Editor,
Your coverage of the student anti-war demonstrations was awful.
There are several inaccuracies and misrepresentations, which need to be addressed.
First, the title of the main article, “Pro-Bush, Anti-War Protesters Face Off,” misrepresents both the content of the story and the nature of the protest. The story didn't discuss the counter-demonstrators at all, not to mention that the counter-demonstrators were a very small minority (20 to 30 people out of 800).
Next, the main story goes on to say that (according to police) 100 people blocked Central. If you simply turn to the next page of the Lobo, you see a picture that shows far more than 100 people in Central Avenue. Other news accounts estimated 400 people went onto Central Avenue.
Also, the article did not address the situation in which one of the arrested students was brought to the hospital. If the reporter decided to interview anyone other than police, she may have learned that this student was arrested for trying to cross the street to get some juice to raise her blood-sugar level because she is hypoglycemic. Instead of allowing her to cross the street they arrested her, which of course exacerbated her condition, leading to her having to be brought to the hospital.
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Finally, there was the article about the counter-demonstrators, “Others gather to support Bush, war.” This article starts by stating that there were “many” pro-war demonstrators, but it never defines what “many” is. I personally don't consider 20-30 people out of 800 “many.” This article also failed to ask any anti-war demonstrators their opinion about the pro-war demonstrators. Instead there were only a bunch of quotes about how “ignorant” the anti-war group was and how they should do their homework before protesting. Well, if you ask me it was the pro-war who was ignorant.
They seemed to have no understanding of (or no concern for) the brutal first gulf war where the United States bombed water treatment plants, power plants and other civilian infrastructure. Or the sanctions, which have killed hundreds of thousands. Or the long history of U.S.-supported state terrorism around the world. The only actual example that the article gave of the protesters' ignorance was that we didn't know about Hussein's atrocities. Well, I do know about those atrocities but I feel that it is a pretty bad choice for the Iraqi people to have to choose between the devastation of their country followed by U.S. domination or Hussein's dictatorship and continued U.S. sanctions.
A better reporter could have listened to anyone of the many arguments between the two sides to present a much better picture of what happened on Wednesday.
Robert McGoey
UNM student
