FRIDAY'S LETTERS: Iraq Polls and the Press, Student News Reading

By: E&P Staff In todays letters, readers agree with Mitchell that the press is underplaying polls on withdrawal from Iraq, and two readers say an article about college students' newspaper habits is bogus.


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Praise for Greg Mitchell's "Polls, Pundits and Pols"

Congrats on having the courage to tell the truth on the Republicans? latest spin. They are great at fear-mongering and sloganeering, even as their mistakes, lies and true motives become clear. Glad to see someone with some backbone in the press. Keep up the good work!

Jim Barisano



As a former member of the Fourth Estate, I was pleased to see [Greg Mitchell's] column. I continue to be frustrated by the way my former sisters and brothers inside the Beltway pass along Karl Rove?s spin. Not surprised, given the overall tenor of the news coverage of this issue in particular and the administration in general, but still frustrated.

John Fairbanks
Montpelier, Vt.



I just wanted to say "right on". Unfortunately, what the public wants and what the public gets from our elected officials and the media are light years apart. Most Americans, who have been watching the horror that is Iraq unravelling day by day, are quite certain that the time has come to save our remaining troops from what seems to be a no-win situation. ... So, the polls are correct; the media is enabling this war by their sloppy and inaccurate reporting. They could end this war quicker than anyone else, but they are held captive by their employers and fear job loss would result. Those who really support the troops want them brought home ASAP.

Sue Brown
Connecticut



I am a veteran of the Korean war. The American people are going to have to come together and revolt against these three television networks. Americans are being dictated to by that dictator George W. Bush, and he is a dictator. He does whatever he pleases and these republican news networks only say what he wants them to say, because he controls them. The only reporter that ever says anything against Bush and his corrupt republican party is Lou Dobbs on CNN. These television news reporters -- especially the female reporters -- don't care about this country or the people in it nor do they care about the troops in Iraq or when they can come home. They don't care how many innocent Iraqi people get killed or tortured or murdered in cold blood. They only want to support Bush and his "stay the course" attitude and his lies about making progress. The only progress he is making is getting more and more people killed,wounded, and tortured. Bush has not even said a word about those two soldiers who were tortured and murdered. What a low class American he is.

Thomas Jelf
Lexington, Ky.



Thanks for [Greg Mitchell's] reasoned, and truthful, article on regarding public support for troop withdrawals from Iraq. These must be the same people who like to state that George W. Bush is a popular president, despite his low poll numbers. But on the same subject of troop withdrawal, another couple of facts that people are overlooking is that a recent poll showed that 80% of the Iraqi people themselves want us to leave their country (despite Bush's assertions that they are wondering if we're going to "keep our word", "lose our will", "not complete the mission", etc., etc.), and Iraqi leaders have in fact asked us to set a timetable for a withdrawal. ...

Gabriel Morris
Portland, Ore.



Excellent post, and something that the Big Boys either do not agree with -- or refuse to give credence to. I would like to say one thing about all this " the dems don't have a plan" bull: I truly believe that it is enough this election cycle, and the next, to just plain despise what Bush and every one of his enablers have done to our country. This is a most powerful feeling, and it exists, down to the bones, in every state of the union. Do not disregard the pure derision that so many of us feel for the Little Emperor and his butt-kissing sycophants. One helluva lot of my fellow vets even feel this way, as we see how the troops are being used as so much cannon fodder - while at the same time decreasing vet's benefits, including health care.

We want our country back -- big time. I think that this goes under the radar, but will determine the next two election outcomes.

Gary Van Ess
Green Bay, Wis.


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College Students Article 'Bogus'?

The article about college students reading the newspaper is meaningless -- at least in terms of the real world or metropolitan newspapers that are sold by subscription or single copies. My experience with college papers has been that they're free. I think metropolitan papers would get read, too, if they were free. But when one paper is free and the other isn't, there's no way to compare them.

Also there's the more narrow focus of a campus paper that makes it pertinent to the students' lives in a way that more general coverage isn't. If there were a newspaper that deals with my specific neighborhood and people I'm likely to know personally, that's the one I'm going to read if it's coveniently available in the areas where I go about my typical day -- especially if it's free.

Where I live (a town of about 300,000) there's a pay-to-read paper with declining circulation -- then there are two free papers. The free ones are the ones I see people reading when I'm in a restaurant and at the office.

Patricia Randolph



That was bogus, biased research about college newspaper reading. It does not square with reality. Researchers at Gannett, Cox, Tribune, McClatchy, etc. must be laughing while they try to figure out where the young readers went and how to get them to pick up free papers the companies are now publishing, having given up on them buying their paid dailies. Look at the piles of free college newpapers on college campuses that students walk past uninterested in picking up a copy. Walk through student unions and watch the students not reading their college newspapers. Bring up in a journalism class an article that appeared in that day's college newspaper and watch the kids shake their heads. Newspaper stocks have lost 40 percent of their worth in the past two years. Obviously stock analysts and stock buyers are unaware that college students are enthralled with their college newspaper and just can't wait to graduate to buy a traditional daily every day. What a hoot!

John K. Hartman
Professor of Journalism
Central Michigan University