War and the letters page: who's counting? With letters running against the war, editors wrestle...

While editorial-page takes on the war in Iraq have been mixed, a sampling of letters to the editor around the country shows that they were dominated by those opposed to the war. CJR polled letters-page editors at ten papers of various sizes and locations during the weeks of March 11, March 24,

Once the fighting started, four of the editors reported no change in opinion, while another four said that the ratio between pro and antiwar writers had tightened, but not reversed. Editors at the Ocala Star-Banner and The Syracuse Post-Standard noted that the opinions in the letters had become more complicated, with many writers expressing support for the troops while still not fully backing the war. The end of the war brought little change.

Perhaps more interesting than those ratios, however, were the editorial decisions about which letters to publish. Some editors published the letters in proportion to what was received, while others tried to balance letters from opposing sides equally despite the imbalance of what was submitted. All the editors emphasized that their papers' policy was to try to be objective. What's a fair-minded editor to do? To those outside the newsroom who have no way of knowing the volume or content of letters, either tactic can be misleading. Publishing the letters in a way that reflects what comes in may not accurately delineate the range of opinion in the community (angry folks tend to be more inclined to write), but creating an artificial balance to avoid bias charges seems even more distorted. And only smaller papers can publish all the letters, or even excerpts from each. Here's a suggestion that could help: a simple editors' note explaining the letters-selection process.

         Paper                    Week of 3/11         Week of 3/24

Austin American-Statesman     Slightly more antiwar        Same
Chicago Tribune                  7:3 (anti:pro)            1:1
The (Eugene) Register-Guard      4:1                       4:1
Lexington Herald-Leader          2:1                  More pro-troops
Los Angeles Times                8:1 to 10:1               3:1
Nashville Tennessean             7:3                       Same
Ocala Star-Banner                4:1 to 5:1           More pro-troops
Odessa American                  1:10                      1:15
The Syracuse Post-Standard       4:1 to 5:1           More pro-troops
The Washington Post              More antiwar              Same

         Paper                 Week of 4/7   What to publish

Austin American-Statesman         Same       Proportional
Chicago Tribune                   1:1        Proportional
The (Eugene) Register-Guard       7:1        Equal
Lexington Herald-Leader           1:1        Equal
Los Angeles Times                 3:1        Proportional
Nashville Tennessean              Same       Equal
Ocala Star-Banner               4:1-5:1      Proportional
Odessa American               100% pro-war   Publish all
The Syracuse Post-Standard        1:1        Excerpts of most
The Washington Post               Same       Varies