Flack Jacket
I AM A LITTLE PUZZLED at why Jack Shafer so fervidly insists that I was of no help to him in his thinking about the New York Times‘s irresponsible coverage of Augusta National Golf Club (CORRESPONDENCE, June 21).
Bob Kohn wrote in “Bad Times” (May 24) that I had “steered information and planted ideas” with various critics, including Shafer. Well, that’s exactly right. On December 5, 2002, for instance, I sent a lengthy note to Shafer detailing how the Times had pre-ordained a story angle that was at odds with demonstrable facts, had distorted quotes, and ignored a primary source who said she was wronged by the paper. Shafer replied, “I’d be happy to hear the [source’s] complaints about the Times’s treatment of her…” and indeed he and I followed up with a phone call. A few days later, Shafer wrote me again to twice thank me and point out that another online critic had already begun using the information I was disseminating. Actually, three others had used the material by then. So, was Shafer uninterested or was he beat out of the starting gate by others?
In any event, more indication that I was having an impact came in still another note Shafer wrote me about a month later in which he said, “I think the bloggers have presented your case pretty well, don’t you?” Um, yes, Jack, I do. In a column he subsequently wrote, Shafer credited me as “Augusta National’s aggressive PR maven.”
The fact is that some critics were wholly receptive to my suggestions, others mildly interested, and some didn’t respond at all. But I was indeed circulating original material and ideas, exclusive sources, supporting background–all demonstrating or reiterating how substandard and ethically reckless the Times’s coverage was.
Jim McCarthy
Washington, DC
Radio Personality
I LOVED READING Andrew Ferguson’s story about the demise of classical music on NPR (“RadioSilence,”June 14), but was sorry to get confirmation of a trend I have noticed in recent years. Disappointed, though not surprised, because I have seen that audiences at symphony concerts, legitimate theaters, and operas have predominantly gray, white, and bald heads. Symphony orchestras have already folded in a number of cities. The long-term future for classical entertainment looks bleak.
There is another reason, I strongly suspect, that music has been replaced by news and talk on NPR. Based on years of listening to NPR’s Morning Edition, where the news reported and persons interviewed are almost always left-leaning, my conclusion is that NPR is doing its best to serve as an antidote to AM talk radio.
Bruce Tennant
Hilton Head, SC
Coalition of the Willing
IN NOEMIE EMERY’S “The Kerry-McCain Fantasy” (May 31), Emery marshals a comprehensive array of reasons why a John Kerry-John McCain ticket would be a mismatch that Democrats would quicky come to rue. But Emery’s whole edifice tips over if Kerry says to his fellow senator: “John, please understand, I am not asking you to switch parties, nor do I really want you to do so.”
Under those circumstances, the team of Kerry, the Democrat from Massachusetts, and McCain, the Republican from Arizona, could be hyped less as a “ticket” than as a “coalition,” something akin to the war cabinet David Lloyd George formed in December 1916, when Great Britain’s fortunes were at their lowest ebb. Link that world emergency to the current one, and the Democrats would be well positioned to make a compelling case for unseating President Bush.
Robert G. Wyeth
Homestead, PA
S-Mart Set
IN “STONEWALLS AND WAL-MART” (June 14), GeoffreyNorman worries about Wal-Mart’s expansion plans in Vermont and states, “The kind of commerce that Wal-Mart represents will change the state, no getting around that. The small business will go the way of the small farm.”
Curious at this claim, I checked out some data on the website of the Small Business Administration for states where Wal-Mart opened stores more recently. The data show that Geoffrey Norman’s fears about small businesses disappearing have no basis in fact.
In the mid-1990s, Wal-Mart opened stores in Alaska, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Washington, and Vermont. In every one of those states, one finds the number of small businesses increased from 1997 to 2002, and the number of people employed by small businesses rose from 1996 to 2000 (the most recent years for which data are available).
Wal-Mart has replaced Microsoft as the new target of those questioning the efficacy of free market capitalism. However, the next time one reads about the harm caused by the entry of Wal-Mart or any new player into a market, check if the data support the claim.
Stuart Anderson
Washington, DC
Legacy Admission
MAKE FUN of Grover all you want (PARODY, June 21), but “those in the know” know that each time they fly into Washington, D.C., they’re really landing at Reagan-Norquist.
Wlady Pleszczynski
Annandale, VA
