Once again the gremlins struck at the San Jose Mercury News and I was compelled to write a letter to the editor:
Dear Sir,
Headlines are an important element of newspaper articles but they should also reflect the facts explained in the body of the article. In an election campaign where one major party candidate is making the ethics of the other major candidate a key issue, this becomes even more important to ensure.
I cannot speak one way or the other to Gray Davis’s practices in this regard but even a simple reading of your front page, lead article leads to the simple conclusion that the Mercury News has sensationalized the situation regarding worker’s compensation back surgery coverage. Sure Michael Drobot’s companies, along with other companies who would benefit from the law, donated serious cash to Davis’s campaign. But so did Fireman’s Fund and at least a dozen other insurance companies who would have preferred the opposite result.
Face it, nearly every bill signed into law by the governor benefits someone financially while not signing would benefit a different group–and they all give money to politicians. Further, all bills have to be passed by a majority of both houses of the legislature, which means quite a few people have to be convinced of the merits, not just two. For better or worse, this is the system we have today. What would have been egregious, and worthy of a front page article, is if Davis had signed (and the legislature passed) a bill that gave financial benefit to a donor but no benefit to California residents. That’s clearly not the case here.
This reader thinks you owe Gray Davis, and Michael Drobot, a retraction and your editors need to be far more careful when writing front page headlines. And when selecting articles because on a close reading this one hardly seems worthy of newsprint.
Regards,
Bill Lazar
BillSaysThis 