Opinion: The web page said No on Proposition 8. Or was it Yes?

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

The editorial board expected a lot of response to its most recent editorial analyzing the misleading campaign claims of the Yes on Proposition 8 campaign, and got it, just as most postings on the proposition do. (Previous editorials tackled the education and constitutional issues.)

Several of the commenters noted, not happily, that the editorial slamming the bigoted nature of the proposition was framed on the website by Yes on 8 ads. Why was the Times willing to sell ads to a campaign its editorial board so clearly denounces, they wondered?

Of course, advertising is one operation and editorial another. But aside from that easy answer is the more important role of a news-disseminating operation to provide for a wide variety of opinions. The editorial column is the space in the paper where the opinion staff details its analysis and recommendations of the issues at hand. Most of the newspaper belongs to the full range of opinion, including the letters to the editor, the op-ed page, the news and features pages, the ads, and the heated comments coming from both sides to the editorial and to the postings on this blog.

It’s the editorial board’s job to research the issues, discuss and critique them and finally deliver its considered opinion. But squelching either side of any debate is nothing we would like to see happen.