My letter to the writers of "President Regroups, Looks ahead"

[More Than A Feeling]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0601030235jan03,1,6185611.story?coll=chi-news-hed

The above article appeared in todays Tribune, and it was awful, so I let the writers know about it.

Dear Mr. Silva and Mr. Neikirk,

My family has subscribed to the Tribune since before I was born. When I was little, the first thing I did every morning was go out to the driveway to retrieve the Tribune and devour it. I have trusted your paper to report the news clearly and honestly.

That is why I was very disappointed to read your article named above. In it, you quote the president of the Urban Institute and a former Democratic pollster. Against them, you quote white house spokesman Trent Duffy, a director of AEI, an expert from the Heritage Foundation, Scott Reed (Republican Strategist), and Grover Norquist, of all people. In my opinion, cutting and pasting conservative press releases does not make for good journalism.

Also, you devote but one line to the president's illegal wiretapping without warrants, warrants he could have easily gotten after the taps, if the subjects had anything to do with terrorism. This scandal will dominate in the beginning of 2006, and voices are beginning to be heard calling for impeachment. To brush this off with one sentence is to fail to make clear to your readers the importance of the issues of the constitution and the president's claim of unmitigated presidential power involved.

I know that you care a great deal about this country, and that you take seriously the responsibility the media has to educate the citizenry. Please, expand your sources beyond the conservative noise machine, and take the president's wiretapping seriously. You will both look like visionaries if you do.

Sincerely,

Name Removed