To the editor:
It can be expected that letters to the editor published in the Times will occasionally contain unfounded claims concerning the president or his opponent in the upcoming election. People, including myself, who write in to the Times are not trained journalists and often have an ax to grind and very strong opinions. But editorials published under the Times masthead should at least strive to avoid unfounded or baseless claims.
That is why I’m surprised that in your editorial “Cape Ann firms deserve fair shake on defense contracts” (Sept. 20), your own editorial staff chose to make just such a claim: “At its core, of course, the Obama administration cares little or nothing about jobs.”
This is an example of the kind of journalism that one might expect from an amateurish operation or perhaps a Murdoch-owned outlet such as Fox News, or the Boston Herald. Further, to my thinking, it tips the hand of the Times and its right-wing bias.
Based on your unfounded and gratuitous aspersion about the administration, I will eagerly await your forthcoming endorsement of Romney, Brown, and Tisei. The Times should more carefully edit its commentary to make sure that when it makes such a damning claim that it is arguably based in fact.
I have read the Times for many years and have, until recent years, held it in high regard. I even delivered the times back in the ’60s. Now I’m afraid that today’s incarnation of this esteemed newspaper causes me to paraphrase from Gilbert & Sullivan’s “The Pirates of Penzance”: There are the remains of a fine newspaper here.
Peter Willwerth
Manchester
