Letters to the Editor
This letter is associated with the following article:
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lolly
Lolly pleads that the writer had neither the time nor the military background to verify the story. When I took journalism back in high school, we were told that we don't put that stuff into print. We TAKE the time. We TALK to military commanders, we VERIFY our sources. Then, when the story gets to the editor, the editor makes sure that the reporter has done that. If he lies to his editor, he is fired and his name sent to every other paper in America. The paper apologizes to the readers and the editor offers to commit hara kiri (that's an exaggeration, of course).
You cannot plead that the job was beyond the reporter. If it was, he or she should not have been a reporter.