To publish or not to publish?

Letters to the editor are a potentially contentious issue at any newspaper

Recently, the Jewish Western Bulletin queried members of a Jewish newspaper association about their letters policies. Here are some of the responses.

As publishers of two Jewish papers (total circulation 11,000 households) in a general population where the Jewish population is two to three per cent, the stated mission of the paper is to be a cohesive force in the Jewish community regardless of affiliation (stopping short of Messianics).

That said, my wife Karen (managing editor) and I (publisher) – together sole owners – rule on each submission. Usually we do not publish anti-Israel submissions (which is not to say that we wouldn't provide both sides in a news story) nor anti-Jewish, etc.

We do not allow op-ed pieces for that reason. Plus, our readership seems to believe that op-ed pieces and letters to the editor mean they can be as slanderous as they wish without having to base it on facts.

We explain the policy fully when questioned.

Jim Dawkins
Jewish Press Group of Tampa Bay (Fla.) Inc.

While I strongly support and encourage commentary pieces and letters to the editor representing a wide variety of Jewish expressions and viewpoints, I cannot condone and will not publish materials that are virulently anti-Israel. At this point in time, Israel has numerous detractors. I believe that it is the unique role of Jewish newspapers to educate readers about the historic role that Israel plays in promoting Jewish identity and to present articles and perspective pieces that
foster closer ties between our
two peoples.

Lynn Edelman
Jewish Voice of Delaware

I'm a reporter, not an editor, so I'll let the editors respond regarding letter to the editor policies. But I do have a suggestion for you: Why don't you assign (unless you've already done so) a widely respected historian of the Arab-Israeli conflict – or a panel of historians, for that matter – to dissect the film [John Pilger's Palestine is Still the Issue] and address/refute each point, point by point, in addition to highlighting perceived distortions, one-sidedness and bias in the film?

Since (presumably) your letter-writers are little more than amateur historians (if that) of the conflict, what's the point of having them simply barking at each other on the Letters page? Shouldn't readers ill-informed about history benefit from this debate in some way, rather than become more confused or blinded by the fiery rhetoric?

Well, that's my two cents!

Michael J. Jordan
Freelance writer
New York, N.Y.

We did a story once about a semi-popular member of the non-Jewish community who is famous for his fervent anti-Israel views. He had a public discussion in an area near where he lived, which was far from the Jewish community. Some people drove in and found his display painful to behold and quite clever. We did the story and he wrote a letter that corrected something we had listed incorrectly about his past, which we printed, and listed a whole lot of additional anti-israel Web sites, which we didn't publish. He then wrote to the statewide secular paper and said that we didn't print his article and bashed us a little bit. Still, I was satisfied with our actions.

I would recommend having a limit on the level of anti-Israel/anti-Jewish content we publish in letters. We shouldn't forget the Jewish part of our mission.

Jonathan Rubin
Jewish Voice & Herald
of Rhode Island

These are some of the questions I ask myself in such instances:

1. Is the letter logical, rational and civil?

2. Does it add anything to what is apparently an onging debate? Or is it déjà vu all over again?

3. Does part of the letter, perhaps, bear printing?

4. Does the opinion presented have any merit regardless of prevailing community opinion?

One "no" and the letter bites the dust.

Harriet Kessler
Jewish Community Voice of
Southern New Jersey

There are times when our editor says that a topic is exhausted and no more letters on it will be printed, barring any new information.

There are times when we print letters that are the "opposite" point of view [to our editorial position], but only when they are intelligent and obviously about a point of view. We will not print any letters that are attacking another person or are just plain hateful.

If the letter is a good, honest point, you may want to consider summing up the letter and printing a shorter version, to keep it comparable in size to other letters. Or, you can have a local B'nai Brith or Canadian Jewish Congress person read the letter and write a response to it on the same page. Often, other letters will finish the debate for you, but make sure it does not go on too long or get too heated. You can always say "we've heard enough on this topic, no more."

Whatever you do, don't give the crazies in your area the idea that the Jewish paper is theirs to spread anti-Jewish propaganda.

David Seltzer
Editorial assistant
Cleveland Jewish News

At a time when the Palestine Liberation Organization is conducting a campaign of premeditated murder against Jews in every part of the land of Israel, an appropriate question might be: Why should a Jewish paper run articles or letters that would promote sympathy for the PLO cause?

David Bedein
Israel Resource News Agency
Beit Agron International
Press Centre
Jerusalem, Israel

^TOP