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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 8, 1997)
Should television shows be rated like movies to =3 monitor what children watch? Let us know. editorials, letters, commentary and perspective BY MAIL: P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403 BY PHOME: (541)346-5511 BY E-MAIL: ode@oregon. uoregon. edu IN PERSON: Suite 300, EMU Papers forget original mission ■ OUR OPINION: The best in media performed the worst of sins: misrepresenting a story When it became clear last August that CIA-backed Nicaraguan Contras were linked to the West Coast cocaine trade, the public was appalled —and rightfully so. After the San Jose Mercury News proved in a three-part series that the Contras received some funds from a San Francisco drug ring’s profits, the possibility of U.S. government involvement was too much to ignore. Soon, the Justice Department, Congress and the CIA itself be gan their own “internal” investigations. And the public came to its own conclusions, de vXl CHRIS HUTCHINSON/Emerald manaing more evidence and investigation into the “CIA’s involvement in drug-dealing.” While the Mercury News series never actu ally established a direct correlation be tween the CIA and drug trafficking, the public was right to demand the truth about the matter. One of the places they turned to was the me dia. The Washington Post, which just over twenty years before had uncovered the truth about Watergate, was of course, one of the first accosted. Readers demanded to know why the paper wasn’t following the Mercury News story. The New York Times and Los Angeles Times felt the same pressure. It wasn’t until October that the three best pa pers in the country truly obliged. On Oct. 4, the Post pub lished a 5,000 word examina tion or the Contra/drug trade rela tionship which was largely a refutation of the Mercury News series. Two weeks later, the Los Angeles Times printed its own three-part condemnation. The New York Times soon followed with its own criticism. This widespread reaction, however, wavered from the public’s desire to know the truth. Instead, it followed the papers’ own agenda to discredit the Mercury News, wholeheartedly and mercilessly. The Mercury News series did not deserve to stand alone. In fact, it was harmful that it did so for nearly two months. But the issue of whether a publicly funded government agency knowingly took part in selling drugs on its own soil did not deserve the bi ased and narrow treatment it was given by the three most respected newspapers in the nation. The three papers’ reporting did prove the Mer cury News’ stories to be flawed on many levels. The amount ot mon ey the Contras received from the drug dealers is most likely much lower than originally reported. And the amount of cocaine intro duced to the Los Angeles area is also probably lower than the Mercury News claimed. But the three papers’ sacred reliance on CIA sources and re markable ability THE MIXED MESSAGES ■ Dec. 20, 1985: The Associated Press documents involvement by the Nicaraguan Contras in the U.S. co caine trade, the first major news or ganization to do so. ■ Aug. 18-20,1996: The San Jose Mercury News publishes a three-part series detailing a link between the Contras and a Bay Area drug ring. ■ Sapt. 21, 1996: The New York Times publishes the first story of many refuting several of the Mercury News claims. to reach final conclusions gave scant service to an is sue that deserves a national newspaper’s undivided and unbiased attention. Indeed, no attention was given by the papers to the subject of the Contras' involvement in the drug trade when it was brought up in the 1980s by the Associated Press and CBS News. The Mercury News, while making its own mistakes, fully ex plored an issue that had been thoroughly ignored by other media for over a decade. The Mercury News and the three papers still have conflicting sources and information neither side will back down on. And the CIA and Justice Depart ment have yet to conclude their investigations. The issue is far from dead. The Washington Post, New York Times and Los Angeles Times must now focus on what they should have done all along: finding the truth. This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald editorial board. The Oregon Daily Emerald is published daily Monday through Friday during the school year and Tuesday and Thursday during the summer by the Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing Co. Inc., at the University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon. A member of the Associated Press, the Emer ald operates independently of the University with offices at Suite 300 of the Erb Memorial Union The Emerald is private property. The unlawful removal or use of pa pers is prosecutable by law. Editor-In-Chief: Steven Asbury Managing Editor Thom Schoenborn Night Editor Jennifer Schmitt Community: Jennifer Schmitt, editor. Eric Collins Entertainment: Nicole Kreuger, editor. Jesse Stephenson Higher Education: Laura Cadiz, editor. Benjamin Kwasney Opinion: Ashley Bach, Brian Diamond, editors. Chris Hutchinson, illustrator Student Activities: Angie Suchy, editor. Autumn DePoe, Dana Williams Sports: Mar1< McTyre, editor Andrea DeYoung, assistant editor. Chris Hansen, Ryan Frank. Ryan Halvorsen Copy Desk: Sarah Kickler, copy chief. Mike Schmierbach, Kendra Smith Presentation: Dennis Bolt, editor. Matt Garton Photography: Mathew Stiffter, editor. Joe Bunik, Amanda Erickson. Shannon Kilduff, Chad Patteson Freelance: Carl Yeh, editor. On-Line: Nicholas Stiffler, director. General Manager Judy Riedl Advertising Becky Merchant, director Anne Amador. Lee Yen Beh. Yujin Chi, Matt Johnson. Andrew Lakefish. Anne Miller, Trina Shanaman, Rose Soil, Matt Solomon, Greg Walsh Classified: Tara Sloan, manager. Natasha Lumpkin. Debbie Levy, Heather Moye Production: Michele Ross, manager. Ingrid White, coordinator. Shawna Abele, Laura Daniel, Trevor Kearney.Tara Knight. Melissa Lebahn, Molly McCanta, Ellen Milne, Mike Young Business: Kathy Carbone, supervisor. Judy Connolly Distribution: John Long, Jeff Johnson. Ferenc Rakoczi Newsroom.(541)346-5511 Display Advertising .(541)346-3712 Business Office .(541)346-5512 Classified Advertising.(541) 346-4343 READER VOICES Do you feel safe in Eugene? “The underground drug world and the thieves are the biggest problem in this town. My skateboard got stolen out of my car. The major problem I think is just thieves." Jesse Clark Junior E.M.S. “The only problem I can see is for women at night around the University. I don’t think that the lighting is very good. I think overall Eugene is a pretty safe city." Ely Jan Is Sophomore History “There is always cam pus security driving around, and i feel like there are places to walk that are lit up enough. There are al ways a lot of people walking around so I feel pretty safe." Heidi Marshall Senior Spanish “I think it is pretty safe. I'm an architect student, so I’ve been coming home pretty late from studios, as late as four in the morning, and I have not had any trouble or seen any trouble.” Joanna Schafer Sophomore Architecture “It depends on how you define safe. If you are talking about rape and stuff like that, definitely not. If you’re talking about murder then it’s prob ably safer than most." James Curtis Senior History “It’s safe except for downtown because there are a lot of scary people down there with all of the home less people." Laura Glatze Freshman Pre-Law
