by Dan Zanoza
On Sunday, September 7, the Chicago Tribune published a letter to the editor, submitted by Bill Beckman, executive director of the Illinois Right to Life Committee. See same letter posted on Illinois Leader: “Paul Hill is not Pro-Life, nor is he a martyr,” posted on Tuesday, September 9.
I won't go into the specifics of Beckman's letter, but in each instance where Beckman used the word “pro-life,” the Chicago Tribune changed the word to “anti-abortion.”
I must note Dodie Hofstetter, editor of the Chicago Tribune's letter to the editor section (Voice of the People) has always demonstrated professionalism in my dealings with her in the past. Ms. Hofstetter has an unenviable job of choosing 70 letters a week to publish out of about 2,000 letters submitted to the Tribune within the same time period.
It's impossible to please everyone all the time, as most journalists and politicians would agree. However, I believe the Tribune's editing of Beckman's letter was nothing less than censorship.
Some of the most heated criticism of the Chicago Tribune appeared in the Illinois Family Institute's (IFI) September 11 weekly update.
The IFI website posted an e-mail Beckman wrote to the Chicago Tribune, and the IFI urged its readers to contact Tribune management concerning the issue.
“I realized that if I did not respond to Dodie Hofstetter about the editing of my letter, my silence would indicate acceptance of the change from 'Pro-Life' to 'anti-abortion,'” said Beckman. “I made three points in my response. I showed the inconsistency of changing references to the Pro-Life movement when such a change would be unthinkable for other movements such as the equal rights movement. I explained that the Pro-Life movement is much more than anti-abortion because we oppose any cultural expediency that views death as a solution including euthanasia, cloning, population control, etc.”
The Chicago Tribune has come under considerable fire in response to the “editing” of Beckman's letter.
“The Tribune policy of changing 'pro-life' to 'anti-abortion' is clearly outrageous,” said Cal Skinner, a former state representative from Crystal Lake, who was a strong supporter of pro-life legislation while he was a member of the Illinois General Assembly. “It's worse than knowing that in the early 1990's the Tribune was automatically opposed to any legislative candidate who was pro-life. How can a paper's editors live with themselves when they change, not edit, words in a letter to the editor? Makes you wonder how much other ideological slanting exists in the Tribune, doesn't it?”
In contrast, Chicago's other major newspaper, the Chicago Sun-Times, which also published Beckman's letter, did not edit out the word “pro-life.” However, the Sun-Times did edit Beckman's letter for brevity. The Daily Southtown published Beckman's letter as well, in its entirety, as it was submitted.
“I raised the question of whether it is journalistically acceptable to change words used by the author of a letter to the editor,” added Beckman. “Hofstetter's only response to these points was, 'It is Chicago Tribune style to change 'pro-life' to 'anti-abortion'. That response demonstrates how blatantly the Chicago Tribune practices censorship of the Pro-Life movement.”
Besides the “editing” of the word “pro-life,” the Chicago Tribune needs to answer some serious questions concerning this policy.
For example, would the Tribune consider changing the word “pro-choice” to “pro-abortion” in a letter the paper might receive from one of its readers? Is the paper consistent throughout all its coverage of the abortion issue? In a recent online search of the Chicago Tribune, the word “pro-life” appeared in a column by Dennis Byrne on September 8, and the word “pro-life” also appeared in a piece written by Kathleen Parker on September 3.
“The Tribune, like most newspapers and magazines, has a style book that editors are supposed to follow,” said Hofstetter. “The style rules are in place so that there is a consistency when reading the paper from section to section and so that the Tribune deals as fairly as possible with many issues.”
“There is no hidden agenda in changing things to follow style,” Hofstetter added. “And it certainly is not 'censorship,' which is one of the accusations that has been thrown my way. It is strictly trying to be consistent with all sections of the paper, and to be as fair and accurate as we possibly can. Concerning Bill Beckman's letter, Tribune style states the following: 'Except in direct quotations or proper names, do not refer to people or groups as 'pro-life' or 'pro-abortion.' Be as specific as possible about where those referred to stand on the issue of abortion: 'People who oppose the use of Medicaid funds for abortions demonstrated outside the Statehouse.' If a shorthand description is needed, use 'abortion opponents, anti-abortion; abortion-rights proponents, pro-abortion rights.'”
According to this explanation, some questions arise concerning the Chicago Tribune's “style.” It would seem to me a letter to the editor can be construed as a direct quote. Such a disclaimer may apply to the Tribune's hard news section, but when it comes to a letter to the editor, the same rules should apply. A reader cannot quote themselves. Of course, other newspapers take a different approach to their letters to the editor sections.
“The STAR's policy concerning letters to the editor is fairly straightforward,” said Dennis Wheeler, the editorial page editor of STAR Publications. “Of course, we would prefer to publish the letters from our readers in their entirety. However, there are exceptions. Obviously, we reserve the right to edit for brevity and grammar. But there are situations, involving the use of profanity or attacks of a personal nature, which would disqualify a letter from being published. But for the most part, as long as a submission is reasonable, we prefer to publish letters from our readers as they are submitted.”
Hopefully, Mr. Beckman will continue to share his ideas with the Chicago Tribune, and the Tribune will give such letters fair consideration. Ms. Hofstetter's track record tells me that will be the case.
This situation has certainly given fodder to those who believe some in the elite media have a bias against social conservatives. I personally believe letters to the editor are an important tool for the sharing of ideas and information.
However, compared to other major publications in the Chicagoland area, in the case of the Tribune, it seems adhering to political correctness may be more important than the free expression of thought.
(Dan Zanoza is a columnist with the Illinois Leader. This column is reproduced with their permission. This article courtesy of Steven Ertelt and LifeNews.com. For more information or to subscribe go to LifeNews.com or email news@LifeNews.com.)
