Column: There are no easy answers in the search for truth

Readers' Corner

Ombudsman Dave Mazzarella answers reader questions about Stars and Stripes.

Column: There are no easy answers in the search for truth

Posted September 25th, 2007 by Dave Mazzarella

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Readers' Corner

Sometimes I’ll be asked: When the truth of a situation is so obvious, why don’t the media just report it without trying to include “the other side of the story?” Isn’t it a waste of time, when the “facts” are incontrovertible? Global warming is one issue that brings on such questions: “Everybody knows the earth is getting hotter, naysayers be damned.” Another is evolution: “Of course we evolved from apes.” Now, reporting about the Iraq war enters the debate.

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Quick course for my esteemed colleague

On September 26th, 2007 Dave Hamilton says:

Dave, you are apparently just trying to rattle cages and get a response here. Okay, I'll bite, even if I don't have a lot of time. The TRUTH of a situation is often as one beholds it. For example, if the liberal know-it-alls at the New York Times shoves evolution so far down my throat that the notion of Adam and Eve is rendered a fairy tale (according to their "facts") and then laughs at my religion to boot, does that make it so? Of course not.

I cannot think of a single day that I am not grateful those morons at NYT and similar rags have no real power. I don't mind the "other side" making a well-argued debate in a civil manner, but liberals do not want my side heard.

Perhaps it is because I have never lost a debate with a liberal. But more likely, it is because they want to obscure the TRUTH from those they would deceive.

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Welcome

An ombudsman is a fancy name for a reader's representative at a newspaper. A big part of my job is to make sure your voice is heard -- whether it be raised to criticize, praise or just offer a suggestion to the editors of Stars and Stripes. And I aim to make sure your questions are answered. Check this space regularly for columns that have appeared in the paper and other musings of mine.

About the Author

Dave Mazzarella is in his second tour of duty as ombudsman for Stars and Stripes. Mr. Mazzarella served in this role from 2000 to 2001 before becoming the paper's editorial director. He returned to his ombudsman's chair after retiring in Feb. 2007. Readers are invited to contact him directly via e-mail.