Letters to the Editor
janatallow
Published Letters: 10 Editor's Choice: 2
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No more late night news for me
[Read the article: Brown out]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I am one of Aaron Brown's faithful viewers who right now is not feeling silent rage, merely sadness. As of yesterday, I won't be depending on Aaron to end my news day and certainly won't be watching CNN during his time slot. Like other news junkies have commented, I won't be boycotting CNN, and I've come to admire Anderson Cooper as a reporter, but Anderson is much too hyper for my taste at 10pm or later. CNN has let go one of its best.
Since first seeing Aaron Brown on ABC's overnight newscast, I've been a big fan, admiring his droll wit and intelligence. As anchor of News Night, he brought to the day's news a context all too often missing during original reporting during the day, a literary writing style and a curiosity enough like mine that he asked questions I wanted answers to. And more often than not, he wouldn't let interviewees avoid answering without a challenge, a rare quality in today's journalists. Actually, I think guests actively enjoyed being on his show because he asked probing and substantive questions related to their reason for being there rather than silly gossipy, or breathless "how did it make you feel," questions.
CNN also will suffer for the loss of Aaron Brown's gravitas/personal sources, which I'm surprised Mr. Speer sought to question. What more does one need than a long, distinguished career to establish credibility and connections? CNN's coverage of the goings on in the Bush Administration already is so weak since Judy Woodruff left. I've started watching a lot more MSNBC because the coverage there is so much better informed.
For me and his legion of fans, I hope that some other television news outlet very soon finds a place for Aaron Brown's style and quality of journalism. Learning about what's happening and how it may affect our world is stimulating in itself and is Aaron Brown gives us.
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Lori's elegy
[Read the article: Elegy for Aaron Brown]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You really captured the characteristics and tone that make Aaron Brown such a great newsman. Sadly, your description of the pain of his pairing with Cooper was painfully accurate. I was going to disagree only with your calling him "weird," because one of the things I liked best about watching News Night was that at the end of a news day, Aaron always seemed to ask the questions I had. Then I realized that I consider myself somewhat weird and often find weirdness an interesting and endearing quality in others.
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Christiane Amanpour is my top candidate
[Read the article: Katie Couric grabs her gravitas]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Christiane Amanpour is my top candidate for network anchor, but if Katie Couric is selected, she'll prove her graviatas, or not. Elizabeth Vargas is making the case for women too, even if -- as is too often the case -- her chance to prove herself arrived by accident. Also, although I haven't been following the news anchor wars closely, it seems that Vargas' pregnancy leave is covered more as an opportunity for the job to be taken away from her -- rather than as evidence of her unreliability.
Back to Amanpour, I admire her as an intelligent, well-informed serious news journalist who is willing to ask tough questions and tell the truth, even when it is not politically correct. She always seems well prepared whether reporting the news or conducting an interview, is willing to go where the news is, and has demonstrated moral and physical courage. Still, I believe Couric too would show she has what it takes, if she accepts the job. She'll be given a hard time at first, but as with most women, she'll show she is more than capable and has the requisite gravitas -- a word that can be attributed to a woman as easily as to a man.
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Thanks for your original article and CONGRATULATIONS!
[Read the article: Army pledges to investigate injured troop charge]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Congratulations on the results your reporting is already producing!!!!
Your article about sending injured troops to Iraq was so important, and I had been so distressed to see how little coverage it received in the mainstream media. I assumed it would require reporting by the msm for the Congress to take notice.
But it's a new day, and a few Democrats in important places in Congress proved that the recipients of the message, namely Democrats in the majority, are more important than the messenger. Even if GOP Senators and Members of Congress had read such an article in Salon just a few months ago, they would not have said a thing publicly. They have already demonstrated their cravenness in the way they either ignored or tried to deal quietly -- and ineffectively -- with the outrageously poor medical and bureacratic treatment received by far too many of our troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
The quick response by Democratic lawmakers to your reporting makes the GOP's lack of action look even more shameful.
Salon has always done such an outstanding job of covering important issues and developments. It is a thrill to see your investigative reporting produce such quick, if preliminary, results. Thank you, Mark Benjamin and Salon!