Dispatch - Liberal or Conservative ?

Hey Folks,

Here's my letter to Ben Marrison, editor of the Dispatch:



Dear Mr. Marrison,

Several times recently you have pointed out that the Dispatch has been criticized for being both "too conservative" and "too liberal." Numerous times over the years, I've heard similar reports from Dispatch spokesmen; and I believe them.

I don't remember, though, any spokesman ever spelling out exactly what he thought the fact of those criticisms meant. That was left up to the reader, as in your recent column:

"When Dispatch staffers interviewed about 800 readers recently, asking questions to gauge how we’re doing as a newspaper and how we can improve, we were given slightly more B’s than A’s for our overall quality. There were a smattering of C’s and a handful of D’s, and two of you gave us F’s — one for being too liberal, the other for being too conservative.
(Insert pregnant pause here.)" (emphasis added)

I understand the "pause," but not it's meaning. Does it mean something like "See, the Dispatch is objective, neither Liberal nor Conservative" ; or does it mean something like, "One or both of the guys who gave us an F don't understand what constitutes "Liberal" and/or "Conservative"?

I hope you meant something like the latter. If so, I understand reluctance to point out a reader's ignorance. On the other hand, if you meant to imply that the paper is objective, neither Liberal nor Conservative, I think that is unjustified.

In this "market" it wouldn't be surprising to hear Blackwell supporters call Petro "liberal" (they've already charged the Dispatch with "favoring" Petro - is "A=B=C=Liberal" next? ). Our Republican senator and former governor, George Voinovich, actually was called a "Liberal" by Ohio University "economist" (and occasional Dispatch columnist) Richard Vedder.

So, even if the paper were a little to the right of Voinovich, it would be seen - by some zealots - as "Liberal." Of course, it isn't.

To determine the paper's position on the political spectrum, one must observe the entire spectrum - not just the narrow band observed by quacks like Vedder.

Obviously, the Dispatch editorial practice is conservative - not extremely so; more a Libertarian, business-oriented, "family empire," "country-club-Republican" conservatism. That's the reality; it's been demonstrated over and over again, not by what Richard Vedder or Tom Harker say about the Dispatch, but by what it actually does.

Yours - Tom Harker