That Washington Post Crash Piece: A Dissent

John Judis didn't think much of that piece by Eli Saslow I linked to before, on the survivors of the Red Line crash. He argues that the Washington Post has ignored systemic problems with Metro, and has instead provided its readers with "fluff":

And now in the wake of the Metro crash, how is the newspaper responding?   With a front page fluff piece on three people who survived the crash.  Maybe it's a wonderful piece, a real tear-jerker by an author with the skills of a Tony Lukas or Joan Didion.  I don't know, because I am not wasting my time reading it. I am still waiting for the newspaper to do what local newspapers should do, and get to the bottom of what happened, and do it in a way that will prevent future crashes.

I'm not in a position to argue that the Washington Post has adequately covered problems in the Metro system; Judis makes a strong case that it hasn't.  I don't think, however, that the piece today was "fluff," and I think Judis would see that if he had actually read it before he condemned it. And by the way, bringing the human tragedy of the crash to light can only help spark the outrage necessary to reform the system.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2009/06/that-washington-post-crash-piece-a-dissent/20255/