Commemorations Without the Ink

It is often what is not in The Post -- or what is just barely there -- that upsets readers. Even in a time of shrinking Post resources, readers expect what they believe is important to appear in the newspaper.

In the past couple of weeks, readers bemoaned that there was no mention of the 64th anniversary of D-Day on June 6, that a Medal of Honor ceremony was dealt with only briefly and that there was little mention of a June 1 event on the Mall celebrating the 60th anniversary of Israel's founding.

Style on the Go gave a prominent spot to the Israel event on May 30, but the only coverage June 2 was a small picture (about 5 3/4 by 3 inches) on Page B3 of the Metro section, showing people dancing to folk music; the caption mentioned entertainment and exhibits.

Sarah Butler of Silver Spring called to complain: "It was a grand celebration with many people attending, a big crowd, but there was nothing in The Post about it. A couple of days later there was a little picture of three people. I think this is an oversight." I checked with several people who went; all said that there were thousands of people and that pavilions were packed.

Marcia Davis, the assistant city editor on duty, said the Israel celebration was listed on a story budget to cover only if a conflict occurred. There had been reports of a pro-Palestinian protest taking place. The reporter assigned to the story was pulled off to work on a follow-up story to a weekend of exceptional District street violence. Jacqueline Salmon, a religion reporter, went to the celebration but was busy with other stories. She said she was told not to write anything "unless there was conflict." She found none. Davis said she lobbied for a photographer to get to the Mall. The Metro front and Page 1 were locked in with other photos, and the picture ended up on B3.

The Post had done two earlier stories on the 60th anniversary -- one from Israel by Griff Witte that showed how differently Israelis and Arabs look at the founding of the state and another by religion reporter Michelle Boorstein about Israel and Jewish identity. Boorstein thought the Mall event "should have been covered. Absolutely. It was the biggest celebration in decades for the local Jewish community."

Davis said that "a sincere effort was made to cover the event, but it didn't work the way I would have liked." The Post doesn't cover many events on the Mall, but this should have gotten at least a bigger, better picture and a short story, since a reporter was there. Conflict is not the only thing that is newsworthy.

Several readers were upset that there was no coverage of the June 2 White House ceremony in which the Medal of Honor was awarded posthumously to 19-year-old Army Pfc. Ross McGinnis, who threw himself on a grenade to save the lives of his fellow soldiers in Iraq. There was one paragraph in the national news briefing and one sentence in a column.

Mark Moran of Annapolis: "This is only the fifth Medal of Honor awarded thus far as a result of combat action in our nation's two theaters of action, Iraq and Afghanistan. Thus, it is (and rightly should be) a 'big story' and worthy of significant coverage in the Washington Post."

The Post has written about McGinnis. His death and heroism led off and were a big part of a Jan. 2, 2007, story on how the Iraq war hasn't affected citizens who don't know anyone in the military. His funeral at Arlington National Cemetery also was covered. Both stories appeared more than a year before the medal announcement. "Our extensive coverage of Pfc. McGinnis's heroism was a factor" in the decision on how to cover the award, said Carlos Lozada, deputy national editor.

Medals of Honor are rare, and the ceremony deserved more than a paragraph or a sentence. This is the second time in my tenure The Post has failed to cover a Medal of Honor ceremony or even run a wire photo or story; it also reduced the previous recipient winner to a brief. I was glad washingtonpost.com had an AP story and photo of the ceremony. Arlington Cemetery officials let The Post know that McGinnis's gravestone would be changed to reflect the medal; a photo of the ceremony and of the friends he saved ran on June 5 on B3 of the Metro section.

D-Day is an emotional issue, and so is Dec. 7, the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941. For older readers, those dates deserve commemoration every year. Stan Eckles of the District called to say: "Given that kids today are ignorant today of history, geography and most other things and that the WWII Memorial just opened recently, I can't understand why The Post had nothing to commemorate that event." John Bouvier of Annapolis was more vehement: "This is totally unreasonable, irresponsible, and anti-American!"

D-Day didn't come up at the news meeting for the June 6 paper this year, I was told. That's not surprising. How long must a newspaper commemorate an event of historic proportions? Not forever. No one who lived through the Nov. 22, 1963, assassination of President John F. Kennedy will ever forget it, but The Post didn't have a story last Nov. 22, and no one complained to me.

Time erases significance, and our tendency is to remember anniversaries when they end in a zero or a five. Next year, on the 65th anniversary of D-Day, The Post probably will have a story.

It makes me wonder when will be the time, far away, when a Sept. 11 passes with only a brief -- or no -- mention.

Deborah Howell can be reached at 202-334-7582 or atombudsman@washpost.com.