LETTERS: Call to Cover Carroll, Praise for Mitchell's Hard Line on Soft Iraq Eds

By: An Open Letter to Journos

Dear Journalism Colleagues:

What can news people do locally or regionally to support efforts to free The Christian Science Monitor's Jill Carroll and two other kidnapped Iraqi reporters? I suggest that every wordsmith start his/her search for possible answers by reading Columnist James Carroll's thought-provoking op-ed piece, "Jill Carroll's ordeal," in the March 13 edition of The Boston Globe.

Columnist Carroll -- no relation to Jill, so far as I know -- poses 39 questions, many of which could be topics for locally written commentaries or sidebars with upcoming wire stories from Iraq. His conclusion:

"?What if constituents of every politician in Washington demanded to know what is being done to obtain Jill Carroll's release? ? We the American people have rarely felt so powerless. But today, what if we put a single human face on these vast problems? This column became a litany of questions, but finally there are only two questions: How would we be organizing our lives on her behalf if Jill Carroll were our sister and our daughter? But isn't that exactly who she is?"

As 50-year toilers for newspapers and various news and feature syndicates, my wife, Mary Ellen Corbett, and I get mental images of one of our seven granddaughters smiling bravely back at us every time Jill Carroll's face appears on CNN. Like Columnist Carroll, we felt powerless -- until his column prompted this open letter.

If you feel your newspaper's coverage of Jill Carroll needs a local peg, try perusing the heartwarming reader letters and updates posted on Jill's behalf since her Jan. 7 kidnapping at www.csmonitor.com.

At this writing (March 17), a quick tally shows nearly 200 excerpts from thousands of e-mails from Monitor readers in 40 states and Canada, as well as from 22 locales overseas: Belfast, Turkey, Baghdad, Spain, Egypt, Beijing, Pakistan, Prague, India, Havana, London, Germany, Australia, Casablanca, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, Thailand, Bosnia, France, Ghana, and South Africa.

A surprising number of e-mails are from calm and compassionate Monitor readers who identify themselves as Muslim or Arab-American. The latter voices are in sharp contrast to the violent images of Islam projected by televised coverage of rioting that followed Danish publication of cartoons satirizing the prophet Muhammad.

Many csmonitor.com postings tell of ongoing local college campus and prayer-support group meetings that would be of interest to community newspaper readers. For word about other possible group activities, try contacting faith-based organizations of all denominations in your community.

And how about checking local high school and college journalism teachers? An exciting realization is that once Jill is safely reunited with her family, their stories appear certain to inspire teens and young adults to become more interested in world affairs, or even to explore journalism careers. Among my favorite csmonitor.com letters is a posting under the headline, "The impact of Jill's work," from a teen reader in Black River Falls, Wis.:

"?Before Jan. 14, I didn't know who (Jill Carroll) was. But ever since, I've thought about her every day because ... she changed how I look at other people. She taught me to put myself in other people's shoes, who don't have the same rights and privileges I do. I think if she can change a 15-year-old who hardly took a second to think about how bad the war is affecting the Iraqi people, she can change other people. She has become my role model."

In the interest of full disclosure: My open letter today is submitted as Mary Ellen's and my idea as to how we might help in the effort to free Jill Carroll; I no longer have an association The Christian Science Monitor. If your newspaper or Web site publishes any Jill Carroll follow-up item, I'd be grateful for e-links and two sets of tear sheets, one of which would be forwarded to the Monitor for Jill and her family. My e-mail is lew@saveourstories.com, and the postal address is 1817 Main St., Silver City, NM 88061.

Thank you!
Lew Little

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Praise for Outing

Just wanted to write to say what a strong article this was (Steve Outing's Stop the Presses, March 20, 2006).

Balanced with lots of good info for new and old media alike. Looking
forward to seeing what you are doing with the enthusiast group.

Best,
Martin Green
SVP Community
CNET Networks, Inc.
marting@cnet.com

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Down the Rabbit Hole

To the Editors:

Good article by Mr. Lipscomb. My guess is that the missing elements in the file are in the same place where Sandy Berger stashed those papers concerning the Clinton Administration's behavior toward Al Qaeda that Berger took out of the National Archives -- namely, down the mainstream media's memory hole.

Mark Richard
Columbus, Ohio

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America the Pathetic

Hey,

Thanks for the great article. "On 3rd Anniversary: Editorials Dither While Iraq Burns." Brilliant!!

Why has America become so apathetic?

Sincerely
David Straiton

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Keep On Keepin' On

This is the first time I've ever written to Editor & Publisher.

I thank you for your courageous review of the spineless editorializing of our nation's major daily newspapers on the third anniversary of the Iraq Debacle.

I guess that -- despite the Bush Administration's plunge into what seem to be the unrecoverable depths of unpopularity -- you are already having a good deal of calumny heaped upon you for having written it.

But you seem to have the necessary gumption and social conscience to "keep on keepin' on" on this subject.

This essay is a classic and I will send it to all my politically interested friends.

Best
Louis B. Massano