Tricia just learned today that Newsweek printed her letter criticizing them on their Rush Limbaugh story of a few weeks ago. You can find the letter online by clicking here and scrolling down. They edited her letter quite a bit, so I will post her original and their version.
The Original
Newsweek,
I cannot believe it took 11 writers to write the debauchery “I Am Addicted to Prescription Pain Medication."
This entire article is one of the most insensitive, far reaching pieces of journalism I have ever read. I am not a Rush fan, I am not even a registered Republican, and I find your piece unbalanced and completely insensitive to something so many DECENT, hard working, moral Americans find themselves involved in every day – an unwanted addiction to pain killers.
I don’t think Newsweek can get any lower after reading this article. Newsweek’s journalism integrity now matches that of The National Enquirer. Newsweek’s use of name-calling and references that pain killer addiction is parallel to the abuse of illegal substances such as cocaine is appalling. Believe or not, I would have to make a hunch that most people would say pain killer addiction is not the same as a cocaine addiction – but I suppose your reporters feel differently. How insensitive these Newsweek reporters are, this man had unsuccessful surgeries, resulting in utter pain, and painkillers were his only relief – which unfortunately resulted in an addiction. This is not the same as someone going to a party and inserting heroine into his arm just for the heck of it. What’s next? Going after celebrities addicted to nose spray?
Also, I think that Rush’s timing of talking about his addiction was timed correctly. Why should he have told his listeners about this prior to the tabloid’s report? He is not an elected official. He is a private citizen. This is not expected of him, and never should have been.
This article was extremely hypocritical on Newsweek’s behalf. Your reporters must have ice in their veins by taking such low blows.
Tricia Van Ryswyk
Orlando, Fla.
And here is what they printed. . .
I am not a Rush fan—I am not even a Republican—but I find your piece insensitive to what many decent, hardworking and moral Americans find themselves involved in every day: an unwanted addiction to painkillers. That NEWSWEEK compares painkiller addiction to the abuse of illegal substances such as cocaine is appalling. Rush had unsuccessful surgeries resulting in utter pain, and painkillers were his only relief. This dependency unfortunately led to an addiction. This is not the same as someone’s going to a party and inserting a needle into his arm.
Tricia Van Ryswyk
Orlando, Fla.
Since Tricia spends most of her day writing press releases that I never get to read, I always forget what a great writer she is. I can understand editing her letter for brevity, and wanting to remove the disparaging remarks towards them, but I wonder why they took out Registered in front of Republican and why did the Heroin going into someone's arm become a needle? They skipped the best line of the letter when she compared Newsweek with the National Enquirer. If she had only known a week later that the Enquirer would come out with illegal drug allegations against Matt Lauer and that Newsweek would ignore it.
Trish needs a blog.
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