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NPR and Other National Media Outlets Continue To Ignore The Lavena Johnson Case

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fc

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Oct 18, 2007, 11:59:42 PM10/18/07

An Open Letter To NPR: A Tale Of Two Soldiers October 16, 2007
http://mirroronamerica.blogspot.com/2007/10/npr-and-other-national-media-outlets.html

The following is a letter that I sent to NPR last week, regarding the
disparity in the news coverage received by Ciara Durkin & Lavena
Johnson. While Durkin received a considerable amount of national and
international media coverage (almost immediately), Lavena Johnson has
received no national media coverage....and her case has been dragging
on for 2 years.

What makes Jessica Lynch, Pat Tillman, or Ciara Durkin more important
stories to cover? Why do they garner so much media coverage when
stories equally as worthy (if not more so) are ignored?

The purpose of the letter was not to downplay the loss of Durkin or
any other soldier... On the contrary, I simply wanted to encourage
equal coverage for Johnson's case. I directed the note to NPR's All
Things Considered program.

The response that I received from NPR's Ombudsman about 5 days later
was less than impressive.

NPR's Response:

Something to the effect... we received your letter and thank you for
contacting us. However, we don't have any plans to use this (I assume
Lavena) as a story topic. We don't guarantee that we will use story
ideas sent in by the public.

It almost appeared to be a generic form letter response... probably
not written by staff at all. But that was their response nonetheless.

The letter

To the hosts and executive producers of NPR's All Things Considered

I am writing to you about your coverage of Ciara Durkin, The Army
National Guard soldier who was recently killed in Afghanistan. It is
great that NPR and other national media outlets are covering this
story. It's especially important to be vigilant on cases like this
one.

However, I have noticed a glaring disparity between the way the media
is covering the Durkin case and the way that other similar cases have
been covered. The Durkin case immediately hit national news...from ABC,
CBS, NPR, etc. In fact, I first learned about this case from an ABC
report.

However, the national media, including NPR, never covered the case of
Army Pvt. Lavena Johnson. Ciara Durkin had not even been buried yet
when the National media jumped all over her story. But Lavena Johnson
was brutally killed in Iraq in the Summer of 2005 under very similar
circumstances, yet her case has received no national media interest at
all. Blogger

s have been raising the issue of Lavena Johnson for 2 years. Where was
NPR? The Durkin family is calling for answers about Ciara, and
rightfully so. And my heart goes out to them. But what about the
Johnson family? After 2 years, they are still waiting for the truth
about how their daughter was killed and who is responsible for her
death.

Why the disparity in the coverage? Yes...the NPR program News and Notes
only recently (within the past month or so) mentioned Lavena Johnson
and it was a very brief mention during a roundtable discussion... News
and Notes is not exactly a top national program on NPR. The fact is,
there has been no segment dedicated to her via NPR or any other
national news organization. Why haven't any of the top NPR programs
like All Things Considered done any serious reporting on the Lavena
Johnson case? It has been one of the biggest stories out of Iraq that
has never been covered. Not really the Elephant in the room...but more
like the Blue Whale in the room. The ramifications of the Johnson case
dwarfs Tillman, Richard Davis, and Jessica Lynch (and a bunch of other
stories) all put together.

I would hate to think that race is a contributing factor here. But the
major media does have a track record of ignoring the plight of African
American women. Durkin gets immediate national news coverage even
before she is buried and the family has paid its last respects. Yet
Lavena Johnson (no less of an American hero and no less a Patriot)
gets zero national news coverage after 2 years? Something is wrong
here.

I am not asking NPR to curtail coverage of the Durkin case. These
stories need to be brought into the national spotlight. However, I am
asking that the producers & hosts of All Things Considered provide the
same coverage for the Lavena Johnson story. Lavena and her family
deserve the same care, concern and attention as any other soldier or
military family. And Mr. & Mrs. Johnson deserve to know the truth
about how their daughter died.

Because of the Army's recent history of cover-ups and of mishandling
cases, I am not very confident that it can police itself (via Army
Criminal Investigators). In my opinion, the FBI should be the agency
handling these types of cases.

wizardr...@msn.com

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Oct 19, 2007, 10:19:48 AM10/19/07

On Oct 18, 11:59 pm, fc <lol7...@msn.com> wrote:
> An Open Letter To NPR: A Tale Of Two Soldiers October 16, 2007http://mirroronamerica.blogspot.com/2007/10/npr-and-other-national-me...

> PREVIOUS POSTS ON LAVENA JOHNSONhttp://mirroronamerica.blogspot.com/2007/02/who-murdered-army-pvt-lav...

> Who Murdered Pvt. Lavena Johnson?
>
> Why is Tillman getting all the attention? (And why is the Tillman case
> always brought up and compared with these other cases of women being
> murdered? Tillman wasn't murdered.... Tillman's case was friendly
> fire, which happens all the time, although there was a cover-up effort
> afterwards. Beyond that, there are few similarities).
>
> More on Tillman
>

> The Experience of Women in the Militaryhttp://mirroronamerica.blogspot.com/2007/03/look-at-experiences-of-wo...
> America's Forgotten Soldierhttp://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2007/08/americas-forgotten-soldier-muc...
> Dr. John Johnson Speaks About His Daughterhttp://mirroronamerica.blogspot.com/2007/08/dr-john-johnson-speaks-at...
> Recalling Lavena Johnsonhttp://mirroronamerica.blogspot.com/2007/05/lavena-johnson-and-other-...
> Another Bloggers post on Lavenahttp://kathmanduk2.wordpress.com/2007/09/10/pfc-lavena-johnson/
> Lavena's Body exhumed for new autopsyhttp://mirroronamerica.blogspot.com/2007/05/lavena-johnsons-body-has-...
> New Developments in the Lavena Johnson casehttp://mirroronamerica.blogspot.com/2007/05/new-developments-in-laven...
> LavenaJohnson.com for News and Petitionhttp://www.lavenajohnson.com/

Oz:----
I suppose that all stories of like kind should get the same attention,
according to your contention. This is patently absurd. We would be
getting a newspaper delivered to our house each evening that more
resembled a telephone book, should all terrible stories be reported.
AND, Tillman IS a hero......he gave up fame and millions of dollars in
contracts to be there. My opinion: get women the hell out of the
battlefields Fucking nazi-feminists think it's great that they get
equal treatment. Bullshit! !Even Hitler, when desperately short of
soldiers, didn't resort to having women on the front lines..And tell
whoever you're crying to that our pussy Rules of Engagement is liberal
bullshit. And tell them to get the media and the sleazeball lawyers
the hell out of prosecution of the war. It's demoralizing and having
our soldiers afraid of the consequences of pulling a trigger. Goddam
leftists can fuckup a wet dream.

Now, go get yourself a brain, this time get one that works.

fc

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Oct 19, 2007, 11:54:58 AM10/19/07

> according to your contention. This is patently absurd.

Keeping it real!! ....
http://bp3.blogger.com/_0qTU784XP0M/RwrCSkZVawI/AAAAAAAAB2U/rMhzuXstMPM/s1600-h/AFGHANISTAN..jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xrqwB-np6E&eurl=http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=98959162

On Oct 19, 7:19 am, "wizardryOfOz...@msn.com"

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