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The Washington Post has admitted it botched its prewar Iraq coverage--but has it learned any lessons? Date published: 9/5/2004
DID YOU HEAR the news? The Silver Cos. has bought the 900 block of Caroline St. in downtown Fredericksburg and is planning to "modernize" the strip to better meet the needs of today's tourists. That section of Caroline is going to look pretty different after it's been given the Silver touch. Gone will be Goolrick's drugstore; in its place will be a CVS. A Hooters will move into the space now occupied by Spanky's, and rumor has it that Starbucks will make an incursion into downtown, too. The deal, completed at the beginning of last month, was reported in a hard-hitting story in The Free Lance-Star on Wednesday. It appeared on page B6 or B7, I think. In retrospect, some editors at the paper wish that they had given the story a little better "play." Many people here in the newsroom have been grumbling that the story probably should have been on the front page, but say that the general sentiment among editors was that the Silver purchase was a done deal anyway, so there was no point in devoting a bunch of space to it on the front page. The paper's top editor, Ed Jones, says he understands why some readers might be disappointed in coverage of the blockbuster deal, but adds that some of the paper's critics will probably go too far. "You've got all these anti-developer types around here who want us to crusade against the Silvers--as if we had the power to stop them," he said. OK, settle down and breathe. Everything you've just read is a bad dream. It didn't really happen. The Silvers have not (yet) invaded downtown. But imagine that they had, and imagine that The Free Lance-Star had blown the story in the manner I described, then tried to explain its incompetence the way the editors did in my little hypothetical situation. Would you ever trust this paper again? Would you run the editors out of town?
1. Be respectful. No personal attacks.
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