| Complaint |
Hearing
#
Year |
Decision |
Media |
Description |
| Anonymity
policy |
#2
1972
|
Upheld |
Thief
River Falls Times |
Name
withheld, as requested, on published letter, but then released
to government official he critically wrote about |
| 2nd
and subsequent letters |
#4
1973
|
Not
Upheld |
Rochester
Post-Bulletin |
Paper
charged with suppressing public opinion by not accepting 2nd letter
from one writer or further letters on a topic |
| Lack
of access |
#12
1974
|
Upheld |
Dakota
County Tribune |
Precinct
chair says he was Not Upheld fair access to respond to an open
letter critical of him |
| Editing
of letters |
#13
1974
|
Not
Upheld |
Minneapolis
Tribune |
Newspaper
unfairly edited and deleted portions of a letter without informing
writer (letter had been solicited from writer as a means of satisfying
complaint over previous story) |
| Lack
of access |
#20
1976
|
Not
Upheld |
St.
Paul Pioneer Press |
Complainant
says he was arbitrarily Not Upheld access to letters column and
that paper refused to print divergent views not in sympathy with
editor's viewpoint |
| Publisher
manipulated letters |
#23
1977
|
Upheld |
Stillwater
Evening Gazette |
Publisher
manipulated letters policy in order to oppose a candidacy |
| Inconsistent
policies, alterations |
#24
1977
|
Upheld
Upheld
Not
Upheld
|
Brainerd
Daily Dispatch |
•
Unreasonable, inconsistent policies on letters column
• Altered letters to give respectability to writers
• Refused letters disagreeing with editor's viewpoint
|
| Lack
of access, 2nd letter |
#30
1978
|
Not
Upheld* |
St.
Paul Dispatch |
Complainant
responded to letter in column, first writer responded back, complainant
was then not allowed to respond again to reiterate his point |
| Lack
of access |
#32
1978
|
Upheld |
Catholic
Bulletin |
Woman
Not Upheld opportunity to respond to a letter critical of her
because her letter was deemed to be one-sided and pejorative |
| Lack
of access |
#36/37
1979
|
Upheld* |
Minneapolis
Tribune & Star |
Minnesotans
Against the Downtown Dome complained that letter was refused;
paper objected to portions of it and would publish only if those
portions were deleted |
| Lack
of access |
#48
1983
|
Not
Upheld* |
Stillwater
Evening Gazette |
Unfairly
Not Upheld pro-nuclear freeze proponents access and attached editor's
notes to two letters it did publish |
| Lack
of access |
#51
1983
|
-- |
Austin
Daily Herald |
Not
Upheld political supporters access to letters column |
| Lack
of access in last-minute election letters |
#56
1985
|
-- |
Dodge
County Independent |
Complaint
of candidate letter raising new issues in last issue before election |
| Editing
of letter, rejection of letter |
#61
1985
|
--
Upheld
|
Waconia
Patriot, Norwood Times, Carver County News |
-
Letter of political support edited down
-
Letter responding to ad unfairly Not Upheld in last week
|
| Amount
of editing of letter |
#65
1987
|
Not
Upheld* |
Albert
Lea Evening Tribune |
Letter
improperly edited |
| Improper
editing restrictions on letter |
#69
1987
|
Not
Upheld |
Star
Tribune |
Paper
refused to publish letter with the restriction that it not be
edited (letter in response to alleged inaccuracies in news story) |
| Editor's
notes appended to letters |
#71
1988
|
Upheld |
Pope
County Tribune |
Editor's
notes attached to letters in response to news articles were argumentative
and inappropriate |
| Diminished
access, untimely |
#84
1990
|
Not
Upheld
Upheld
|
Tri-County
Record |
-
Paper unfairly published only 2 of 7 letters
-
Long delay in publishing letter related to column
|
| Political
letter writer not identified properly |
#95
1992
|
Upheld |
Stillwater
Evening Gazette |
Campaign
manager not identified as such in letter supporting candidate |
| Publication
of misleading campaign letter |
#97
1993
|
Upheld |
NorthWest
News |
Candidate
charges that newspaper published a misleading letter that implied
he was an atheist, although the editor knew he was not |
| Editing
of letter |
#99
1993
|
Upheld |
City
Pages |
St.
Paul Port Authority charges that paper unfairly cut its letter
to the editor from 8 pages to a few paragraphs, substantially
altering its meaning |
| Lack
of access to letters column |
#100
1994
|
Upheld |
Worthington
Daily Globe |
Paper
refused to publish letters critical of paper's decision to run
results of an anonymous "survey" on racial attitudes
of area resident's |
| Improper
solicitation of letters to the editor |
#104
1995
|
Not
Upheld |
Brainerd
Daily Dispatch |
County
commissioner complained that the newspaper editor acted improperly
when he privately solicited letters to the editor from a select
group of citizens. |
| Letter
inappropriately excerpted in news story |
#117
1997 |
Not
Upheld
Upheld
|
Duluth
News Tribune |
Director
of museum complained that paper acted unethically when it included
in a news story excerpts from a as-yet-unpublish letter to the
editor |
| Unfair
use of letters column during campaign gave opponenet advantage |
122
1999
|
Upheld |
Morris
Sun/Tribune |
Provided
space on letters page after deadline, didn't publish some letters |
| Paper
was unfair in handling letters to editor during campaign |
124
1999
|
Not
Upheld |
Eden
Prairie News |
Papers
did not run all letters of support, didn't have letters policy |
| Unfair
editing of letter |
134
2002
|
Upheld |
Brooklyn
Center/Brooklyn Park Sun-Post |
School
board chair contends her letter to the editor in response to a
critical story about her was unfairly edited. |
