Each week, The Put up runs a group of letters of readers’ grievances — mentioning grammatical errors, lacking protection and inconsistencies. These letters inform us what we did unsuitable and, sometimes, supply reward. Right here, we current this week’s Free for All letters.
The print version of the June 24 Sports activities part included loads of protection of the mediocre U.S. males’s nationwide soccer workforce, a WNBA basketball recreation between two out-of-town groups and several other pages of content material from the U.S. Olympic trials. However The Put up printed a mere three strains in regards to the Washington Spirit, at the moment the area’s winningest workforce, which additionally performed a recreation on Sunday.
With record-breaking crowds filling Audi Discipline, possibly the Spirit doesn’t want your protection to usher in followers. However, with rising stars reminiscent of Croix Bethune bringing a brand new vitality to the sport, possibly our native Nationwide Girls’s Soccer League franchise may entice extra readers to The Put up in the event you had been to report on the Spirit extra persistently.
The Girls’s PGA Championship is a serious event, very like the boys’s U.S. Open. Nevertheless it doesn’t appear value a lot to The Put up. The June 23 Sports activities Highlight: Golf, “Younger posts a 59 at Vacationers Championship,” targeted on a weekly PGA Tour occasion, whereas the Girls’s PGA Championship merited simply small point out within the Day in Sports activities part. After which to high it off, the leaderboard itemizing within the Scoreboard part mentioned that it contained the scores for the third spherical of play, regardless that it seems to listing the gamers’ performances in solely the primary two rounds.
Come on, give the ladies the respect they deserve. Golf has one of many greatest gender pay gaps in skilled sports activities. How about no less than recognizing ladies’s expertise once they play considered one of their majors, which takes as a lot of a psychological toll on them because it does the boys and is simply as important of an accomplishment.
I’m just a little behind on studying the paper. However, however, once I opened the June 9 paper, I used to be wanting ahead to an article on the entrance web page of the Sports activities part about Iga Swiatek successful the French Open and changing into simply the third girl within the Open period to win three straight French Open titles. However such an article didn’t seem on the part entrance, nor was it even previewed there. Appalled, I stored flipping the pages simply to seek out the story buried on Web page D10.
The following day, nonetheless, many of the Sports activities entrance web page was dominated by the article on Carlos Alcaraz successful the boys’s title within the French Open. Why is that? Why is a lady’s nice win buried on the tenth web page whereas a person’s is entrance and middle? Is it due to chauvinism? Obliviousness? Or am I lacking one thing else? Sports activities deserve the identical protection whatever the gender of the gamers.
Agnieszka Pukniel, Cheverly
Junk meals phrases are arduous to course of
I discover the present dialogue and warnings about “ultra-processed” meals complicated, and sadly Anahad O’Connor’s June 18 Consuming Lab column, “Processing can rob plant meals of advantages,” left me even additional at midnight. The place is the road between processed indirectly and “extremely” processed? How a lot do substances matter versus manipulation of the unique meals?
I just like the plant-based meat substitutes from Past Meals, and I’m prepared to consider they’re ultra-processed with a view to create such meat-like merchandise. How may it’s in any other case? The identical for these merchandise which are particularly designed to advertise consumption, reminiscent of many “junk” meals.
However the column mentions potato chips and fries as ultra-processed, whereas additionally saying {that a} listing of unfamiliar substances is a tip-off. Most good-quality chips comprise potatoes, oil and salt, and little else. They’re lower, fried, salted and packaged. How is that this ultra-processing? Since nobody is inclined to eat uncooked potatoes, it might appear that any preparation meets the definition that would come with these chips.
Breakfast cereals are a thriller, and I’m guessing that turning grains into flakes and different shapes is fairly severe processing. However is it “extremely,” and does it trigger cereals to be much less nutritious or someway dangerous? What about espresso and chocolate, which require quite a lot of manipulation from plant to finish product?
I might love an article that explains the parameters clearly, and lays out what sorts of processing matter and which have little impact, as an alternative of utilizing blanket terminology that’s poorly outlined and sometimes contradictory. If the science isn’t clear, say it isn’t clear and pass over the generalizations.
The June 23 obituary “Artist behind many notable inscriptions got here from stone-carving lineage” omitted an essential truth about John Everett Benson’s sensible profession. He carved the 2 dates “1959” and “1975” on the partitions of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the one letterings to be engraved by hand. A gentleman, he even invited me to climb the ladder and take a couple of faucets on the chisel so I may make a mark on historical past.
Robert W. Doubek, Washington
The author was a founder, government director and undertaking director of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.
The June 21 front-page article “In 1964, the Klan killed three younger activists and shocked the nation” overlooked an essential truth in regards to the homicide of three civil rights employees in Philadelphia, Miss. Mickey Schwerner and Andrew Goodman had been White however they had been additionally Jewish. Nowhere within the article is that side of their identification talked about.
Why is that this so essential? In at present’s world of falsehoods and faux information accompanied by an increase in antisemitism, it’s essential to protect in public reminiscence the wealthy historical past of Jewish civil rights advocacy. Outwardly, most American Jews may seem like White if judged solely by the colour of their pores and skin. However Jews usually are not White within the eyes of the antisemites on each the left and the suitable. To them, we’re “the opposite,” unacceptable and distrusted. The rise of antisemitism on faculty campuses gives solely the most recent instance of that truth.
The Jewish religion, and people of us who follow it, have at all times emphasised the significance of energetic pursuit of tikkun olam, making the world a greater place for all its folks. That’s the underlying motivation for our involvement on behalf of those that are marginalized in society. If the truth that Schwerner and Goodman had been Jewish is omitted, then the story is incomplete and newer generations of People won’t know or admire the sacrifices made by them and others.
This issues as a result of the growing isolation Jews really feel in America is due partially to the abandonment of us by these whom we supported and with whom we marched.
Robert F. Tropp, Silver Spring
Gone had been each hint of those
I used to be dissatisfied that the June 21 Type article “Swifties for Palestine” failed to say, even simply in passing, the 250 hostages taken by Hamas through the Oct. 7 assault. Although it’s cheap to ask questions in regards to the motives of some Israeli authorities officers for persevering with the battle, a main concern for the Israeli public is the return of each the remaining dwelling hostages and the our bodies of these killed in captivity. It must be a regular follow in any Put up article in regards to the battle to say the hostages together with the 1,200 folks killed on Oct. 7 and the 37,000 folks in Gaza who’ve been killed within the subsequent battle. Omitting the hostages is a dereliction of The Put up’s dedication to report the total fact.
Ethan Leifman, Washington
There’s excellent news! Why not share it?
After the current considerations about hunger in Gaza, it’s stunning to not see an article reporting the conclusions of the Famine Evaluation Committee, which had been printed in June. The FRC, which consists of 5 consultants on meals safety and vitamin, is a part of the Built-in Meals Safety Part Classification program, a world partnership shaped to investigate meals provide and assist governments and nongovernmental organizations make choices about vitamin and meals entry.
In March, the FRC projected imminent famine in northern Gaza by the tip of Might. This warning was extensively disseminated by information shops, together with The Put up. The June report concludes that on this area famine has been averted. That conclusion has not been lined in The Put up; it ought to obtain distinguished consideration to keep away from the looks of bias.
Sam Miles, Santa Monica, Calif.
Earlier than he was President Snow, Mr. Bennet and ‘Hawkeye’ Pierce
The June 21 front-page obituary for Donald Sutherland, “‘Form-shifty’ film stalwart did all of it,” talked about his obscure, lone look on the basic British spy sequence “The Avengers.” And what a mesmerizing flip it was with Sutherland, then 31, enjoying a mysterious founding father of a cult of killers in an Agatha Christie-like thriller, “The Superlative Seven.” It aired on ABC in April 1967, two months earlier than the Oscar-winning battle movie “The Soiled Dozen” ignited his profession.
Co-starring Charlotte Rampling, the episode was the primary time I ever noticed Sutherland carry out, and his work made me a fan for all times. Sutherland and Rampling, Diana Rigg and Patrick Macnee. It doesn’t get any higher than that.
Harvey Solomon, Takoma Park
Gen Z’s struggles reside hire free, however everyone seems to be having a troublesome time
I seen the chart printed with the June 23 front-page article “Financially, Gen Z could also be worse off than millennials” confirmed that for members of Gen Z, hire made up 19.8 p.c of their bills, in contrast with 6.8 p.c for all ages. I’m having a troublesome time getting my thoughts round that statistic, as a result of I don’t know anybody whose hire is so low — not across the D.C. space, no less than.
I’m a senior citizen dwelling in a low-to-moderate-income senior citizen constructing in Germantown, which is about 25 miles from the guts of D.C. My hire is 47 p.c of my revenue, and it has stayed round that proportion for the 11 years I’ve lived right here.
Please do away with junk pop-ups (for me!)
I can not overstate my displeasure with the “For You” popups that litter each web page of The Put up’s on-line expertise. They’re an annoyance at finest, and when I’m studying on my cellphone, they’re a screen-hogging obstacle to studying a narrative. I’ve clicked on sufficient rubbish in my day to develop tendinitis in my mousing hand, and I don’t want an additional “do away with this junk” click on to shut the “For You” field on each web page of each story that I learn. To me, this must be a studying expertise, not a web-based recreation.
Steve Ongley, Madison, Conn.
All that planning and plotting should be taxing
The headline on the June 22 information article “Democrats plotting tax hikes on the wealthy and firms” is the worst I’ve seen in The Put up. Dictionary.com defines a plot as “a secret plan or scheme to perform some objective, particularly a hostile, illegal, or evil objective.” There’s nothing secret in regards to the legislators’ plans, as evidenced by their on-the-record quotes and conferences. And there may be nothing hostile, illegal or evil about wanting the wealthy to pay their fair proportion of taxes. Why did The Put up not use the extra impartial “Democrats planning tax hikes”?
I feel The Put up precisely described the intentions of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in a June headline about Democratic tax coverage. The Oxford English Dictionary defines “plotting” as “secretly make plans to hold out an unlawful or dangerous motion.” I’m nonetheless ready for an open and trustworthy evaluation and dialogue of what every bracket’s fair proportion is. Who do you assume pays the price of elevated company taxes? Inflation brought on by Democratic insurance policies functioned as a stealth tax that considerably raised the prices for staples reminiscent of meals and gas for everybody. In the identical method and over time, company tax will increase are handed alongside to the customers of the businesses’ services. The wealthy are solely a really small proportion of that inhabitants and the least prone to be severely affected.
As Congress considers adjustments to the tax code and new tax insurance policies, lawmakers ought to take a lesson from the Hippocratic oath: First, do no hurt.
The Put up has run too many tales on shenanigans in The Put up’s larger administration which are of little curiosity to the bizarre reader. The Put up ought to run tales on what’s of curiosity to the reader.
As an addicted reader of the print version for nearly 50 years, I’ve some recommendations. The Put up ought to run extra native tales, at all times have no less than two of them on the entrance web page, and have extra native reporters. It ought to promote the paper domestically with contests, low cost gives in supermarkets and preteen boys going door to door. The Put up has no competitors for printed native information. It ought to carry again the lottery numbers and a quick inventory market abstract. This may improve print readership, native commercials and income.
The Put up ought to cut back the variety of lengthy tales lined by 4 reporters on matters of little curiosity to readers reminiscent of, to make up one instance, the results of local weather change on Indigenous tribes within the Amazon. This may get monetary savings. The Put up’s digital version faces two robust rivals within the Wall Avenue Journal and New York Instances. It ought to emphasize areas wherein The Put up is best. Actually, The Put up’s editorial and op-ed pages are a lot better than these of its rivals.
Charles Gordon, Gaithersburg
The Put up is to be recommended for its willingness to report on its management in a sequence of current articles inspecting allegations that William Lewis tried to squash a doubtlessly unfavorable story by NPR’s David Folkenflik and that then-incoming editor Robert Winnett had labored with a “thief” who used misleading strategies to acquire info. Nevertheless, The Put up’s reporting throughout these previous few weeks relating to the turmoil at its high has, sadly, been too rare and sometimes patchy, leaving readers like me to show to different newspapers and media shops for info relating to the swirling controversy.
In Might 2016, Jeff Bezos, The Put up’s proprietor and the founding father of Amazon, argued that to guard our democracy, newspapers “have an important function in ensuring that there’s mild” shed on even essentially the most highly effective folks and establishments. That view additionally applies to the newspapers themselves. Hidden agendas and different equally questionable actions undermine journalism’s credibility. For journalism to be of use in defending our democracy and different values, it should function within the mild of day.
Philippe Benoit, Washington
The June 17 information article “Future Put up editor tied to self-described ‘thief’” reported critically on some unsavory ties between Robert Winnett, who was on the time slated to grow to be government editor of The Put up, and John Ford, “a once-aspiring actor who” engaged in what is named “‘blagging’ — utilizing misrepresentation to dupe others into revealing confidential info.”
The article distanced The Put up from blagging: “At The Put up and different main American information organizations, the usage of misleading techniques in pursuit of stories tales violates core ethics insurance policies.” However apparently these core ethics insurance policies don’t forbid The Put up from publishing the fruits of actions that sound so much like blagging. The June 11 information article “Alito talked about political divide on alleged secret recording” relied on surreptitious recordings made by a “liberal documentary filmmaker” who posed as “a non secular conservative at a Supreme Courtroom Historic Society annual dinner on the excessive court docket in D.C.” and baited Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. and his spouse into making feedback she posted on social media.
Publishing the product of blagging incentivizes blagging. Blaggers don’t blag for their very own private leisure. What good is a code of ethics when there are many folks on the market prepared to make use of misleading techniques, and plenty of “main American information organizations” prepared, and even eager, to report the outcomes?
