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Dianne Hardisty: Times' cold shoulder causes handwringing
| Thursday, Jul 24 2008 7:01 PM
Last Updated: Friday, Jul 25 2008 8:29 AM
If you think the New York Times' decision not to publish an opinion article written by Republican presidential candidate John McCain caused a political firestorm, it pales in comparison to the handwringing it caused among the nation's opinion editors.
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As a group, we are prone to handwringing and over analyzing ourselves. But the dustup over The Times' handling of two articles publishing one by Democrat Barack Obama and rejecting a response by McCain is not a shining moment in Opinion section history. On Wednesday, The Californian published both articles side by side in its Opinion section.
"Printing the op-ed pieces by McCain and Obama was a 'gift' to the voters of Kern County," wrote Caroline Reid of Bakersfield. "Hearing about The New York Times refusing to print McCain's piece but printing Obama's was one thing. Finding them in our local newspaper was another.
"To be able to read these opinion pieces, side by side, by the two candidates was an educational adventure for the voting public. If voters do not read and digest the actual words of the candidates on one of the most important issues of the upcoming election, they are missing an opportunity for unbiased information gathering."
Too bad David Shipley, editor of The Times' Op-Ed page, didn't see it that way. He told McCain to rewrite his article, suggesting McCain "lay out a clear plan for achieving victory (in Iraq) with troop levels, timetables and measures for compelling the Iraqis to cooperate."
Instead, McCain's article and the e-mail exchange with Shipley, were posted on the Internet's The Drudge Report.
Tucker Bounds, a spokesman for the McCain campaign, explained, "John McCain believes that victory in Iraq must be based on conditions on the ground, not arbitrary timetables. ... Unlike Barack Obama, that position will not change based on politics or the demands of The New York Times."
Editors step onto a slippery slope when they decide to publish the opinions of political candidates. In fairness, they should publish challengers' responses.
In an e-mail exchange between the nation's opinion editors, Dave Smalley, op/ed editor at the Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Va., slammed The Times, saying rejection of McCain's article reflected poorly on the newspaper's professionalism "and by extension, on our industry as a whole, at least in the eyes of the general public.
"The fact that Shipley worked for Bill Clinton makes it all the more embarrassing for us, the allegedly objective purveyors of news and opinion," he wrote.
"The Times backed themselves in a corner when they published Obama's essay in the first place. If I had done that, I would have felt more obligated to run something from McCain, even if I didn't consider it to be a particularly good piece. Asking McCain to work on an edit was reasonable, but probably not having him redo the entire thing," wrote Alleen Barber, news editor of the editorial page at Newsday.
It's not unusual for opinion editors to ask contributors to revise their articles or to refuse to publish them altogether. Contributions frequently exceed The Californian's 250-word letter to the editor limit or 500-word Community Voices limit. They are returned to be condensed.
As the outrage grew this week over McCain's article, I was going back and forth with Kern High School District trustee Chad Vegas. We had asked him to write an article explaining his disclosure that he would set aside his oath of office if it conflicted with his religious beliefs. The disclosure came during an exchange with Kern County Board of Supervisors over issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
We asked Vegas to explain how his religious beliefs affect his decisionmaking as an elected public school trustee. Vegas contends his position was misrepresented in news stories and editorials.
We would not agree to publishing Vegas' article sight-unseen. And we insisted he stick to the subject his oath, not his opposition to same-sex marriage. We did agree to allow him to approve editing before publication.
Vegas' article will appear on Monday's Opinion page. Only minor copy editing changes were required. He stuck to the topic and created an article readers will likely find compelling.
E-mail Dianne Hardisty at dhardisty@bakersfield.com.