job would be easier if he were a dictator.

Milton Mayer wrote of the rise of fascism in Germany: “What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret” (“They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-35”). Don’t think it can’t happen here, because it is happening here. Only informed citizens can stop it. The media must keep asking questions and pressing for answers. History demands it, and the future requires it.

Karen J. Gould

Plymouth, Mich.

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News executives, like most corporate executives, are usually so far out of touch with the rest of us that when they do open their mouths and say something it sounds ridiculous. Yes, we have a right to know--to a point. When a TV news organization flashes a slightly out-of-focus, grainy, still photo of what is supposed to be a U.S. Special Forces soldier along with what appears to be Northern Alliance soldiers and then says, “It is believed that there are some Special Forces troops in Afghanistan but the Pentagon has neither confirmed or denied it,” then the media have gone too far. Put two and two together and what are we supposed to think? That soldier is ours. We’re not supposed to know what he’s doing right now. Because if we know, so does everyone else. Let’s find out after he’s done his job.

This isn’t the old days. The whole world has access to just about any TV channel and news outlet there is. Yes, they watch CNN in Afghanistan. We need to be extremely careful about how we report the news. Because there are people out there who mean us great harm, possibly terrorists, who are actually smarter than our news and corporate executives.

Darrell Rohman

Chino