Source: Houston Chronicle 
Contact:  
Pubdate: Sat, 10 Jan 1998
Website: http://www.chron.com/

AVOIDING SENSATIONALISM

Regarding "Addict charged with murder: Man held without bail in killing
that followed sexual assault" (Metropolitan, Jan. 8): Why didn't the
reporter include statistics regarding murders committed by drug addicts to
reassure the public that events like this are vanishingly rare?

Clearly, such murders, albeit tragic for the people directly involved, are
not worth an article in a newspaper.

The Chronicle would be more useful if it avoided sensationalism in favor of
news that has an important effect on our lives.

Thomas L. Wayburn, Houston