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• Wednesday, August 6, 2008 07:44 AM

  One more example of "journalism" in the Ivins case

  In the tenth graph of today's front page WaPo article with the sensationalized title "Tales of Addiction, Anxiety, Ranting", the authors state:

  Ivins starting working with Duley after a stint in rehabilitation about six months ago. It was not the first time, though, that people sensed that he had an addiction problem.

  What do they offer as proof for that assertion? That a co-worker, W. Russell Byrne, offered Ivins a beer on one occassion where Ivins had made a "rare appearance at a party."

  "He declined," Byrne recalled. "He said he had a family history of alcoholism."

  And if that isn't evidence enough, they offer this next paragraph as further proof:

  Gerry Andrews, who worked with Ivins at Fort Detrick for nine years and was the bacteriology division's chief from 2000 to 2003, said that it was rare for Ivins to join the other researchers after work for beer and that Ivins drank so little he was kidded about being a teetotaler.

  On the rare occasions that Ivins attended parties, he was known to turn down alcohol and he drank so little that he was kidded about being a teetotaler, therefore logic and good journalism leads one to the conclusion that "people sensed that (Ivins) had an addiction problem."

  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/05/AR2008080503747.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2008080503796&pos=

  —Reilly Read Reilly's other letters
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