WEDNESDAY'S LETTERS: David Gregory's Heated Exchange With Tony Snow, Tom Mohr and Winning Online

By: E&P Staff In today's letters, a reader responds to Tom Mohr's article about how newspapers can start "winning" online, others take issue with NBC's David Gregory for his sharp exchange with White House Press Secretary Tony Snow.


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The Struggle to Get Ahead Online

Your article "Winning Online" addressed many issues that I see brick & mortar businesses confronted with when moving online. Looking at your Web site, it also seems that you practice what you preach. Filling out endless registration forms to get spam -- having to 'opt-in' for reading a short article (like on prominent news sites) -- was absent. RSS feeds are there. Good.

However, concerning the article, what I didn't see in the article was the "WHY?". Why are consumers going to other Web sites instead of newspaper websites?

Personally, I think a core issue here is trust. Consider this: If Reuters publishes photoshopped war photos from the Middle East and Fox News is Bush's personal propaganda machine, why then should I trust these charming media conglomerates even a dent more about journalistic integrity and unbiased reporting than someone with an account on blogger.com?

I consciously choose not to read newspapers any more because I am sick and tired of their spin, propaganda, and negative reporting. That your website doesn't belong to that category was clear after browsing for a while. The article on Barbara Bush's Katrina comment had balls, too. My news comes in RSS feeds from sources I personally trust based on their journalistic quality. And if I am really interested in a topic, there's search engines. ...

While the business and industry analysis in Tom's article is quite astute, news media rise and fall with their credibility. Traditional media in general, print or, even worse, TV, have zero credibility for me at the moment. And if I look around in my circle of friends, I'm not alone with this view.

Chris Scheible


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Gregory and Snow

David Gregory ... regurgitates Dem talking points all of the time and acts like a spoiled child. He is so typical of the mainstream media and is a prime example of why I get my news from cable TV and the internet.

Len Schutz
Irving, Tex.



Tony Snow did not get into a "tussle" with a reporter. "Tussle" refers to a physical confrontation -- a scuffle. Accuracy, folks. That's still important, even in journalism's declining state of affairs.

Tom Preston



David Gregory, like most people trying to hide their real agendas, simply got mad when he was caught by a very observant and articulate Tony Snow. To object to "finger pointing" and display a "you take that back" attitude seems somewhat childish to me and indicates an absence of any real comeback ideas of substance.

Tony is the best thing that ever happened to the White House Press Corps -- a group that represents both the Democratic and the terrorist talking points at their every opportunity. And, by the way, it is amazing to me how similar these two sets of points are getting to be.

George Hauser
Sugar Grove, Ill.



Tony Snow should know by now that with all the snotty, so-called
journalists who will push ANY agenda to undermine our President he was bound to get into a tiff sooner or later . No one can take the lies of
such as David Gregory for very long without speaking up . One advantage that the average citizen has over Tony Snow is that we can turn off NBC and Gregory.

C. Van Alstyne
Fulton , N.Y.



I do find Mr. Gregory very rude and find the way he "questions" our president and his press secretary combative. His appearances on political programs such as Chris Mathews' "Hardball", make his personal opinions very evident and obvious in his questioning. He wants it both ways: he wants to be a reporter, yet wants to be free to give his opinion. His opinion should be left at home. If he cannot do this, he should apply as a commentator.

Don Wright
St. Louis, Mo.