Letter FROM the "public editor"

The following letter from Kevin Cuneo, public editor, so-called, at the Erie Times-News is self-explanatory. I have interpolated my responses therein.

Dear Joe,
Thanks for your submission about the recent Erie Times-News series about Steris Corp. and its move from Erie to Monterrey, Mexico. Jim Dible forwarded the piece to me, as he does as a matter of routine, because the calls on this type of editorial work are generally made in the newsroom.

I assumed Jim Dible would buck my letter down to the editorial department. I just wanted to make sure the guy who’s responsible for the bottom line knows what his news department is doing from an outsider’s perspective. If he’s worth his salt, he’ll keep a closer eye on you as a result of my letter to make sure you don’t go shooting off any more loose cannons like the Steris loser.

Of course, now that he’s departing in a couple weeks, it will be up to his successor, Rosanne Cheeseman, to curb your editorial fantasies. By the way, I believe you folks jumped the gun by announcing Dible’s retirement and Cheeseman’s hiring in your online edition today. The Rapid City Journal in South Dakota where she is currently employed isn’t breaking the story there until tomorrow.

As you observed in your piece, we've had quite a reaction to our series, and we've tried to give a voice to our critics. It's why we devoted a good portion of Sunday's op-ed page to letters about the series.

You published only seven letters from your critics totaling about 20 column inches, whereas you and Pat Howard each wrote columns on Sunday essentially rebutting them totaling upwards of 50 column inches. Then on Monday Brian Oberle wrote a 15 or 20 inch editorial further attempting to justify and defend your position. One could hardly call a ratio of four or five to one “equal space.”

Our forum on Friday's op-ed page is a space reserved for issue commentary, and while you make some good points in your submission, it feels to me more like a letter to the editor. Don't get me wrong -- Pat Howard and I will gladly take our lumps from readers. We do so on a regular basis, but I would rather you re-submit your piece as a letter to the editor.

I’ve been in this business about twice as long as you have, and I haven’t the slightest idea how a letter “feels” vis a vis an op-ed piece. Pray tell. Of course you would rather have me submit my piece as a letter to the editor rather than as a Friday Forum op-ed piece, for purely self-serving reasons. A letter is limited to 250 words, whereas a Friday Forum is much more visible and longer, and permits a more reasoned and coherent response. With a truncated letter, you sustain far less collateral damage. The last letter of mine you published was edited, or rather, butchered beyond recognition.

I know that you've complained in the past about the space restrictions on submissions to our letters to the editor page, but we find that our readers enjoy shorter letters much more than longer ones. At any rate, after we adopted our policy of accepting letters of 250-300 words, readership of the letters soared, and we now receive twice as many letters as we did a few years ago. So, I would encourage you to boil your thoughts down to about 300 words, if you're so inclined.

I’m disinclined. In the interests of equity and fairness, I believe you should publish my submission as an op-ed column. The rise in readership of letters has nothing to do with length. If brevity equates to more reader appeal, why don’t you, Pat Howard, Ed Mead, Bryan Oberle, your syndicated columnists, et al, cut your columns down to 250-300 words? As Ralph Waldo Emerson said: “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”

On the Steris series, Joe, I tried to explain in my column Sunday what our thinking was as we outlined the series and planned its execution. As it turns out, some readers were so upset, I think they'd like to plan our execution!

I disagree. A day or two in the hoosegow would suffice.

I think the series was an important one for the Times-News because, as Jim Martin, our reporter, put it, "If I lost my job, I'd like to know why."

If you and your cohorts honestly believe the 450 Steris employees care a whit why they lost your jobs, you’re more out of touch with the reality than I thought.

You seem to think everyone already knew the information about Monterrey, the Mexican workers, the plant recruiters, etc., but it was an eye-opener for me. I had no idea the economic development people in Mexico were so advanced.

It’s presumptuous of you to think your readers share your ignorance, and even more presumptuous to act upon that fallacy. To those of us who read periodicals other than the Times-News, your Steris series was a warmed-over retread of the 1990s debate over The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between and among the U.S., Canada and Mexico which, as it turns out has been disastrous for the poor and middle classes in both the U.S. and Mexico. The rich, however, have gotten richer.

But, as you point out, we've already had our say. I would encourage you to streamline your thoughts a bit and resubmit your piece as a letter to the editor. If you can keep it to 300 words, I'll see that it's printed.

No way. In the tiny template you run each day on Page 2A bearing your magnificent mug shot entitled Getting it Right, it says: “We strive to get everything right the first time. But if we don’t, we’ll admit it – and correct or clarify it. If you notice an error or information that’s unclear, please bring it to our attention. Kevin Cuneo works with our readers on questions of fairness, balance and accuracy. Call him…”
Back about a month or so, as you know, I sent you an e-mail pointing out several egregious factual errors in a superficial and misinformed editorial praising the late environmental icon Rachael Carson of Pennsylvania for instigating in the 1950s the ban on DDT that purportedly restored bald eagle populations in the nation, a thesis that has been so thoroughly discredited it resides in the realm of junque science. You not only didn’t print the letter or correct the errors; you ignored it altogether and never contacted me.

Joe, I spent an enjoyable few hours in North East on Saturday, visiting old friends. I lived there from 1978-86 and came to love the area. During our conversation Saturday, the talk came around to your dad, and everyone agreed what a great guy Charlie LaRocca was. When we were kids, at the end of every summer, we'd drive out to LaRocca's in North East, where my parents would buy all of our clothes for the upcoming school year. How I hated those Boy Scout shoes, but the rest of the stuff was great. Your dad was a really good guy, and thinking about those good old days, about your father, my dad, Forrie Hopkins and the rest gave me a good feeling.
Forgive me for waxing nostalgic here. I think it must be the fragrance of those North East grapes at this time of season.

Take care.
Kevin Cuneo

You're forgiven Kevin. The fragrant aroma in autumn of ripening Concord grapes wafting throughout the North East countryside can be intoxicating.

Joe LaRocca