Dear Editor:
Stanley Crouch argues in his July 18 column that it’s wrong for journalists to “reduce every issue…only to black and white, bad and good,” sending “ethics and facts flying out the window.” If only he could follow his own advice. Later in that same column Crouch likens “the infamous Koch brothers” to “plantation owners” who “hustle…Southern whites” to “the defense of slavery.” When a writer’s hypocrisy is that transparent and his assertions so dishonest, it doesn’t need an editor’s oversight. Readers can see right through it.
Sincerely,
Melissa Cohlmia
Director, Corporate Communication
Koch Companies Public Sector, LLC
Hyperbole is Bad, Except When We Use It
A column in the New York Daily News on July 18 faults its competitor, News Corporation, for “reduc[ing] every issue to a child’s level of perception…leading only to black and white, bad and good…send[ing] ethics and facts flying out the window.” Then, just a few paragraphs later, the piece likens “the infamous Koch brothers” to “plantation owners” who “hustled…Southern whites” to “the defense of slavery.” If columnist Stanley Crouch is trying to persuade readers that hyperbole and cynical sensationalism are inappropriate media practices, he certainly has a strange way of doing it.
