Determination
23
Minnesota
News Council
In the Matter of the Complaint of
Opperman and McDonough against the Stillwater Gazette
Vance Opperman and William McDonough, staff members for
Gerald Sikorski's 1976 state senate campaign, complained that the publisher
manipulated the newspaper's letters-to-the-editor policy in order to
oppose Sikorski's candi-dacy and support his opponent.
Background: In the spring of 1976, Sikorski
entered the state senate race in District 51 as DFL candidate. In
mid-August, the incumbent Republican senator announced he was retiring,
and David Mills entered the race as a Republican candidate. Phil Easton,
the newspaper's publisher, served on Mills' campaign committee and
helped underwrite Mills' campaign expenses with a $5,000 personal
loan.
Following publication of a letter criticizing Sikorski
in the spring, the paper refused to print a letter in Sikorski's support,
citing a policy of not publishing letters naming political candidates
or officeholders. A second letter was rejected on the same grounds,
and an announcement of the letters policy was printed on the letters
page.
Several weeks later the paper disregarded its own
policy and began printing letters critical of Sikorski. Seven anti-Sikorski
letters were printed, including several containing serious allegations
regarding his previous activities as campaign manager for a United
States representative. The paper printed two letters from McDonough
refuting the charges, but no other letters supporting Sikorski. The
paper also refused to print an authorized but unsigned letter from
a U.S. representative defending Sikorski.
Determination of the Council: Newspapers must
impose reasonable controls over letters columns as to the frequency
with which some topics are discussed, fair representation of all viewpoints,
letter length. But application of the control policy must be fair
and consistent, and the policy must be made clear to the public. In
the past, the Council has suggested that periodic reiteration of such
policies, in print, would serve as the best means of clarifying these
policies to the public.
It is acceptable for newspapers to adopt blanket
policies prohibiting publication of candidacy support letters during
election campaigns as long as the policy is announced to the public,
as the newspaper's policy was. However, if the policy changes, the
change should be clearly announced to the public. And if candidacy
letters are to be printed as letters to the editor, the editor must
be fair to all candidates in publishing such material. Good journalism
requires that letters columns be open to views contrary to those of
the publisher's.
The newspaper changed its policy without fairly advising
the public and then manipulated its policy, causing the paper to discriminate
against Sikorski's candidacy. Application of the new policy was not
fair to him. A far greater number of letters in favor of Sikorski's
opponent or against him as a candidate were printed than vice versa.
If candidate letters are printed as letters to the editor, the editor
must make every effort to be fair to all candidates in publishing
such material. The fact that the publisher helped to underwrite Sikorski's
opponent's campaign expenses and chose not to publicly report his
financial involvement until late in the campaign only serves to reinforce
his obligation of fair and equal treatment for his candidate's opponent
on the use of the letter-to-the-editor space.
If a newspaper has an open letter-to-the-editor policy,
it should make sure that the letters it publishes represent fairly
the diversity of opinion on each issue. Good journalism requires that
letter-to-the-editor columns be open to views contrary to those of
the publisher. Since letters attacking Sikorski were printed, Sikorski's
staff and supporters should have been allowed to respond to the allegations
being made against him.
The complaint against the paper is upheld.
November 18, 1976
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