I’ve been out of the office this past week, so let’s turn over the column to readers. Lots of you had something to say about the question, raised May 6, of whether The N&O op-ed page tilts left or right. Most responses said the columnists there skew more conservative than liberal. A good number took me to task for placing columnists David Broder and Thomas Friedman left of center. Here’s more:
“No matter how much you try to discount placing various columnists on an ideological spectrum, to say that Broder and Friedman are liberals is either completely ignorant of the columns they have been writing throughout the Bush administration (and in Broder’s case, since long before), or to be disingenuous to the point of dishonesty.” — John Kessel
“Both are widely mocked by actual liberals and the annoyed middle for their vapid, inside the beltway, mentality.” — Bill Skeels
“I am amused with those who complain about the paper being too liberal or too conservative. What too many want is a paper that will preach only their gospel. I read all the columnists to get varying opinions. I once had a conservative friend who said he quit taking The N&O because it was too liberal. I asked him how he would know what his enemies were thinking if he didn’t read what they said.” — Sim Wilde, Elm City
“The public would benefit from more exposure to Paul Krugman, probably one of the most intelligent, wise and well-informed columnist in the country today. Let’s have some intelligent opinion expressed in the paper more often. Otherwise we must turn to online bloggers and other internet sources to read worthwhile points of view.” — Tina Govan, Raleigh
“Discontinue George Will, Charles Krauthammer and Rick Martinez. They might ‘ring readers’ gongs’ but they are so biased on wild-eyed, right-wing rantings that they present nothing fairly. George Will’s primary goal seems to be to use words that very few people have ever heard of, much less understand.” — Dudley B. Stallings, Knightdale
“Most people with views on the subject are hardly fair judges, for those on the left side of aisle tend to consider anyone on the other side to the right, and vice versa.” — Tony Sylvester, Kitty Hawk
“Trying to make a case that (The N&O) does not tilt left or right is ridiculous. Anyone with half a brain can see that it is leftist. The so-called left side of the paper is the opinion page and it slants way left …. The right side of the paper I have not that much problem with (nice you could throw in some conservatives since you probably have to), but the rest of the news constantly slants way left and there are many times that the national and city news puts little innuendos in the articles, not to mention big ones.” — Thomas Swearingen
“I agree with you that neither David Broder nor Thomas Friedman is a right-wing neo-con, but I see no valid reason for giving (George) Will and (Rick) Martinez such prominence. Mr. Will is an intellectual who writes beautifully and I always enjoy reading his columns, even those with which I firmly disagree. Forty-five columns in six months, however, is an inordinate number.” — Gale Kerbaugh
“George Will is a conservative when he writes about political subjects but he writes many columns that have nothing to do with politics and thus he is neither conservative nor liberal …. I doubt that you could find a similar nonpolitical or politically unbiased column written by Krugman, Broder, Herbert etc.” — Tom Hauck
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FINALLY, SOME OF YOU STILL ARE WEIGHING IN on the question of whether The N&O should allow anonymous comments in the blogs and forums on its Web site:
“I publish a blog letter of sorts under a different name. Though I know most know that it is me, the idea of being able to put out into the public domain different ideas that need to be discussed yet are not because of individual circumstance, is the reason for the anonymity of bloggers.” — Daniel Coleman
“I’d like to point out that online polls are not reliable because of anonymity. Sophisticated users can use software to conceal who they are, what address they use or how many times they’ve voted on an issue in the same poll. Some polls are more reliable than others but none are beyond manipulation by persons who really want to skew numbers their way.” — Wayne Uber
