Salon | Letters to the editor

_______________ SALON'S COVERAGE OF KENNETH STARR (02/24-27/98)

I have to commend Salon for its coverage of the Clinton/Lewinski/Starr affair. Of all the news outlets I visit, watch or read, the vast majority present a uniform sameness in their coverage, driven by the attitudes and coverage of a few major purveyors. In this context, Salon's opionionated, gutsy coverage stands out. Agree or disagree with your point of view, at least you seem to have intelligent writers who can think for themselves -- and they've changed my mind on more than one occasion. I am shocked at the state of journalism on this story coming from the New York Times, and agree with Salon that they seem to have a strong anti-Clinton, pro-Starr bias. I only hope your coverage has some impact on the wider media.
-- Berkley A. Lynch

_______________ THE TERRIBLE MYSTERY OF GAYL JONES BY SALLY ECKHOFF (02/26/98)

Why must we be bored and irritated by yet another clichéd story of yet another mentally disturbed writer? It seems to me that only those "auteurs" who eat their grandmother's ashes, screw their fathers, wear their drug addictions like earrings or barricade themselves up with their criminal husbands are identified as "intense" or "brilliant."
Reading the account of Gayl Jones' "altercation" with police and her husband's subsequent (and bizarre) suicide inspires laughter much more than pity or sympathy. It's the same old same old. If she wasn't a "brilliant" writer, no one would care.
Unfortunately, normal writers, leading normal lives (with families and jobs) don't make good news stories. What's next? An ax murderer, cop-killing drug runner who's killed his mother, raped his sister and slept with his daughter and who has since found God and preaches on the streets of Memphis to the beat of Elvis tunes? How brilliant! How intense! How true!
How boring.
-- Marisa Urgo
SALON | March 4, 1998

R E C E N T L Y+| STARR CHAMBER BY MOLLIE DICKENSON

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_______________ SALON'S COVERAGE OF KENNETH STARR (02/24-27/98)
	I have to commend Salon for its coverage of the Clinton/Lewinski/Starr affair. Of all the news outlets I visit, watch or read, the vast majority present a uniform sameness in their coverage, driven by the attitudes and coverage of a few major purveyors. In this context, Salon's opionionated, gutsy coverage stands out. Agree or disagree with your point of view, at least you seem to have intelligent writers who can think for themselves -- and they've changed my mind on more than one occasion. I am shocked at the state of journalism on this story coming from the New York Times, and agree with Salon that they seem to have a strong anti-Clinton, pro-Starr bias. I only hope your coverage has some impact on the wider media. -- Berkley A. Lynch
_______________ THE TERRIBLE MYSTERY OF GAYL JONES BY SALLY ECKHOFF (02/26/98)
	Why must we be bored and irritated by yet another clichéd story of yet another mentally disturbed writer? It seems to me that only those "auteurs" who eat their grandmother's ashes, screw their fathers, wear their drug addictions like earrings or barricade themselves up with their criminal husbands are identified as "intense" or "brilliant." Reading the account of Gayl Jones' "altercation" with police and her husband's subsequent (and bizarre) suicide inspires laughter much more than pity or sympathy. It's the same old same old. If she wasn't a "brilliant" writer, no one would care. Unfortunately, normal writers, leading normal lives (with families and jobs) don't make good news stories. What's next? An ax murderer, cop-killing drug runner who's killed his mother, raped his sister and slept with his daughter and who has since found God and preaches on the streets of Memphis to the beat of Elvis tunes? How brilliant! How intense! How true! How boring. -- Marisa Urgo SALON \| March 4, 1998