Archive/File: people/k/krieger.bob/press/lousy-journalism.9707
 Last-Modified: 1997/07/04
Source: Western Jewish Bulletin, July 4, 1997, p. 4

Letters

Lousy journalism

Editor:

This is a letter to the publisher of the`North Shore News'
which the author also directed to the `Jewish Bulletin.'

Enclosed, please find a penny for your Doug Collins defense
fund. To be clear, I wouldn't give two cents for Doug
Collins and his ridiculous free-speech campaign.

The issue, of course, is not free speech. That's silly.
Journalists face limits on their free speech all the time. I
know. I have been in journalism for more than 20 years and
from the very beginning I've had limits placed on my opinion
for a variety of reasons. That's what editors are for.

Who cares what Doug Collins thinks? He fancies himself a
heretic, questioning accepted truth. He ignores trainloads
of Nuremberg evidence, the testimony of perpetrators,
survivors and witnesses and volumes of analysis by
accredited scholars in favor of the scholastically-
challenged publications of California's Institute for
Historical Review.

Mr. Collins is no heretic. He's a lunatic....which is fine.
In a free and democratic society, he's entitled to lunacy.

No, the issue is not free speech. It's lousy journalism and
Doug Collins is just a lousy journalist.

What I don't understand is why you go to such great lengths
to publish lousy journalism. Surely you don't believe he is
well researched. Surely, like all reasonable news people,
you insist on good research to back up opinion.

I suppose what troubles me most is, what is the point? It's
easy to be provocative. But it's not easy to try and make
things better.

It is beyond me what benefit is derived from allowing a bad
journalist a platform to hurt people. Innocent people.
People who have surely suffered enough loss only to have
their pain and horror denied and their denier defended.

I suppose, in a free and democratic society, you have the
right to sell newspapers at their expense. I just wonder how
you can live with yourself.

P.S. I think it's important to point out that, in his
"Swinder's List" column, Mr. Collins clearly illustrates his
prejudice.

He admits from the beginning that he didn't see the movie
and it becomes evident all through the rest of the piece
that he never read Thomas Keneally's book. As a result, he
completely misses the point.

Yes, Oscar Schindler was an opportunist, a
profiteer...hell...a Nazi. And it would have been very easy
(and in character) for him to simply run.  But while too
many good and decent people did nothing, this terribly
flawed individual risked his life to save 1,10.

The point that Mr. Collins missed is that even the indecent
are capable of decency. Granted, I'm pretty sure Thomas
Keneally never met Doug Collins.

Bob Krieger
Editorial cartoonist
The Province

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