Simple Past Test vs Past Perfect

Further to my earlier posting on the above subject, I again sent an email on August 24 to The Editor of The Star's Mind Our English as follows receiving no response:-
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The past perfect or pluperfect tense serves only to place a narration in the 'more distant past,' without determining its particular time or duration' as explained in http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Pluperfect_tense.
The above rule is often seen to have been violated in newspapers, and below is one of them.
The New Straits Times had on July 23 revealed that the judge had not provided written grounds of judgment in at least 30 criminal and civil cases (in NST Online » Frontpage 2007/08/23) where the 'had' immediately after 'The New Straits Times' should be redundant (since the action of revealing was done at a particular time in the past on July 23).
Shouldn't such rule be observed at all times lest the public especially students be misled?
Regards, Kengt, Penang
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