What's Happened to Journalistic Standards?

June 28, 2006

I can't imagine that anyone around here champions the First Amendment more than I do. But last Saturday, the Hickory Daily Record's editorial page was "over the line"--apparently for a lot of people besides me.

The editorial cartoon by the Atlanta Journal & Constitution's Mike Luckovic depicting the "USA" as a black-hooded cohort of "Al Qaeda," consulting "the manual" on how to torture prisoners, was just too

much. I was stunned to see your paper portray the American military in the same picture as a gang of rabid terrorist thugs, even if the twisted intent was somehow supposed to be "positive."

I'm sure Luckovic was trying to make a statement about how American society values each human life--we won't go into the country's abortion policies now--and makes every effort to treat captives with comparative

respect and decency. I got it, OK? But a lot of people apparently didn't get it, because they couldn't get past their anger at Luckovic's portrayal of the US military, especially in the wake of the terrorists' butchering of two GIs in Iraq a few days earlier.

I decided to write only after the FOURTH person since Saturday expressed these same sentiments to me--an outstanding citizen of Hickory for many years whom I met and became friends with some 28 years ago, a graduate of the US Naval Academy who was a career naval officer before embarking on a very successful business career.

I am really disappointed in the Hickory Daily Record for not exercising better editorial judgment. Even though you butcher my letters all the time, and your paper rarely acknowledges the conservative political philosophy of the great majority of people around here, and even though the willingness of our military to serve and die gives you the "freedom" to print what you do, you didn't offend me and you don't owe me an apology.

You do, however, owe an apology to both my sons, to the sons and daughters of thousands of other readers, and to my friend Bob Nichols--and to every veteran who's ever served this nation--for offending them! You, apparently, put about as much value on the lives of our military heroes as Al Qaeda does! The Fourth of July is next Tuesday, a great time for your apology to them!

What's happened to The Hickory Daily Record and organizations like the New York Times? Are you guys "journalists" first and "Americans" second? Do you ever stop to think that the ink you use to express such disrespect of the country you call home contains the blood of so many thousands of young Americans who died, in part, to give you that right by keeping you FREE? See why I rarely mention to anyone that I actually have a college degree in journalism? Frankly, I'm not that proud of it.

Have a nice day and enjoy the freedoms you have, brought to you courtesy of the U.S. military.