Dear Editor:
I was greatly disappointed in Clair McFarland’s piece about the latest abortion law ruling. Her reporting was biased. In her coverage she put quotation marks around the words health care.
Using “health care” in her article, she plainly stated her position on the issue rather than simply reporting the facts and the arguments the attorneys used on each side of the case.
Yes, the entire case boils down to whether or not abortion is health care. But quotation marks belong around actual quotes of what someone said, not to emphasize certain words.
Reporters need to keep their opinions out of the stories they cover. The job is simply to report the news using the facts available, not to state or imply their own opinion on the matter. And yes, punctuation counts.
Cowboy State Daily has opinion writers like Rod Miller. He’s strictly an opinion writer, not a reporter, so he gets to share how he feels about the issues he is opining.
When Clair has her opinion column, that is also fine. But when she is reporting, she should stick to the facts like Joe Friday.
Reporters need to be just that, reporters of the facts. All news agencies should be held to that standard. Last week, Clair McFarland and the Cowboy State Daily failed. I hope you’ll do better in the future.
Sincerely,
Judy Trohkimoinen, Casper
