TUESDAY'S LETTERS: Moyers, Haditha, Pulitzer for 'Collegiate Times?'

By: E&P Staff In today's letters, readers react to Joe Strupp's suggestion that Virginia Tech's student newspaper deserves special Pulitzer consideration, a thought on E&P's coverage of the massacre in Haditha, and a look ahead at Bill Moyers' expos? on the press in the runup to the Iraq War.

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Strupp Calls for Pulitzer Consideration for 'Collegiate Times'

I just read your article about the Collegiate Times, and I nearly came to tears. Thank you so much for putting into words all of the struggles and dedication the newspaper staff has gone through this past week. Regardless of whether the staff earns any formal recognition of its work, it is tremendously satisfying to see praise from professionals outside of college media

Kelly Furnas
Editorial Adviser, Collegiate Times



Your column in today's Editor & Publisher reduced me to tears, only a week after I watched all day as the grim news of a shooting at Virginia Tech turned into the "Massacre at Virginia Tech."

As a librarian, I know how to find stuff, and certainly the Internet has been a blessing (and a bane) in doing that. As a two-time alumna of Virginia Tech, what happened in Blacksburg has been intensely personal -- no one who is connected with VPI&SU will say less. Its geographic isolation always was something that implied that personal safety was a given -- hence "this couldn't possibly happen in Blacksburg."

My main connection to the story all week was through the Internet: the Collegiate Times, followed by other obvious sources (Roanoke Times, Washington Post, NY Times). The networks disgusted me, as apparently they did others. I found the Collegiate Times to be the most relevant, at least to someone who spent almost a decade there.

I agree with you that the Pulitzer Prize needs to look closely at the Collegiate Times for an award, even if it's a new or special category. Just because it has never been done before doesn't mean these young men and women and their incredible work should be ignored. Thank you so much for putting it in writing.

And don't let anyone call them kids. They demonstrated tremendous professionalism during nothing less than a time of terror. They are professionals and deserve to be accorded that respect.

Lucy Minogue Rowland
VPI BS '69, MS '73
(Editor-in-Chief of The Virginia Tech 1968-69, the predecessor of the Collegiate Times)



Good column on the student paper at Virginia Tech. I had been thinking the same thing. I can't remember a student paper scoring scoops like this on a major story -- and a very painful one at that. Thanks for giving the Pulitzer judges something to think about.

Mark Johnson
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel



Great piece, Joe, on the Collegiate Times. Their monumental feat last week stokes new hope for the future of our beleaguered profession.

Connie Schultz
Cleaveland Plain Dealer


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Haditha and the Media

Will the media ever reflect on its own desire to lynch the accused Haditha Marines?

Your article states that "Bargewell found no specific coverup".

Yet your concluding paragraph begins: "The coverup had continued even after the first press report."

Your bias leads you, once again, to lie in the service of your agenda.

David Allender
Bedford Hills, N.Y.

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Moyers, the Press, and Iraq

I enjoyed your piece on the upcoming Bill Moyers special, which airs on Wednesday.

I haven't seen it yet, which is a bit weird since it apparently includes a mention to some reporting I did about the time on MSNBC. I did a couple of interviews with a producer, but didn't know if anything would make the cut.

But apparently the special is getting some interest, since our site is getting hammered with traffic today. And it appears to be related to people looking for the original reports mentioned in this paragraph of yours: "Moyers resurrects a leaked NBC memo about [Phil] Donahue's firing that claimed he 'presents a difficult public face for NBC in a time of war. At the same time our competitors are waving the flag at every

As always, you did a great job with this.

Rick Ellis
AllYourTV.com