THE GOOD,THE BAD AND THE UGLY

The Good:
I'm employed for at least another 12 weeks. Ratings are out and for the first time in ages both WOAI and KJ-97 had good books.

The Bad:
I noticed as I was filling my caffeine-freak-sized thermal coffee mug with chewable coffee this morning that the coffee pot seemed to be fuller than I expected. I didn't think too much of it until I was about 4 miles down the highway. I believe a good bit of yesterday's coffee was still in the "fresh" pot I made. Ugh.

Did I drink it? Set your alarm for 1:45 a.m. and answer that question.

The Ugly:
Perhaps you saw this "Reuters" story the other day....

PALESTINE, West Va. (Reuters) - Jessica Lynch, the wounded Army private whose ordeal in Iraq was hyped into a media fiction of U.S. heroism, was set for an emotional homecoming on Tuesday in a rural West Virginia community bristling with flags, yellow ribbons and TV news trucks.

But when the 20-year-old supply clerk arrives by Blackhawk helicopter to the embrace of family and friends, media critics say the TV cameras will not show the return of an injured soldier so much as a reality-TV drama co-produced by U.S. government propaganda and credulous reporters.


It was attributed to a reporter for the Charleston Daily Mail named Deanna Wrenn...only one problem, that's not the story she wrote. This was her lead:

ELIZABETH--In this small county seat with just 995 residents, the girl everyone calls Jessi is a true heroine--even if reports vary about Pfc. Jessica Lynch and her ordeal in Iraq.
"I think there's a lot of false information about her story," said Amber Spencer, a clerk at the town's convenience store.

Palestine resident J.T. O'Rock was hanging an American flag and yellow ribbon on his storefront in Elizabeth in preparation for Lynch's return.

Like many residents here, he considers Lynch a heroine, even if newspaper and TV reports say her story wasn't the same one that originally attracted movie and book deals


A Reuters editor in England apparently changed the story, but left Wrenn's byline. You can read her account of what happened here.

I don't believe in media conspiracies...but I do believe in media bias. Someone should be fired, but they didn't do us the courtesy of giving us their name.