Letter: Defends the Daily News

Editor, Daily News:

This letter is a first for me.

I read the letters to the editor every day just as I read the comics. Sometimes they are funny, sometimes they are informational, sometimes they are thought-provoking and sometimes they make no sense at all. But they are a forum for opinion (and should be viewed only as opinion) and I applaud your paper for providing that forum.

So when Richard Fraer took you to task for not exercising responsible journalism because you wouldn't print his over-250-word letter on the dangers of depleted uranium, I suddenly felt the need to jump in.

My focus here is not depleted uranium but rather journalistic prerogatives and responsibilities in publishing letters to the editor. If Mr. Fraer wanted to heighten people's awareness of the issues of depleted uranium, he could have summarized his concerns and cited several references available on the Internet and in libraries which support his position and done it in far fewer than 250 words.

Of course the Internet search might also have exposed several less-supportive positions on the subject. What a wonderful thing diversity of opinion is.

As for responsible journalism, I think the Daily News is doing just what it must do. Letters to the editor are unvetted, uncorroborated, unsubstantiated statements of individual points of view. The fact that they are printed at all, specifically under the heading of Opinion, regardless of bias, inaccuracy or self0servingness, looks like the ultimate in responsible journalism to me.

Thanks for the forum (and the 250-word limit).

John Ostrowski , Naples