Best newspapers reflect the world around them

TONY DODERO

It’s over.

Well, at least the criminal trial of the three young men, accused

of committing a host of sexual sins against a seemingly unconscious

young woman in the home of former Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl, is

over.

The appeals and a possible civil suit may still be coming.

But for now, our readers may be catching a break.

And while the complaints I received about our coverage of the

trial were very few, I’m betting that most readers have had enough

for now.

I know I have.

Some of you may be saying, well, you’re the editor. Make it stop.

But even editors, the powerful lot that we are, uh hum, need to defer

to the guidelines and principles we have before us as to news

judgment and news style.

I really believe the best newspapers don’t reflect solely the

editor’s view of the world, but the views of the world around us,

especially the community we serve.

If that world around us is hungry for news about high-profile

criminal trials, then we do have a duty to report it.

It’s the same for the Forum pages. It is our hope that the Forum

pages serve as a town hall for Newport-Mesa. We expect to hear every

point of view, even those that the editor or editors may find

distasteful, and we go out of our way to print most of them.

It’s another duty we believe we should uphold.

But again, there are rules that we follow even for the content of

letters that have less to do with personal tastes than adhering to

rules and guidelines.

So it was this week that some regular contributors to the Forum

pages complained about some changes we made to letters submitted.

There is a common misconception, even among some of my editing

staff, that the rules of newspapers mandate that letters to the

editor should not be changed and should run in their unfettered,

original composition.

But that just isn’t so.

Every letter, just like stories written by reporters, must be

edited for grammar and spelling and to make sure that the facts can

be supported and that style is adhered to.

If a fact cannot be verified, either independently or through the

letter writer, we usually edit out the information.

In one example this week, a copy editor changed the words

“citizen-driven democracy” to “resident-driven democracy.” In that

same letter, the same editor also changed a reference to “illegal

aliens” to “illegal immigrants.”

And the letter writer wanted to know why.

Here at the Daily Pilot, we consult three different style manuals

for how things should appear in print: The Associated Press Style and

Libel Manual, The Los Angeles Times Style and Usage Guide and our own

Daily Pilot Local Style Guide.

This is what the Times style guide says about the use of citizen:

“A citizen is one who has acquired the full civil rights of a nation

either by birth or by naturalization. Cities and states in the United

States do not confer citizenship. To avoid confusion, use resident,

not citizen, in referring to inhabitants of states and cities.”

While the case can be made that the word citizen was fine in the

letter writer’s usage, the copy editor who changed the word did it in

accordance with the style guide’s suggestion, as the writer was

referring to inhabitants of the city.

Same goes for illegal alien. The guide recommends using the term

illegal immigrant: “Use this term in referring to citizens of foreign

countries who have come to the country with no passport, visa or

other document to show that they are entitled to visit, work or live

in the United States. Do not use illegal aliens or illegals except in

direct quotes.”

Many contributors to Forum may find their letters or commentary

articles changed. If those who are unhappy with or have a question

about the changes would make a point to drop me a line, I’ll do my

best to clarify it.

As always, I’d love to hear your comments.

TELL IT TO THE EDITOR

* TONY DODERO is the editor. He welcomes your comments on news

coverage, photography or other newspaper-related issues. If you have

a message or a letter to the editor, call his direct line at (714)

966-4608 or the Readers Hotline (714) 966-4664, send it by e-mail to

tony.dodero@latimes.com or dailypilot@latimes.com, or send it by mail

to 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626.