Pubdate: Sun, 11 Mar 2001 Source: Sacramento Bee (CA) Copyright: 2001 The Sacramento Bee Contact: P.O.Box 15779, Sacramento CA 95852 Feedback: http://www.sacbee.com/about_us/sacbeemail.html Website: http://www.sacbee.com/ Forum: http://www.sacbee.com/voices/voices_forum.html Section : The Ombudsman Author : Sanders LaMont FROM POT TO PITY, READERS DIDN'T LIKE WHAT THEY SAW A lot of readers had a lot to say about the newspaper last week. Reader Jan Volker, a family therapist in Fair Oaks, believes The Bee ignored important information about public health issues in the coverage of the recent lengthy "medical marijuana" legal case. As a result, she feels the public could have been misled. The issue was raised by the coverage of the trial of Steve and Michele Kubby, a trial which ended after four months with the marijuana charges dropped and convictions on other drug charges reduced to misdemeanors. The trial's outcome was seen as a major victory by proponents of the medical use of marijuana in California. Marijuana, Volker said, is not a medically proven treatment for illness, despite this trial, and is believed to be harmful by her peers who deal with addictive behavior. She said the marijuana available today is much stronger than that which was available in the past, it has negative impact on the body's immune systems, and it "shuts down the brain." There are better legal drugs available in almost all cases, she said. That information, readily available from counseling and medical experts, never made it into The Bee's stories, she said. There was a reason the stories did not deal with the contrary medical claims. The lengthy trial never dealt with the medical issues directly. Two doctors who were prepared to testify about nonmarijuana medical options for the prosecution were blocked from testifying. The judge said it was not up to the jury to determine what medical options were best, or available, but only to deal with California law and the charges against the Kubbys. Both Kubby and a defense witness, a doctor, testified that in his case marijuana had beneficial effects. Not part of the legal debate But the claims Volker wanted The Bee to examine were not debated at the trial, and as a result were not part of the news stories. The Bee did report, in a separate story published in February, that the state is now undertaking a three-year study on the use of marijuana as a medicine. That study has not yet begun. Assistant Managing Editor Scott Lebar gives Volker credit for raising a legitimate question about the medical impact of marijuana, and he says The Bee needs to examine the claims and report back on the health issues in more detail. The political argument was decided at the polls four years ago, when Californians voted to allow medical use of marijuana. The legal issues raised by the Kubby case were settled in court. But the medical debate is not over, and the public needs to know if medical science supports the law, the passion and the politics. Of speeches, ink and maps Here's a sampling of other reader comments. The Bee should run the full text of presidential speeches, not just refer to the text provided on The Bee's Website. The reader pointed out Internet access is not always practical, and she expects the newspaper to provide information. Comment: With the current economic conditions putting the squeeze on space in the paper, that is not likely to happen often. The Bee should quickly print the names of the Sacramento police officers involved in the fatal shooting three weeks ago. The reader suggested The Bee was bowing to pressure from the police, or needed to assign a more aggressive reporter to the police beat. Comment: The names ran at mid-week, immediately after the police department released them under legal pressure from The Bee. Those messy ink smears seemed to reappear on Bee pages last weekend, and several readers called or sent in samples of pages with ink blobs that made reading difficult. Comment: Customers should not receive papers with splotches and tears. Occasional smudges from ink transferred from other pages will continue until the current technology is updated, not a likely prospect anytime soon. Several readers noticed that a map inset published in Forum last week eliminated Placer County and replaced it with El Dorado, and missed some schools along the way. Comment: The source provided the flawed map insert, but The Bee should have spotted it and had it fixed before publication. A frustrated local sports fan felt The Bee is neglecting local sports news and pays too much attention to professionals. His recent example was the results of the March of Dimes basketball tournament. Comment: The tournament was announced in a brief item in sports, but was not covered. Other non-sports March of Dimes fund-raising events during the year were covered in a similar manner, usually in Scene. Another sports fan felt The Bee neglects small schools that do well if they are a few too many miles out of town. We want recognition, too, he said. Comment: Editors understand that, but the appetite for recognition far outreaches the newspaper's capacity to deliver it. "Another pity story"? Several readers complained last Sunday about a Page 1 feature about a young mother's struggles to overcome adversity. One was angry at what she called "another pity story on the front page." She compared it to the National Enquirer, believed it should have been in the Metro section and felt far too much space was given the story -- space that should have gone to adequate national news that day, she said. Comment: The story was a well written and very long narrative about the struggles of a young family to overcome adversity. I think such stories are necessary for readers to understand their communities, and the times in which we live, and Bee editors consistently put such stories on the front page when they feel they are well done. Had it not taken up so much space in the main news section, I doubt many readers would have complained. Still another reader felt Bee editors should have put the fatal crash of a U.S. military plane on the front page, instead of inside the main news section. Comment: By some standards, given the television exposure, the military crash was old news by the time the newspaper got to your doorstep. But some readers consider such stories big news because of the military angle, even though similar civilian accidents are common. Several Internet users experienced problems with AccessBee, The Bee's Internet service provider, or questioned recent changes in the service. Comment: For a quick response to questions or problems with Internet access on The Bee's system, contact Jim Bonfield, the on-line business development manager, at Finally, several readers reacted to the discussion in this column last week of The Bee's play on the story about the Florida recount conducted by the Miami Herald. The reactions were as diverse as the readers. A few said The Bee's liberal bias was obviously to blame, and anyone who disagreed with that was wrong. A few others said The Bee was so worried about conservative critics that the story was overplayed, the recount was meaningless and the newspaper was just a tool of corporate American interests. One reader was so frustrated, he left this mixed-metaphor message as his final comment: "You don't have to be a rocket surgeon to figure it out!" THE OMBUDSMAN deals with complaints and concerns about The Sacramento Bee's content. His opinions are his own. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom