To the Editor:
Dan Merica and The Washington Post should be ashamed of the way they framed their story about Lt. Col. David Flippo (Ret). Lt. Col. Flippo earned a Bronze Star. His record also includes an Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with Valor. Those are separate awards, and Lt. Col. Flippo’s campaign says staff confused them in campaign materials.
The Post had every right to investigate a candidate’s military record. But there is a world of difference between asking fair questions and publishing a story designed to leave readers with the most damaging possible impression. The article reports that the inaccurate wording appeared more than once. That deserves scrutiny. It does not erase the distinction between Lt. Col. Flippo’s real Bronze Star and a separate unit award, and it does not give the Post license to blur that distinction while inviting readers to view him as a fraud.
Dan Merica is a radical left leaning political reporter. His published biography describes a career in journalism and does not identify any military service. If he has served, The Post should say so. If he has not, he should have the honesty to disclose that before taking aim at a veteran’s record. He is free to report on military awards, of course. But the public deserves to know whether the person scrutinizing a veteran’s service has any firsthand experience with the institution he is judging. Apparently, firsthand experience is optional when you’re writing from the newsroom about someone else’s record. If Merica has never served, readers can judge for themselves how much weight to give this coward’s lecture on a veteran’s service.
That omission is especially galling when the story’s framing risks diminishing an award Lt. Col. Flippo actually earned. A reporter can demand precision from a candidate. The same standard should apply to the reporter. Explain the two awards clearly. Attribute the campaign’s explanation. Give readers the facts without dressing the story up as a verdict on a veteran’s character.
This is not courageous journalism. It is easy to cast suspicion on a veteran from behind a byline, especially when readers are not given the author’s own connection to military service. The Post should correct the impression its story created, and this coward Merica should answer for why he chose a framing that inflames more than it informs.
Robert M. Cornicelli
National President
Veterans for America First
