It’s impossible not to feel compassion for letter writer Rebecca Stanley, whose son is currently serving in Somalia (Voice, March 6). Sensationalized news stories about U.S. casualties are difficult for many of us to read, but they must be especially painful for the families of soldiers serving our country.
However, the Jan. 29 “column” Ms. Stanley attributed to Mike Royko (“Bravely in Somali night, marine dies”) was not written by him. The “column” to which Ms. Stanley objected was an AP article that happened to appear on the same page as Mr. Royko’s column.
It’s surprising your editors failed to catch this unfortunate error, because her letter accused Mr. Royko of sensationalism and insensitivity in an article he had nothing to do with.
If anything, on this sensitive subject, Ms. Stanley is likely to find in Mr. Royko the very sort of decency she claims he lacks.
When, in his Jan. 29 column, he quoted Newsweek (“news and entertainment are the same business”), he did so disparagingly. Ironically, Mr. Royko would probably be as disturbed as Ms. Stanley was by the sensationalism displayed in the AP article she incorrectly attributed to him.
