Go to the mobile version of this Web site.

Login | Contact Us | Site Map | Paid archives | Electronic edition | Subscription Questions | Extras

TEMPLE: Readers, we're seeking a dialogue

By John Temple, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published May 2, 2008 at 11 p.m.

Text size  
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright has expressed many opinions that created controversy for his former parishioner and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Photo by Brendan Smialowski / Bloomberg News

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright has expressed many opinions that created controversy for his former parishioner and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

More News Columns & Blogs

More stories »

Monday marked my 10th anniversary as editor of this newspaper.

A lot has changed over that time. But one question keeps coming up when I'm out in the community, and that's whether all the views published in the Rocky Mountain News reflect my own.

It's as if I have my own Rev. Wright problem.

OK, my situation isn't as bad as Barack Obama's.

But just as many Americans are outraged by Wright's statements, some Coloradans are personally offended by opinions we choose to publish. The words color their view not just of the writer, but also of the newspaper - and me.

They ascribe the opinions to me, just as Wright's views are hung on Obama.

How could you let something like that be printed in your paper? How could you agree with it? How could you associate yourself with it?

Here's the short answer: I don't agree with many of the opinions we publish.

It would be a boring newspaper if I did.

We make a deliberate attempt to print a wide range of views. If we published only those with which I agree, I think our newspaper would be dull. If we reined in every writer to make sure they were "reasonable," their words would be pablum.

I can't read everything we plan to put in the paper before it's published. Nor do I try. That goes for opinion as well as news. So there are days that I wake up in the morning and, like you, read columns or letters to the editor with which I strongly disagree. Occasionally, I find the opinion so off base, or even offensive, that I question whether it should have been published at all.

Sometimes, even the opinions of some of our regular columnists baffle me.

For example, in a column Tuesday with the headline, "A nation of hysterics," University of Colorado law professor Paul Campos wrote that the typical American suburb is "full of terrified people."

Granted, some Americans overestimate the danger from crime. But does anyone really believe that Americans residing in suburbs, where, after all, they are not forced to live, are "terrified?" I know Campos is one smart guy, but yes, I'm put off by that grossly distorted view of suburban life.

Campos argued that the fear is created by "profit-hungry 'news' outlets, for whom the bottom line is that fear sells." Note to the law professor: This newspaper is a for-profit publication. I don't see him posting his articles for free. We pay him, just as we hope to be paid by you, even if in both cases the recipient might not believe that enough cash changes hands.

Other opinion spinners display a confidence that's amazing to behold. How about Mike Rosen, the conservative KOA radio host who appears on Fridays?

A recent column by him wasn't about a nation of hysterics. It went even further. His headline was "Global warming hysteria." (To be fair to Mike, he doesn't write his own headlines. But the headline accurately reflected the tone of his column.)

"Count me among the global warming skeptics," he wrote. "If I'm still around in a hundred years, I'll delight in saying, 'I told you so.' "

OK, Mike: It's fine to be a skeptic. But how can you be so sure of yourself when judging a field requiring so much scientific expertise?

Mike and Paul know what prompts a strong response. And that's strong opinion, even sometimes over-the-top opinion.

Our goal isn't to publish outrageous opinions to stir things up. But in the letters and columns we choose, we seek to stimulate a lively dialogue, to challenge thinking on both sides, to expose readers to an array of views.

A problem today is that many Americans live in an echo chamber. (Note: That's my possibly overly broad opinion.) With the Web, they can haunt only those sites that reinforce their beliefs.

Our newspaper should expose readers to opinions they may not have considered. If it does, of course, it's sometimes going to make your blood boil.

Don't take it personally.

But if you do, I promise you, sometimes I can't believe what our writers are saying, either.

John Temple can be reached at editor@RockyMountainNews.com or by mail at 101 W. Colfax Ave., Suite 500, Denver, CO 802020.

Comments

  • May 3, 2008

    11:14 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    HolierThanThou writes:

    Thank you RMN for publishing my outrageous opinions and wise cracks.

    And if it wasn't for your publishing the opinions of idiots who disagree with me, I'd have nothing to say.

  • May 3, 2008

    4:29 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    me2 writes:

    Please keep publishing our posts, this is as close to an old Western barroom brawl as many of us will ever get. Throwing virtual chairs out the window.

  • May 4, 2008

    6:40 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    samsmargolis writes:

    "They ascribe the opinions to me, just as Wright's views are hung on Obama."

    Not really, Temple. While I have no doubt there are people in Colorado who don't have the capacity to sort the business relationship you have with the columnists and opinion writers for the RMN from your individual position, to compare your situation with Obama is a pretty outrageous leap of logic. Obama has a personal and spiritual relationship with Wright (note that I said "has" because there can be no disowning of the man - kicking to the curb, maybe - but no disowning) that has lasted for over two decades. You have contracts and business relationships with the writers. You don't have your "own Reverend Wright problem," you have an undeserved martyr complex. What you do have is a condescending attitude like Obama. If you wanted to take a gratuitous shot at Campos and Rosen, you didn't have to wrap yourself in a cloak of martyrdom and try to make it all about how the public picks on you and just can't possibly understand how a newspaper works. Step up to the freakin' plate with a newly discovered pair in your pants and call Campos and Rosen out. Obama is a lightweight where personal responsibility and accountability are concerned, that much is obvious. Personally, I wouldn't work overtime trying to associate myself to him and his situation(s) - especially when it doesn't make sense in the first place.