Last week The Orlando Sentinel ran a series of articles written by Maya Bell that was a fine example of the Mainstream media being too lazy or too biased to report anything other than what was written on their fact sheet. Ms. Bell obviously didn't want to bring up points that would make her obvious argument that Terri Schiavo's life was worthless harder to prove. Beth at MY Vast Right Wing Conspiracy and Crystal with Crystal Clear, along with others picked up on one of the articles written by Maya Bell. I posted about the other article, the one less obviously about Terri but equally as sinister. I think we along with others sent emails to both Maya and to the editor.

The letters to the editor referring to the article are out and guess which one got published?!

The ones not written by us. In fact of the numerous responses I am sure they received bashing their obvious bias, the only one that the editors so diligently chose to publish was Dari Entsminger's letter on the article I posted on, "Letting Girl Die was act of love, mother says". Dari is "grateful" for the article in the paper, and writes:

We usually hear about the cases of individuals wanting to continue life-sustaining treatments even though there is no hope of recovery.

As a social worker, I work with individuals and families regarding advanced directives. It isn't an easy topic to discuss and not everyone is open to discuss what measures they would want, if ever they were in a situation that they were unable to speak for themselves.

I believe more articles such as this, showing that it is OK to withdraw life-sustaining treatments, and the peace it brings to the individual and families, will help others who may one day find themselves going through similar life-making decisions for their loved one.

Honestly I could care less about having a letter published to the editor (especially the Orlando Sentinel) but I am disappointed if not entirely suprised by the obvious lack of discourse in their letters to the editor section. I always felt that the letters were there to show other views and shed new facts missed by the reporters, not letters that read like fan mail.

Update: This morning the Orlando Sentinel did an editorial stating that

Gov. Jeb Bush clearly has some intensely personal feelings about whether Terri Schiavo should live or die. But as the top government official in Florida, he also has a well-defined legal obligation to respect her privacy and let the courts decide her fate.

Really? I would've never guessed that the editors felt that way! Again, if I can read a regular report from your paper and already know how the editorial staff feels about the issue, I might want to suggest just a bit more objectivity. It has something to do with a little thing called "credibility" and another thing called "trust". And the Orlando Sentinel is severely lacking in both!