shatto
09-13-2009, 08:59 PM
Watch Your Tea
An Email to the newspaper Editor
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From: shatto
Subject: Watch Your Tea
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 2009 17:29:46 -0700
If your best friend sprinkled poison in your tea, even by accident, it'd kill you.
If your worst enemy sprinkled sugar in your tea, what would happen? Nothing.
Moral: Watch your tea.
I wrote the Editor because the same writer, from the same news service has two different renditions of the same event, with two different conclusions or meanings.
I asked why.
Checking my tea, so to speak.
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From: shatto
To: letters@cctimes.com
Subject: Deadly ambush shows perils of deployment. 9-13-09.
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 2009 09:24:06 -0700
Mister Editor,
Which story, published by the author Jonathan S. Landay of McClatchy Newspapers, is the truth?
cc Times, first paragraph:
GANJGAL, Afghanistan - Manning a machine gun on a ridge overlooking this remote Afghan village, U.S Marine Cpl. Steven Norman tried desperately to lay down covering fire....
www.McClatchy.com, first paragraph:
GANJGAL, Afghanistan — We walked into a trap, a killing zone of relentless gunfire and rocket barrages from Afghan insurgents hidden in the mountainsides and in a fortress-like village where women and children were replenishing their ammunition.
cc Times:
"-was a consequence of the manpower and equipment shortages bequeathed by the Bush administration's failure to secure Afghanistan against a resurgence of the Taliban, al-Qaida and allied groups before turning to invade Iraq."
"The denial of heavy artillery fire to those trapped in Ganjgal also has roots in the Bush administration's decision to divert resources to Iraq and the resulting stress on the U.S military."
"New rules limiting the use of artillery imposed by U.S Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal after he took command of the U.S led international force in Afghanistan this summer...."
www.McClatchy.com:
U.S. commanders, citing new rules to avoid civilian casualties, rejected repeated calls to unleash artillery rounds at attackers dug into the slopes and tree lines — despite being told repeatedly that they weren't near the village.
So, I wonder;
*Did the imbedded reporter, Jonathan S. Landay write two stories, one for each side of the political spectrum? The stories are basically the same but each paragraph is different. As is the apparent message the reader is intended to get.
*Would he file two different versions of the same story?
*Why would Landay have two paragraphs blaming the results of the ambush on the Bush administration....followed by a paragraph absolving the Bush administration? To my thinking, 'this summer' occurred during the Obama administration.
Michael Shatto
Concord, California.
An Email to the newspaper Editor
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: shatto
Subject: Watch Your Tea
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 2009 17:29:46 -0700
If your best friend sprinkled poison in your tea, even by accident, it'd kill you.
If your worst enemy sprinkled sugar in your tea, what would happen? Nothing.
Moral: Watch your tea.
I wrote the Editor because the same writer, from the same news service has two different renditions of the same event, with two different conclusions or meanings.
I asked why.
Checking my tea, so to speak.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: shatto
To: letters@cctimes.com
Subject: Deadly ambush shows perils of deployment. 9-13-09.
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 2009 09:24:06 -0700
Mister Editor,
Which story, published by the author Jonathan S. Landay of McClatchy Newspapers, is the truth?
cc Times, first paragraph:
GANJGAL, Afghanistan - Manning a machine gun on a ridge overlooking this remote Afghan village, U.S Marine Cpl. Steven Norman tried desperately to lay down covering fire....
www.McClatchy.com, first paragraph:
GANJGAL, Afghanistan — We walked into a trap, a killing zone of relentless gunfire and rocket barrages from Afghan insurgents hidden in the mountainsides and in a fortress-like village where women and children were replenishing their ammunition.
cc Times:
"-was a consequence of the manpower and equipment shortages bequeathed by the Bush administration's failure to secure Afghanistan against a resurgence of the Taliban, al-Qaida and allied groups before turning to invade Iraq."
"The denial of heavy artillery fire to those trapped in Ganjgal also has roots in the Bush administration's decision to divert resources to Iraq and the resulting stress on the U.S military."
"New rules limiting the use of artillery imposed by U.S Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal after he took command of the U.S led international force in Afghanistan this summer...."
www.McClatchy.com:
U.S. commanders, citing new rules to avoid civilian casualties, rejected repeated calls to unleash artillery rounds at attackers dug into the slopes and tree lines — despite being told repeatedly that they weren't near the village.
So, I wonder;
*Did the imbedded reporter, Jonathan S. Landay write two stories, one for each side of the political spectrum? The stories are basically the same but each paragraph is different. As is the apparent message the reader is intended to get.
*Would he file two different versions of the same story?
*Why would Landay have two paragraphs blaming the results of the ambush on the Bush administration....followed by a paragraph absolving the Bush administration? To my thinking, 'this summer' occurred during the Obama administration.
Michael Shatto
Concord, California.