THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 9, 1994 TAG: 9410080026
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LYNN FEIGENBAUM
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
A necktie that's a symbol of the Confederacy . . . it's the kind of election story that reinforces the old truth-is-stranger-than-fiction mumblings - and polarizes politically sensitive readers.
Or maybe it's just that everyone is sensitive right now. I find readers are scrutinizing the newspapers' Senate race coverage as carefully as the press is scrutinizing the candidates.
Daily I hear from people who find inequity in our political coverage - in the story play, headlines, size and appearance of photos, even the adjectives used to describe the three U.S. Senate candidates.
Some readers are convinced the news slant is ``obviously supporting'' Chuck Robb, others that it ``virtually endorses'' Oliver North. Probably the one thing callers agree on is that Marshall Coleman is neglected.
``North is played up so much, you don't give the other candidates a chance,'' said a retired government teacher in Norfolk. ``Robb gets hardly anything. And poor what's-his-name is somewhere near the obits.''
Irving Koenig, a Virginia Beach retiree who admits he's ``100 percent pro-Robb,'' berated the newspaper for running a front-page story last weekend about a Stafford restaurant that caters to North followers, then burying a story on Vice President Al Gore campaigning for Robb in Roanoke.
``Where is the equality in your reporting?'' asked Koenig. ``That's the vice president of the United States.''
Conversely, James Donnelly of Virginia Beach took us to task for touting Clinton's stop in Northern Virginia, where he urged Democrats to ``stand up and fight'' for Robb's re-election. That same day, Monday, Gov. George Allen was here for a GOP fund-raiser.
Said Donnelly: ``A very unpopular President Clinton visits McLean, Va., and you put it on the front page. A very popular Gov. Allen visits Virginia Beach and you put it somewhere inside of the second section. I think that is backwards.''
I also heard from readers who complain of a ``kneejerk culture'' in the newspaper against North. And from folks like the Chesapeake woman who said we've slammed North enough - why not run some of Robb's ``dirty laundry''?
We got close to apparel, if not laundry, this week with the story Wednesday about Robb's tie, the one North said was a Confederate symbol. Again, the story split our readership.
Some thought it was a hoot and called just to thank us for running it. Others thought it was anything but funny - one reader saying it showed our obvious bias against North, another that we were taking North too seriously.
At a time like this, I regret that the newspaper doesn't have its own editorial cartoonist, someone who could cut through the rhetoric with a couple of well-drawn lines. No doubt if we did, there would be more calls accusing the newspaper of poking fun at this candidate or that.
Closest thing is probably the column Real Politik, and that too has managed to offend readers from all camps.
For example, Wednesday's column, ``Robb has audience begging for Gore,'' bothered a Virginia Beach woman. She didn't like the ``nasty opinions'' of the writer, especially the part about Linda Robb whispering in her husband's ear.
In past weeks, readers have accused the column of showing ``negativity and bias'' toward the North campaign, toward Hampden-Sydney College (where one of the debates took place) and even toward cigar smoking!
One thing's for sure: With a month to go before the polls open, I don't expect this to be the last I hear from readers about the election.
Yet again, military readers gave us a verbal keelhauling, this time because of a caption with last Sunday's story, ``Women aboard the Eisenhower.''
The photo showed a ``petty officer 1st class'' standing in the Eisenhower's refueling section. But callers were quick to point out that the petty officer was wearing a ``second-class crow.''
They also caught another blunder in the caption, which described a ``nearby wall'' being repainted.
``In the Navy, we don't have walls, we have bulkheads,'' said Cmdr. Michael Shumaker, executive officer of the destroyer-tender Shenandoah.
That wasn't the end of the problem. I ran a correction noting that the petty officer's ``rating'' was wrong. It's ``rate,'' said John F. Dow, a retired Navy man. ``Rating'' has to do with an occupational specialty such as storekeeper or quartermaster.
Aye aye, sir!
MEMO: Call the public editor at 446-2475, or send a computer message to
lynn(AT)infi.net. by CNB