I sent the following a few minutes ago to [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Dear News Editor,
Tonight I watched the Nightly News with Tom Brokaw. This is a favorite network nightly news program of mine. One item on Mt. Etna, reported by Brian Williams, told us that a new crater 66 feet in diameter had opened up and that the lava flow stopped 50 m from a refuge station. Since "66 feet" is obviously a conversion of the 20 m figure reported by the Italians, why didn't you just say the new crater was 20 m in diameter? I applaud your increased use of metric units since we Americans are now literate and educated enough to understand them. (Were there very many complaints about the Summer Games in Australia being broadcast in metric units a couple of years ago?). Please be consistent and just stick with metric units --- especially when reporting news from non-US (and thus, metric) sources. LIkewise when reporting news in on our forces in the Middle East, since those U.S. forces work in metric. We can handle it! And thanks for your use of metric units in your reporting! regards, James R. Frysinger College of Charleston home: 10 Captiva Row Charleston, SC 29407 843.225.0805
