[Vision2020] Lewiston Tribune Under Focus

[Ted Moffett]

All:

I was amazed and dismayed to read the Friday, Feb. 3, 2006 edition of the
Lewiston Morning Tribune, given the choices made regarding what deserves
front page focus, and what does not.  Four articles dominated the front
page:  one on wolves delisting, Bush seeking 120 billion more for wars,
Orofino teenagers, and something about a Lapwai man and Pres-to-Logs...

Then I was astonished to read on the left hand lower corner of page 3 a
small article, with a tiny headline, notifying us that 5 more US soldiers
had died in combat in Iraq in the past week.

I know that many Iraq war supporters think the US media focuses too much on
the negative news from Iraq, but does putting notice of the deaths in the
past week of 5 US soldiers, who gave their lives to defend us, deserve
nothing more than a tiny article with a tiny headline in the left hand lower
corner of page 3?

Have we become that callous to the horror of the war in Iraq, to the
ultimate sacrifices of our soldiers when they die in combat, that
Pres-to-Logs are a more important subject?

Or did the Tribune make a decision that the deaths of US soldiers in Iraq
are not the proper subject to best sell their newspaper at this time?  Has
coverage of the deaths of US soldiers in Iraq become so easily accepted that
they are not deemed newsworthy enough to be featured on the front page?

Am I wrong to suggest something is amiss here in the Tribune's coverage?
What am I overlooking or overemphasizing?

Ted Moffett
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