The former top commander of U.S. forces in Iraq called President Bush’s war plan “catastrophically flawed” and “unrealistically optimistic,” along with several other strong condemnations. However, many readers thought that The New York Times wire story that The Star ran made a curious omission.
“I am looking at a transcript on a blog of the whole thing,” one caller said Monday. “You can agree or disagree with what he said about the administration, and I call myself a critic of the war on this one. But I’m curious about why your paper didn’t even mention the whole first part of his speech, which was about the press. He’s really as down on the media as he is on Bush.”
I tracked down a copy of Sanchez’s speech, and I was surprised at what I read. Although he named a few reporters whose work he considers exemplary, including McClatchy columnist Joseph Galloway (formerly a senior military correspondent for Knight Ridder), Sanchez took journalists covering Iraq to task quite vehemently.
He criticized reporters’ “willingness to be manipulated by high-level officials who leak stories” and said that some reports perpetuated “the corrosive partisan politics that is destroying our country and killing our service members who are at war.”
Strong stuff indeed. And it went on for more than 1,200 words.
I’m with the readers who find it troubling — and highly ironic — that about a third of Sanchez’s 3,400-word speech addressed shortcomings in the media directly, yet the story completely avoided any mention of those criticisms. The Star’s editors would have been wise to review the original transcript instead of relying solely on The Times’ version.
Advance notice needed
Readers often contact me to alert The Star to upcoming news events that might make for good coverage. That’s great, because a lot of interesting ideas that first crossed my desk have found their way to nice features in the paper.
Unfortunately, though, The Star often learns about plans far too late to be able to mobilize coverage. In the past week alone I received two notices about events that might have been fodder for a story or photograph — but the organizers didn’t reach out until less than two hours before their starting times.
The newsroom always needs advance notice of any occasion or activity, preferably three weeks prior to the date. People from the Kansas City area can post their own press releases at KansasCity.com’s Press Release Central (http:// pressreleases.kcstar.com/).
The public can use this tool to search or browse hundreds of notifications that come straight from the horse’s mouth, and editors and reporters take advantage of it as well. The site also features tips for submitting releases under the heading “Want it published elsewhere?” including lots of e-mail addresses and fax numbers to get the message out to the newsroom.
Just remember that timing is important. Plan ahead and make your releases clear to maximize your chances of getting into the paper.
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