Mark Trahant: A boost of the unambiguous

Monday, June 4, 2007  

"Newspapers certainly could use a boost of the unambiguous. Nowhere is this concept more problematic than in opinion pages. Every day, we submit for readers' consideration dozens of different articles with different guarantees, information that may be referred to, and even denied explicitly.

Recently J. L. Greenberg visited the P-I because he wanted to meet directly with the Editorial Board so he could complain about our editorial positions involving the Middle East. I suggested he write an op-ed -- an essay where he could express his strong views about the conflict and respond to a column about Rachel Corrie. Greenberg's column was incendiary and included explosive assertions, such as: "If Corrie had not come home in a box, she would have been prosecuted."

Readers were quick to respond, both for and against the piece. It was last week's top draw for Soundoff comments on the P-I Web site, generating more than 300 responses. We immediately published letters to the editor questioning Greenberg's essay, the facts he used and the veracity of the Seattle Jewish Committee (the group that Greenberg said he was representing in both the op-ed and in the request for an Editorial Board session).

Next week this loop will expand again when the International Solidarity Movement -- a group Greenberg dismissed as one whose "sole obsession is to destroy Israel" -- writes an op-ed in response. We expect that piece will generate another round of letters and online comments."

Get the Story:
Mark Trahant: Not all assertions are created equal (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer 6/2)

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