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Topic: Letters Sent to Romenesko
Date/Time: 4/24/2007 3:23:05 PM
Title: "Poorly written bit of vacuous nothingness"
Posted By: Jim Romenesko
 
From BOB BATEMAN: We have been at war for more than five complete years. Thousands have died and hundreds of thousands have "Seen the Elephant." Yet after all that time, and human experience, how does a piece of fluff with the title, "Laughter, Best Medicine in Iraq," appear on the FRONT PAGE, ABOVE THE FOLD, in an American newspaper? Excuse me, but are you kidding me? Even for the Washington Times, this must be marked as a pathetic lowpoint. When counterposed against the death of a real journalist, it seems almost sadly poetic. (The article is here. )

Aside from the total uselessness of this poorly written bit of vacuous nothingness, the reporter, and her editors are apparently still, after years of war, so ill-informed about the military that they cannot tell the difference between a Sergeant Major (an NCO) and a Major (an officer). Moreover, they cannot even be troubled to learn so much as the correct abbreviations for same. As I have learned from all of you here, a front-page, above the fold story gets edited by the top tier at any paper, so the editorial gaffe here is multiplied.

How can one trust anything military related, in a time of war no less, from a paper like this that cannot get the simple basic facts right, let alone on the front page of their product. (And aside from the horrid values judgement that let them put this article on the Front Page.) Whan placed in contrast to the loss America suffered with the death of a journalist who did know the difference, and would never have written such fluff, this is truly a sad moment. [Permalink]

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