(permission to reprint granted with proper
link attribution)
The Bee
was sent press release at each phase of
the planning for California's first Yellow
Ribbon Day, May 22, 2004. We invited you
to visit with kids in their San Juan
Unified School District classrooms as they
made ribbon sets for military families.
We invited you to our work group's final
efforts the night before in midtown, just
blocks from the Bee. Evan as the
California State Legislature presented our
resolution
to military family members on the State
Assembly Floor, the Sacramento Bee seems
to have misplaced the press release from
Assembly Member Nicole Parra announcing
this action with its unrivaled bipartisan
support from state legislators. Why?
We're
used to invitations being accepted then
forgotten. Diana Griego Erwin
conveniently forgot her offered RSVP to
Rally for America in support of these
military families, their loved ones
serving our country and the distinguished
veterans we honored on March 22, 2003.
Your version: "Together with a grass-roots
coalition of self-described patriot
groups, Oller is sponsoring a rally today
from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on the west steps of
the Capitol to show support for the war
against Iraq."
The Bee
was slow to retract (Bee Metro Staff
Published 2:15 a.m. PST Wednesday, March
26, 2003A) "photo caption Sunday on page
A24 that showed Ruth Medrano holding a
portrait of her soldier sons at a rally at
the state Capitol should have said that
the rally was in support of U.S. troops."
Yes... page A24 was the best you could
do. The front page photo and lead
story was reserved for Anti-war protesters
in San Francisco. Yes Sir... Rally for
America was a grass roots project not the
Pro-War Clear Channel Communications
conspiracy reported by The SF
Chronicle, New York Times and suggested by
the Sacramento Bee.
A
search of your archives for co-sponsors
yields little interest from the Bee in the
past 12 months and zero for yesterday's
busy schedule. The event was well covered
by other media in the area. We placed it
on your Community
Calendar
but it appears no one at the Bee read or
liked what they saw there. You brace at
suggestions of biased reporting in our
city but when invited to share positives
messages that could be clipped or sent as
an e-mail link for internet access in base
camps to family members serving in Iraq or
elsewhere, the Bee is AWOL.
Dear Mr. Jenset: Thank you for your
e-mail. I'm saving your message for
Tony who is out of the office until June
7. I'm also passing along your message
to the appropriate Bee editors to
apprise them of your comments. By the
way, our office heard from
another reader wondering about the
paper's non-coverage of Yellow Ribbon
Day. Stephanie Christensen, Admin.
Asst.
I have hunch, if you click on any of the
email links above, it might afford your
listeners a chance to share their
thoughts about the Bee's real agenda.
Thanks for letting me vent a little.
with your suggestions or to volunteer.
