Transcript
Panic Press
November 10, 2001
BROOKE GLADSTONE: In the weeks since September 11th our mailbox has filled with the same concerns we hear on the news and in the polls. Mostly they concern what we should and shouldn't be covering.
BOB GARFIELD:Elaine Martin from Seattle was provoked by a metaphor we used likening the coverage of war in its various stages to sports reporting. "So," she writes, "reporting on war is not unlike reporting on professional sports. No one on this side of the microphone truly believes that war is like football or any other game." She goes on: "Shallow essays like this one are part of the reason public trust in the media is lower than a snake's testicles." Thank you, Elaine.
BROOKE GLADSTONE:The idea that reporters' questions put soldiers at risk came up a lot in your letters. Our interview with a reporter who reads the body language of Pentagon officials moved Peter Lessuls [sp?] of Vermont to write: "After listening to David Martin, I think that reporters should only be allowed into news briefings. If the military bombs civilians and doesn't 'fess up or commits other breaches of faith, then I want to know. What units -where they are - their landing - their plans I can live without knowing."
BOB GARFIELD:After hearing Brooke remark on the paucity of reliable information from the government on anthrax and the absence of Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge in the early days of the crisis, Bill Dunning wrote from Allentown, Pa: "I, for one, hope the governor is focused on creating an effective government agency and not Ms. Gladstone's news deadlines."
Keep your letters coming and send them to onthemedia@wnyc.org. Don't forget to tell us where you're from and how to pronounce your name.