(3 of 4)
Earlier this year, The Dallas Morning News published a story saying Timothy McVeigh had told his defense team that he bombed the Oklahoma City federal building, and that he intended to leave a "body count" in order to "make our point" to the Federal Government. In your story naming the Morning News one of America's best papers, you assert that publishing that story constituted some kind of journalistic faux pas. I find that assessment as puzzling as it is unsupported by fact. The Morning News story was accurate, the documents it quoted were legitimate, and the reporter engaged in neither illegal nor unethical conduct in obtaining the documents. Stephen Jones, McVeigh's lead defense lawyer at the time, put forth several tales, including one that our story was based on a fabricated document. That was untrue. TIME apparently bought Jones' attempt at damage control. If a faux pas has been committed, it certainly wasn't made by the Dallas Morning News. STUART WILK, Managing Editor Dallas Morning News Dallas TIME's trashing of the Miami Herald as a "shell of its former self" is a chomp on the ear. Sure, it's a different newspaper than it was in 1984. Yet since then the Herald has nine times picked off a Pulitzer, a prize supposedly indicative of quality. Probably no region in America sees more demographic upheaval than Miami does, and the Herald addresses it up-front and openly. That means taking risks. Some work: El Nuevo Herald, our Spanish-language counterpart, now has a daily print run of 110,000. Some don't work: we now staff Managua rather than New York City. Dealing with change is what journalism is all about. Forget the "shell" game. GENE MILLER, Associate Editor/Reporting Miami Herald Miami
CAMPAIGN REFORM NEEDED
With each passing week, we are given more evidence of the need for campaign-finance reform [NATION, Sept. 29]. Unfortunately, the two issues--enforcement of existing laws and reform--are being mixed. Existing laws should be enforced, and we should look at the problems within the current system of how we finance campaigns. Quick-fix ideas to reduce the amount of money that can be spent are advanced. Yet little attention is focused on how campaign money corrupts the political process. WILLIAM E. WHITLEY High Springs, Fla.
After reading your article "Reno's New Focus," I came away with a disheartened outlook on our government. It is a sad fact that our two most powerful political parties make money the pivotal point around which they revolve. Today the only way to gain attention from any government official is through large sums of money. AMY RITZERT Corona Del Mar, Calif.
It doesn't matter whether the money is hard or soft, or where the phone call was made, or who placed the call. Only the amount matters, because that determines the extent to which our democracy is nullified and the degree to which our votes are negated. GERARD C. LAMMERS Oswego, Ill.
MORE IMPORTANT THAN I.Q.