WaPo and NYT see the blood in the water, but still won't look for its source; can't they remember the "five Ws and an H"?

In Saturday's mainstream media papers, NYT reporter Adam Nagourney serves up "Kerry Might Pay Price for Failing to Strike Back Quickly," while WaPo's Jim VandeHei brings us "Group to Air Ad Attacking Kerry's 1971 Testimony."

Both seem surprised and puzzled that the SwiftVets vs. Kerry controversy has proved, at least, that it "has legs."  Writes NYT's Nagourney,

A CBS News poll found that support for Mr. Kerry among veterans has declined markedly since the convention, and some Democrats said they believed that the attacks had at the least slowed whatever momentum Mr. Kerry enjoyed after his convention.

The question now is whether his response came in time.

Mr. Kerry's aides said the candidate's decision to confront the questions had undercut the accusations and put the White House on the defensive by forcing Mr. Bush's political aides to deny that he had orchestrated the attack.

Still, more than a few Democrats expressed surprise on Friday that a campaign that has made such a point of presenting itself as aggressive and fast-footed had let this story go on unattended for so long.

And from WaPo's VandeHei:

Yesterday [Friday], Kerry did not respond to the new allegations [in the SwiftVets' second ad], although aides said his testimony was directed at military leadership, not the soldiers fighting in Vietnam. The Kerry campaign filed a legal challenge against the veterans group, alleging it is illegally colluding with the Bush campaign. Aides denounced the president and his aides for what they called a smear campaign.

Debate over war and protests three decades ago drowned out discussion of issues such as Iraq, terrorism, the economy and health care. It is dominating the strategy sessions of the two campaigns and changing the political calculations of both parties.

Kerry hoped to focus on domestic matters but finds himself plotting a response to a veterans group that did not even exist a few months ago over an issue he thought had died. He has been forced to spend money and valuable time responding. Kerry talked with aides throughout the day about a strategy to put the issue of his Vietnam service and protests to rest.

Now, I'm no professional journalist.  But I seem to recall something from my distinguished service on the Lamesa High School newspaper staff in 1974 about "five Ws and an H" — with none of those Ws being the sitting President's middle initial. 

Specifically, Messrs. Nagourney and VandeHei might have found something newsworthy — something that would help cure their puzzlement — if they'd asked, and found the answers to, this "W-question": 

Why is the Democratic Party's nominee bleeding so profusely over a story that has been almost ignored by WaPo and NYT?  Why haven't our efforts to pooh-pooh and ignore this whole controversy carried the day?

Or maybe another related "W-question":

What are the prospective voters who are changing these polling numbers coming to understand that the mainstream media has missed?

And then there's this "W-question" that might shed some light on the controversy:

Who wrote up the reports upon the basis of which Navy brass awarded those five medals to young Kerry in a four-month tour on the Swift Boats?  Who was promoting Kerry's medal prospects, and was it in fact the same person to whom the medals ended up going (at least before those/someone's medals/ribbons went over a Capitol fence)?

Or this "W-question":

When did young Kerry enter Cambodia — to drop off guns or SEALs or spooks or special forces — if, as his campaign has admitted, if it wasn't on the Christmas Eve that he'd so long claimed was "seared — seared into [his] memory"?

That leaves the last "W-question": 

Where is Sen. Kerry's signed Standard Form 180, which would allow the release of the remaining source documents (full backup from the citations, full medical records, full after-action reports, full performance evaluations) from the Navy, and where can the press and the public find young Kerry's war diaries that have heretofore been available only to his pet biographer Douglas Brinkley?

Finally, of course, there's the "double-H-question," which Messrs. Nagourney and VandeHei ought to direct to themselves and their fellow professionals at NYT, WaPo, LAT, etc.:

How the hell did we mainstream media outlets get left so far behind on this issue that's obviously having a major influence on the 2004 Presidential election?

I've lost my original notes from my high school newspaper staff days, but I'm pretty sure I'm remembering this journalistic guideline correctly.  Five Ws and an H.  Mr. Nagourney, Mr. VandeHei, you should feel free to print out this post and tuck a copy in each of your respective wallets if it'll help you remember them.  While you have your printer on, you might also want to print out these three questions from Captain Ed to take with you to your next Kerry press conference.