Letters to the editor: fact or fiction?
The Chronicle's policy on letters to the editor is lacking one big requirement: letters should have some basis in fact:
I look for letters on a variety of topics to keep the column interesting, and I try to give a balanced view by choosing those letters with diverse opinions.
On most days, the column is a reflection of the letters that came in the day before. It is not necessary to be a Chronicle subscriber to have your letter selected for printing in Viewpoints, but it is necessary to comply with the letters policy by providing your name, address and telephone numbers (for verification purposes). This information is not printed with your letter.
If a letter doesn't include this information, it won't get very far in the selection process. Many otherwise usable letters are also rejected because they are too long. The ones with the best chance of being printed are the short ones - written concisely and succinctly on one topic.
According to Outlook editor Judy Minshew, letters should have diversity; name, address and telephone numbers; and brevity. How about some facts or truth? Well, those are not actually listed as requirements. And that can become a problem, as evidenced by a letter that appeared last week which actually misstated District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal's position on the HPD crime lab (later a correction was issued, thanks to Kevin's prodding), and by this whopper in today's paper:
It is agreed that there is a jobs drain and that new jobs are paying less. Most of those who are out of work are highly skilled and highly educated. It is common knowledge, too, that there is a shortage of teachers. Why don't we have a federal program to subsidize teachers' pay and to lure the surplus of educated and skilled workers into the teaching profession?
I would rather see billions spent on that than on fighting a war to free up the world's second-largest oil reserve.
MANUEL CASTREJANA
Houston
Whoa! Manuel, Manuel, that's a whole lot of agreeing and common knowledge that isn't borne out by the facts, sir.
I have already mentioned that the Chronicle folks need to become best friends with Google, but we now need to add to that - Factcheck.org. This is a handy site, occasionally a tad left-leaning, but generally fair and very good with FACTS.
New jobs are paying less? Uh, no. Job drain? I take that to mean outsourcing, a new and favorite bad word among some on the Left and in the media. Again, no. Insourcing outweighs outsourcing. Factcheck.org also points out that the majority of new jobs being created are considered higher-paying jobs. But when it comes to jobs, statistics are hard to gather and interpret, which leaves them open to distortion, on both sides. Factcheck.org says that the job picture has always had peaks and valleys and is currently on the improving side.
Nationwide, the U.S. spends over $850 billion per year on education, which is primarily a local and state issue. And that's where the majority of the funding should and does come from. President Bush has increased the Department of Education funding from about $40 billion per year (under President Clinton's last budget) to over $60 billion for this last fiscal year. The Iraq war has cost the US (including reconstruction costs) about $120 billion so far.
As for a teacher shortage, schools that provide good administrative support, have good community support and have low disciplinary problems tend to have better teacher retention. Schools that have problems in those areas tend to have more trouble recruiting and retaining teachers. That's just common sense. And there are already many programs out there to recruit teachers.
This letter may be all that Minshew believes, because it parrots many of the old media's favorite talking points, but it is filled with distortions and falsehoods. Chronicle readers should expect that even if a letter extols a certain point of view, it's not filled with easily disproven "facts."
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 10/16/04 10:31 AM | Print | Comments (3)
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