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- LETTERS, Page 6Politics and Reporters
-
- The comments of outrage made by the Wall Street Journal
- when its long-time reporter A. Kent MacDougall revealed he had
- been a "closet socialist" distressed me (PRESS, Feb. 6).
- Considering the distinguished career MacDougall had with the
- paper, it was insulting to question his fitness as a journalism
- professor. The beginning of my education in journalism was under
- MacDougall. As in his reporting, his concerns were not with
- ideology but with accuracy and thoroughness. Reed Irvine of
- Accuracy in Media should embrace MacDougall's work as an example
- of the standard for which all reporters should aim.
-
- Daniel S. Levine Albany, Calif.
-
- The problem of bias in the media need not go beyond the
- "lesser" charge that MacDougall pleads guilty to. That is, "his
- beliefs merely influenced the types of stories he tried to
- pursue." But is that such a small thing? If MacDougall reported
- on issues that cast his beliefs in a favorable light, then his
- reporting was biased.
-
- J. Ward Moody, Assistant Professor Department of Physics
- Weber State College Ogden, Utah
-