Correspondence
Merchandising mayhem Wayne, Pa. To the Editors: Your editorial about CNN's treatment of the sexual abuse accusations against Cardinal Joseph Bernardin ["CNN's Fall from Grace,"...
...One need not be a learned theologian or social ethicist to know that the withholding of nutrition and hydration from a patient—even one in a vegetative state—is not only a failure to provide care (let alone treatment) but an act that will induce death in a predictably brief period of time...
...Lyndon Johnson's hubris...
...To the Editors: Your editorial about CNN's treatment of the sexual abuse accusations against Cardinal Joseph Bernardin ["CNN's Fall from Grace," December 3,1993] was on the mark...
...Though the polygraph exam has some use as an investigative tool, it is highly suspect as a device for determining ultimate truth...
...It is an established fact that sex and violence sell, and the need for informing and enlightening the public has much lower priority than increasing ratings and profits...
...TIMOTHY BROWNE The writer is a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles County...
...Given how eagerly travelers seek out CNN, it is dismaying to see that this is the sort of "unbiased news" they get...
...As a result, 11 p.m...
...I was in Europe when the story broke, and observed that it was given heavy coverage there with a strong proaccuser slant...
...Under California law, polygraph findings are inadmissible in court...
...On my trip I found a nearly destitute country flooded with business representatives and official delegations from all over the world (except the United States, of course), initiating deals with the country they all feel will soon be nipping at Thailand's heels as an emerging economic powerhouse...
...CNN simply adopted the statements of the accuser's counsel as reliable statements of fact...
...JOSEPH D. POLICANO Inducing death Austin, Tex...
...To the Editors: James F. O'Brien's superb "Why Aren't We in Vietnam...
...Meantime, America continues to have an arm's-Iength relationship with the country...
...In this case, who knows how the exam was conducted, what questions were asked, or, indeed, whether the exam was actually conducted...
...I call it murder...
...JAMES J. NASUTI 31...
...But CNN was not alone in exploiting the item as a juicy sex story, ideal for boosting ratings...
...If so, where are they when we need them...
...To the Editors: Surely Thomas A. Shannon's article "How Long Must We Preserve Life...
...is the blood-and-gore hour on the airways of the City of Brotherly Love...
...But can't something be done before our TV news shows degenerate totally into something suitable only for voyeurs...
...If not, why not...
...Although, as you note, there has been no evidence to judge the accuser's veracity apart from his allegation of recovered memory, a reporter for CNN helpfully noted that he had "passed" a polygraph exam—as though this were complete and sufficient verification of everything he had to say...
...The rubber plantations in the Delta...
...The CBS Philadelphia outlet, WCAU-TV (Channel 10), was similarly shameless, and I'm sure CNN and WCAU were not alone...
...JOSEPH P. SPAMPINATO CNN's long fall Redondo Beach, Calif...
...Isn't there some kind of professional organization of TV journalists that debates this sort of thing, establishes standards, and recognizes superior observance of these norms...
...From my Philadelphia perspective, the print media's handling of the Cardinal Bernardin story has been more balanced and responsible...
...And the trip added a new mystery: Why can't we come to grips with Vietnam now and recognize the vitality and potential of its 70 million people...
...To the Editors: Your commentary on CNN's unfair treatment of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, if anything, understated the case...
...When death comes, the death certificate should indicate that the immediate cause was dehydration or starvation...
...December 3,1993] might better have been titled "Are We Ever 30 Justified in Inducing Death...
...December 3,1993] highlights America's most recent absurd policy in dealing with that country...
...That moderately priced dress "made in China," or that "made in Japan" TV set will soon be assembled in Vietnam and sold here as a Japanese or Chinese product...
...But the reasons for the war remain a mystery to me...
...Continued on page 30) 2: CORRESPONDENCE (Continued from page 2) Since historians failed me, I went to Vietnam for a thirty-day stay in 1992 trying to learn what brought us into that war...
...I agree with Commonweal that these episodes are not necessarily Catholicbashing but just one more indication that TV news has degenerated into TV entertainment...
...But in the case of Vietnam I think that for the past thirty years we have been led either by gross incompetents or by history's most successful conspirators...
...Was it, as Richard Reeves maintains in a new book, President Kennedy's way of showing Khruschev how tough he was...
...I know we can't go back to the early days of television, when the first TV news people came out of newspaper and magazine journalism, and brought with them some professional standards and ethics...
...Vietnam: more absurdity East Hampton, N.Y...
...It is never easy for an ordinary citizen to understand foreign policy...
...Offshore oil in the north...
...Our Philadelphia stations learned years ago that their ratings would go up when their news programs led off with the shootings, rapes, and other mayhem of the day...
Vol. 121 • January 1994 • No. 2
