Journalistic Misdemeanors

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Here was a story about a tragic horror, and somebody at The Post thought that it had to begin with some color:

"Phillip Garrett was passing time outside a neighbor's Calvert County home, smoking a cigarette, when he noticed a girl in pigtails wandering on the street. Her pink nightgown was caked with mud, her small body covered in bruises" ["Md. Mother Jailed After Bodies of 2 Children Found in Freezer," front page, Sept. 30].

Ludicrous. This story required getting right into it: "A Maryland woman was arrested when two children . . . ."

Either live up to your fine national reputation or be a tabloid -- not both. This type of amateurism occurs too often in your paper, causing me to incur the increased cost of having to subscribe to the New York Times.

-- Peter Kaminsky

Rockville

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Is there some reason you can't provide the date of the crime at the beginning of the article? In the Sept. 25 Metro article "Suspects Sought in Reported Abduction," we learn at the start, "The call came in at 7:53 a.m."

But there was no hint as to the date of this incident until the fourth paragraph: "Investigators were questioning the 27-year-old manager, LaToya Booth, late yesterday." Even at that, the event could have occurred the day or days before.

I like to know at the top of the article whether I'm reading about something that happened yesterday, last week or last month.

-- Carol Radomski

Silver Spring

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The economy is certainly in trouble, and businesses are finding it necessary to cut staff, but shouldn't a major newspaper maintain some copy editing and proofreading standards?

From "Suspects Sought in Reported Abduction":

"Authorities described the suspects as two black men in their 20s, both wearing camouflage shirts and masks. One wore green pants, and the other wore sunglasses."

At least, the suspect wearing only a shirt, mask and sunglasses should be easily identifiable!

-- Barbara Farron

Springfield