Letters

Of downstate's importance

EDITOR: Paul Green's article in your January issue was welcome news to us in downstate Illinois, as he explained the importance of the downstate vote to the outcome of the gubernatorial race. We downstaters occasionally are made to feel unimportant and insignificant.

However, Green made the same mistake in talking about the first debate that many journalists made — they kept insisting that Stevenson and Thompson called each other liars in the Peoria Civic Center. That's what news reports statewide were saying the evening after that first debate.

But that didn't happen.

What happened was that each man accused the other of not telling the truth during the debate.

A small point, maybe. But people who use words to make a living ought to know the difference between reporting that "Stevenson said Thompson did not tell the truth" and "Stevenson said Thompson is a liar."

The second phrasing is more sensational, and probably would do more to attract the attention of a Chicago editor. But it is not nearly as accurate, considering the terrible connotation of the word "liar."

Ed Wojcicki, editor
Monmouth Daily Review Atlas

March 1983 | Illinois Issues | 29