OUT OF STEP WITH REALITY

Your coverage of the Housing Now! March {Metro, Oct. 8} was misleading in a number of ways:

1) The march was national news and should not have been put in Metro. Representatives of groups from across the country came to Washington to demand attention for an issue of national -- not just local -- importance.

2) The picture you ran on your front page indicated a crowd obviously larger than the official estimate of 40,000, which reportedly was based on a tally of out-of-town buses. It ignored the large turnout of local people and the people who came in cars, trains and planes. It was biased reporting to uncritically accept an official estimate so obviously inaccurate.

3) The march was not just to increase housing subsidies, as stated in the second paragraph of your story. The march was intended to put the issues of homelessness, affordable housing and the needs of the poor in general on the agenda.

4) Your story did not indicate the scope of the crowd. For example, it didn't mention marchers who came on foot from New York and from Roanoke (who were very visible). It also ignored the children's march to the Capitol; at the end of that march, red wagons full of letters about the housing situation, which were written by children from all across the country and addressed to the president and Congress, were delivered to House Speaker Tom Foley (D-Wash.).

5) It was demeaning and misleading to call the march a "party-like demonstration" in the fifth paragraph of the story. Yes, marchers shared a spirit of celebration about the demonstration. But this characterization was misleading. Only quotes in the latter part of your story showed how misleading -- but how many people read that far? The marchers not only wanted "TV later, housing now," as you reported, but shouted "Let the homeless speak" when politicians and celebrities dominated the program.

6) The dominant spirit of the march was one of demanding redress in a spirit of love and reconciliation, as illustrated in Jon Voight's opening talk. This went unmentioned, as did the calls for Bush's slogan of a "kinder and gentler nation" to become a reality. This march wasn't just an expression of the grievances of the poor or of class antagonism -- it called for all Americans to become more compassionate.

7) A tremendous amount of organizing went into this event, but your reporter, by giving no background of the march, left readers with the false impression that it was rather spontaneous.

I hope that in future you'll do a more accurate and searching job on the issues. Keep in mind that as we head into another winter, millions won't even be able to write to you because they have no return address. -- Dorothy W. Marschak

Articles appear as they were originally printed in The Washington Post and may not include subsequent corrections.