Anonymous Opinions p.

By: M.L. Stein

Callers to a Michigan daily's reader-forum line may have statements published without names sp.

WHEN READERS COMPLAINED about potholes in the Forum, a twice-weekly call-in feature of the Escanaba (Mich.) Daily Press, the streets were filled in two days later.
When gripes about a silt pile-up in a local river were published, the state Department of Natural Resources took care of the problem almost immediately.
Daily Press editor Rick Rudden, a native of Escanaba in Michigan's remote Upper Peninsula, said the Forum, which was launched a year and a half ago, has drawn a huge response.
"We average 30 or 40 calls a day, which is a lot for a city of 14,500 people," he noted.
Rudden attributed much of the interest to the fact that calls may be made anonymously and published that way.
"Not everyone is happy about this but there are a lot of people who won't write to a paper if their names are used," he said.
The privilege of anonymity does not extend to the newspaper's regular letter column on the daily Opinion Page.
The Forum's special software system allows phone calls limited to 30 seconds. Wednesdays, readers may discuss any subject, but Saturdays, they are asked to respond to a question about a current issue. One week, the issue was whether U.S. troops should be pulled out of Somalia. Rudden said the phone-in statements are edited for readability, libel and taste. Some of the few callers who leave names blast the Daily Press for publishing unattributed statements.
In a recent Forum, 11 of 12 printed statements were anonymous. The exception, by Don Curran, disputed the rationale of the non-signers that they would receive harassing phone calls or letters if they allow their names to be used.
"I think this is pretty ridiculous," Curran said. "I've written a number of letters to the Daily Press over the years, and never once have I received any harassing phone calls or anonymous letters . . . . I don't think that is a valid argument."
The Daily Press, a Thomson newspaper, defended its policy in an editorial, noting, "Some readers are displeased with Forum. That's fine. It's their opinion, and we're glad to print it. But we feel those who for one reason or another won't use their names still have the right to their opinions.
"We do, however, recognize the fact that a person who signs her or his name to a letter to the editor or Forum call impresses us more than an unknown caller who chooses not to support their opinion with their own reputation . . . . We believe our readers are bright enough to put more value in a signed letter than an anonymous phone call."
Rudden said complaints about anonymous statements mostly concern the Wednesday wide-open Forum.
"The criticisms usually come from people who are subjects of the letters," he observed.
Recent statements contained gripes about misuse of handicapped parking stickers, ABC's new television drama NYPD Blue and the Daily Press' use of the term "alcohol-related" in auto accident stories.
Despite its detractors, the Daily Press plans to continue the Forum, which won a Michigan Press Association award as an "interesting opinion-page tool." Besides, the Forum keeps getting results, Rudden said.
He cited recent reader attacks on the search by Escanaba officials for a new city manager. The callers said qualified local candidates were ignored in the recruitment process.
So the city began the search again even though it had been narrowed to two experienced out-of-town applicants. A local woman eventually was chosen to fill the position.
However, the Daily Press disagreed with the final selection and said so in an editorial, which pointed out that the two out-of-towners were better qualified.