While almost all of the dates are printed in black, the calendar on my wall shows June 6 in red, along with Father’s Day and Flag Day.
June 6, as most of us know, is D-Day, the date in 1944 that the Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy, France.
Thousands lost their lives, but their sacrifice began a march across Europe and the defeat of Adolf Hitler.
We publish a story commemorating D-Day every year, and have for 68 years. Most years, the story appears on June 6, while some years it might appear on June 7 and report on events that marked the anniversary. This year, we published stories on both June 6 and June 7.
For some, that wasn’t enough.
“I was quite shocked ... when I saw there was nothing in honor of the veterans on the front page,” wrote Hazel Reynolds of Whitehall. “Was this an oversight? I don't think so, when I saw there was an article on the third page regarding a geologist who had found shrapnel of the invasion on the beach at Normandy on June 6, 1944. I personally would like to see some kind of an apology for not recognizing our veterans who died during the invasion. This may be a little late, but it still should be done.”
The second story focused on an event in Washington, D.C., at the World War II memorial, where 200 veterans were flown in and recognized.
Danny Goodwin, our news editor who was off that week (as was I), read the paper and thought readers would be satisfied with how we marked this important day in history. So did I. There was nothing unusual about this year’s anniversary (it wasn’t the 50th or 75th, for example) to warrant heightened coverage.
Alas, we were reminded that you cannot please everyone. We’ll do our best next year.
We’ve received a number of complaints from readers about poor print quality lately.
We want you to know that we are focused on resolving this irritating situation. We believe we’ve identified the problem in our printing process and are moving swiftly to fix it. We appreciate your patience. Trust that no one is more frustrated with this than we are.
Nancy Petro, an author and the wife of former Attorney General Jim Petro, sent us a note on Twitter: “Thanks for the Dispatch's dedication to justice.”
Our reporting in recent years has led to the release of four men from prison for crimes they did not commit. Jim Petro, now chancellor of the Board of Regents, was outspoken in his call for reforms to state laws regarding DNA evidence.
The timing of Nancy Petro’s note was serendipitous, I thought, given that it came as state lawmakers were addressing a couple of issues exposed by recent Dispatch reporting projects. Our extensive reporting on human trafficking and concussions in young athletes led to changes in state law that should help protect Ohioans from harm.
Public service reporting is a priority for us. It is rewarding when our efforts result in changes like these.
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Benjamin J. Marrison is editor of The Dispatch. You can read his blog at dispatch.com/blogs.
@dispatcheditor