Letters, we get letters, we get stacks and stacks…

We get the wildest letters here at the old Spokesman-Review. Read the following:

“I want to know why The Spokesman-Review has not written any articles relating to the new documentraout by Michael Moore, ‘Fahrenheit 9/11.’ This movie is smashing box office records left and right, is expanding from 800 theaters to nearly 2000 theaters by next week and is selling out in Spokane’s AMC theaters, yet The Spokesman-Review doesn’t find this interesting. I have been following this story online and it has generated hundreds of headlines from other Newspapers that tend to follow big stories. Whats the deal? This film obviously means something, judging by how many people like or hate it. Today is June 29th, almost a week after the film premiered in New York. I love reading the paper but i hate missing stories!!! Thank you!”

Here was my response:

Dominic: I share your enthusiasm about the excitement that “Fahrenheit 9/11” is generating across the country. However, to say that we haven’t run any stories about it is stretching the truth just a teeny bit:

Today we ran a story titled “ ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ sizzles at the box office.”
On June 25 we ran a positive review of the film by critic Stephen Witty.
On June 25 we ran a column (that I wrote) about Moore and his movies.
On June 24 we ran a story by a USA Today reporter about Moore and his movies.
On June 24 we ran a story by a wire service reporter about Moore holding a private screening for the movie in Washington, D.C.
On June 22 we ran a story about Ray Bradbury wanting Moore to apologize for stealing the title to his book “Fahrenheit 451.”
On June 16 we ran a story about Moore appealing the MPAA ’s decision to give the film an R rating.
On June 1 we ran a story about Miramax buying the film back from Disney.
In addition, in May we ran seven stories about Moore, his film and its having wowed the crowds (and won the Palm d’Or) at the Cannes Film Festival.

So, you see we haven’t “not written any articles about” the film. What we haven’t done is run an “editorial” about the film. But considering that the ownership of The Spokesman-Review has supported every Republican president since, oh, Benjamin Harrison , I think we pretty much already know what it’ll say about both Moore and his film.
Hope this helps clear things up for you.

Sincerely,
Dan Webster