Press coverage, update

I wasn’t the only one to write a letter complaining about the press coverage of the anti-war march. The letters were noticed; yesterday, the Washington Post’s Ombudsman, Deborah Howell, responded to the complaints:

Protest coverage routinely draws complaints, but objections to the story, headline and photos on the Sept. 15 rallies for and against the Iraq war were unusually valid.

[...]

The story did not say that the antiwar protest was exponentially larger than the pro-war demonstration. The headline and photo display exacerbated the problem.

[...]

The headline read: “Dueling Demonstrations.” The subhead read: “As Thousands March to the Capitol to Protest Iraq Conflict, 189 Arrested; War Supporters Take on ‘Vocal Minority.’ ” Absent an explanation, a reader might think that the war supporters were in the majority.

Ms Howell does not address the other points of complaint, particularly the strong focus on a small number of arrests in a large and peaceful demonstration. I must guess, from that omission, that she considers that aspect of the coverage to be appropriate.

I thank Ms Howell for her comments, and I’m pleased that the Washington Post has acknowledged the problems with the article’s depiction of the relative significance of the counter-demonstration.

Her comments include a pointer to an image of the print edition of the original article.

[Hat tip to Gabe Goldberg.]