Be careful about asking for opinion page fact checking

A word or two, if I may, regarding the two pages you see about you. At the top of this page, note the heading: Opinion.

According to Webster, the simple definition of the word “opinion” is: a belief, judgment or way of thinking about something : what someone thinks about a particular thing.

There is more of course, but I leave that to you. I write this because I sometimes receive comments and criticism about what appears on the Cheney Free Press Opinion page. It’s good to hear, and one came in this week, so I thought I’d use some words here and explain a few things.

First, how does content appear on the two pages we devote to opinion? We have two regular features done in-house: In Our Opinion which is the product of the Cheney Free Press editorial board, and Write to the Point, which is done by myself and staff reporters Paul Delaney and Al Stover.

We also have Guest Columns, which are generally chosen by the editor — yours truly — and Letters, comments that are — theoretically — supposed to come from readers. I say theoretically because frankly, our Letters section is vastly underutilized by readers of this newspaper.

That’s disappointing because at 350 words, we are almost double what you can submit to the Spokesman-Review, yet I regularly see submittals on its Opinion page from people in Cheney and Medical Lake. The lack of local letters leads us to either fill the space with letters from writers outside our area and/or use guest columns.

We would prefer letters on local topics affecting our readers, but allow writers to comment on just about any topic that concerns them.

Which brings me to another question about submitted letters and columns: Do we read them? The answer is absolutely. We read them and make edits conforming to the use of Associated Press style and corrections regarding grammar and spelling.

This usually leads to another question from critics, which is: Do you fact check submittals? The most recent critic asked if we “analyze” them.

The answer to the first is no, we do not fact check letters or guest columns. The answer to the second might be more subjective, but yes, we do “analyze” them in the context that as we read them, we individually apply what knowledge we may have of the issue to determine, among many things, if we agree with the writer or not.

This applies to letters and guest columns and also what we write in-house. But this brings me back to Webster’s simple definition of an opinion: a belief, judgment or way of thinking about something.

The unsaid meaning in the question about fact checking or analyzing others opinion pieces is really this: if we were to fact check and/or analyze the arguments of others, we would either not run them or make fact corrections to them in publication.

We could do that, but here I’m going to offer a piece of advice, and I’m going to offer it in all caps merely for emphasis, not because I’m yelling: BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU ASK FOR.

Opinion writers utilize facts, lines of reasoning in ways that support their arguments. It is possible to use similar facts to support disparate positions. It is also possible to use facts or lines of reasoning outside their context, whether that context is indicated in the resource used or derived from outside information.

We could apply this to what we receive. It would require additional time, meaning the letter or column might not go in the week it was intended because we didn’t receive it early enough.

But while you might feel this would be OK for others’ submittals, keep in mind what I said above: BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU ASK FOR. Because while we might do that for letters and columns from writers with whom you disagree with, we would also do it to you.

I doubt very much that individuals taking the time to write would appreciate us telling them we aren’t going to publish their submittal because we see the facts or their logic differently. Nor would you appreciate seeing your letter with “Editor’s note” sprinkled liberally throughout.

We allow the opinions of others as is because we wish it to stimulate a dialogue within our pages. We limit the words, and number of times you can write to once every four weeks, because we don’t have a lot of space and we hope to include the opinions of as many people as possible.

That is the essence of the Opinion page: Here’s what I think — agree or disagree. I encourage readers to use the pages we provide for this reason: someday, it might be gone.

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.