The Review-Journal, in an attempt to burnish its credentials with veterans organizations by explaining how it provides acceptable news coverage of veterans issues, may have shown its lack of understanding and dearth of reporting on compelling local veterans issues.

Veterans from various organizations were told that Tom Mitchell, the top editor and news decision maker at the daily paper, would be at a meeting along with Managing Editor Charles Zobell and reporter Keith Rogers. (Zobell in particular has been supportive of providing veterans news coverage, and has lent an understanding ear to veterans issues.) But when the group got together at the R-J offices last month, Zobell announced that Mitchell had phoned and said he was “tied up in traffic” but would try to be there, even if late. Several times during the meeting Zobell announced that Mitchell wanted to be there. As the meeting began, I indicated that I was greatly disappointed that the main decision maker had decided not to show up. (I was reminded the Ellen DeGeneres once spoke about people who were late for her meetings, and who told her “traffic was to blame.” “So” she exclaimed, “do you think I dropped in by helicopter?)”

Several years ago, the R-J had initiated a similar meeting after Zobell read in the Veterans Reporter that numerous veterans had taken to asking Nevada¹s congressional representatives if they would talk to the mainstream media (including the R-J) and ask if coverage of vet's activities could be increased. At that meeting, Mitchell was in attendance (along with Zobell and Rogers) and was advised that the R-J's coverage was lacking. He was also approached about the possibility of publishing a regular column of veterans news on a weekly, or perhaps monthly, basis. He turned that suggestion down flat, leaving no room for discussion.

Some months later I met personally with Mitchell, specifically to discuss a veterans column. Again, he had a monolithic attitude. His stated excuse at the time was that the paper was cutting back on publishing columns of any kind. However time has shown that not to be the case. In fact, on some days it would seem that the R-J employs more columnists than it does reporters!

Several months after that exchange, I was able to meet personally with R-J Publisher Sherman Frederick, himself the former R-J editor. (Full disclosure: Frederick is my former editor and publisher when I worked at the R-J from 1989 through 1994. I2d always found him to be fair-minded and unbiased.) I appealed to him to allow a veterans column, but like Mitchell, I got nowhere. (In the past few years, even Frederick has taken to writing an R-J column of his own, something R-J publishers had not done in years. And of course, Mitchell writes one also.)

At the R-J meeting last month, a corral full of veterans were invited and were told that the top editors (plural) would attend. The guest list of veterans representatives included Stephen Gibbs, VFW; Jack Ford, American Legion; Robert Fain, Catholic War Veterans; Ann Perelman, Paralyzed Veterans of America; George Barnett, Jewish War Veterans; and Sandy Nicum, Nevada Gems. Also attending, Wayne Leroy of the Elks veterans contingent, who was not officially invited but was warmly welcomed nonetheless. (And also invited, but unable to attend, a representative from the local VA, and a representative from the Disabled American Veterans. Both had prior engagements.)    

After my comment about Mitchell not being present, the meeting proceeded while we munched on sandwiches brought in by the paper. I began the conversation by saying that I wanted to withhold my major comments until Mitchell arrived, and the deferred to Leroy to kick things off. He obliged by advising those present about the many newsworthy programs Elks provide for veterans, including its annual Medal of Valor presentation to families of local U.S. troops who were killed in battle. Nicum joined in and told of women who volunteer at the veteran’s hospital, and who make calls on behalf of blinded veterans, among other activities. Might make a good story, I thought.  Fain described how the Catholic War Veterans provide apartment rental assistance to needy vets, supporting agencies that help with veterans housing. Readable news, and extremely valuable. Ford described how the American Legion provides temporary financial assistance to veterans, and stated that the suicide rate among returning service people should be investigated. (Rogers noted that he has written abut that topic in the past, and plans additional stories.) Perelman noted how the Paralyzed Veterans works closely promoting a wheelchair program. Another good story, I silently surmised.

Gibbs joined in and said the VFW promotes outreach programs including employment help and financial assistance, and supports congressional legislation designed to help veterans, including mandatory funding of the VA. Rogers noted that he has written about the VA, PTSD, mental health, suicide and the Air Force. “You’ve got to realize that we have to cover that under the educational beat,” he said of some of the topics. “Once you open the door, [readers will say] Why don’t you do more?” He said many of those stories belong in the paper’s View or Lifestyle sections. Then he began to describe what he said was a typical work day for him. “What I do when I come to work,” he said to the attendees who looked to him for the answer, “is look for names of war dead.” He checks to see if there are any Nevada veterans who were killed in the Middle East. He offered that when he recently returned from a vacation, he had thousands of Emails and dozens of voice mails to go through. He said he communicates daily with sources in Afghanistan and Iraq including “deep throat” sources. Then he proceeds to read war related stories in the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times and New York Times, and checks their facts against his. But all the efforts he described pertained to stories about active duty personnel, and none concerned local veterans. I asked him what he did each day as related to veterans’ stories. He answered, “We always feature [veterans] stories on Veterans Day, and the 4th of July!” That elicited a belly laugh from Ford, who along with others at the meeting understood the irony of the comment: Virtually every U.S. publication waves the flag on holidays, but other than that it’s catch as catch can. On a typical day, Rogers concentrates on the wars in the Middle East, not on local veterans.

As the meeting progressed, Gibbs offered that the Nevada Dept. of Veterans Affairs has a Web site with information about local veterans. Nicum said that she and other women veterans bring personal items to women at the U.S. Vets organization and pointed out that the Veterans Administration also has a homeless veterans program that provides assistance. (All unused sources of information at the R-J.)

Zobell pointed out that the newspaper has a reporter who covers social service issues, and that some of the topics brought up could go in other sections of the paper. He promised to supply the names and contact information of those editors to the attendees. Rogers then tellingly noted, “My title is really Military . . . you’ve got to realize we’ve got two wars going on. We’ve got to cover that.” He later added, “We try to cover every deployment of the National Guard, and at Nellis AFB, and “We have the fastest growing veterans population in the U.S. It’s kind of hard to get your arms around it.” Kind of hard, indeed.

As the meeting wound down I asked Zobell if he would call Mitchell on his cell phone to see if he had broken free from traffic and perhaps could join the group as least for a few minutes. Zobell indicated it was too late, and we would have to give up the room for another group that was waiting to meet. I suggested that unless Mitchell was stuck in a major pile up, we were disappointed at his absence. Zobell indicated that he could not respond to that. I told him no response was necessary, that I was merely stating a fact. It seemed to me that Zobell sincerely would have liked Mitchell to have been there, and that one way or another he sympathized with the veterans and perhaps felt their letdown. As the veterans began packing up and leaving, several of them expressed disappointment to me that Mitchell was not present, but still said they were pleased to be invited to the meeting and perhaps some good would come from it, to which I agreed.

So, what would have been accomplished if Mitchell had shown up? I wanted to supply information and ask him direct questions about holes in veterans’ coverage that only he could answer. I would have advised that the VA says it has 325,000 veterans in Nevada, most in the south. Add to that their wives and husbands, plus personnel at Nellis, the National Guard and the Army Reserve who are also eligible for some veterans benefits. I would have told Mitchell that many veterans’ organizations bring in individuals of a national stature to meet and speak with the local populace, but that the R-J does not cover most of these events. I would have pointed out -- that by the own admission of Rogers -- the R-J cannot cover all news generated by local veterans. I would have said that while we appreciate the coverage of national veterans’ news provided by wire services, we would also like to see more local veterans’ news. I would have pointed out that I have identified 63 individual veterans groups in Nevada that my own newspaper covers, and that I understand there is no way Rogers and the R-J can cover all of them. I would have held up a copy of a recent R-J "Guide to Las Vegas" that promoted hospitals and medical topics, outdoor activities, entertainment and restaurants, home improvement, banking and finance, legal aid, childcare, religion, fitness and beauty, automotive, pet care, 50+, gaming, education and culture and area services -- but zero stories on veterans organizations. New residents to the area would look at that guide and never realize they could join a veterans’ organization as a member or as a volunteer, or request no-cost help in seeking veterans benefits or housing or medical care. And because I understand that the R-J staff cannot fully cover veterans’ news or get its arms around the veterans community, I would have again moved to have a veterans column in the R-J once a week, or at least once a month. And I would have offered that the column would not have to be authored by me -- there are many other qualified veterans who could contribute a column of veterans’ news, events, interviews and legislation to the R-J.

Later on the day of the meeting, Zobell sent the vets an Email and wrote that although Mitchell had returned to the R-J while the meeting was still in progress, he was grabbed by the production director to discuss a “pressing problem.”

Despite the best intentions of the best people at the Review-Journal, the paper fails to address reality and allow for more veterans news in its hallowed pages. Local veterans’ generate important news of interest to thousands of residents that seldom is published in the R-J. It could be said that the paper might even increase its readership and circulation numbers by adding important veterans’ stories that would be of exceedingly high interest to a wide number of Southern Nevadans.

How about it, R-J?