THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 3, 1994 TAG: 9407010004
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LYNN FEIGENBAUM
LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
I don't have any big journalistic fireworks to ignite for this 4th of July weekend. Instead, I'd like to address some reader queries.
One of the most persistent lately has been: What is Creators Syndicate?
``Distributed by Creators Syndicate'' appears on columns by some of the new faces on our opinion pages, writers like Don Feder and Thomas Sowell.
Because of the changes on the editorial pages, details like this apparently leap out at readers, particularly those less than thrilled with the more conservative approach.
Cyndy Bourquard of Virginia Beach is one of these. An assistant professor at Tidewater Community College and a former president of the local League of Women Voters, she recently branded one of Sowell's column ``real garbage.''
As a postscript, she asked: ``What is the Creators Syndicate and what are its credentials? These columns don't belong in our newspaper.''
To begin with, the word ``syndicate'' has gotten a bad shake from all those Grade-B crime movies. Even Webster's New World Dictionary defines it as an ``association of criminals'' before explaining it also means ``an organization that sells special articles or features for publication. . . .''
I don't believe anyone thinks we're dealing with organized crime, but many do wonder if Creators Syndicate has something to do with religious or fundamentalism. It doesn't.
A relatively new syndicate (it was founded in 1987), the Los Angeles-based Creators distributes a broad range of features. It offers columnists from the ``left'' (Molly Ivins, David Nyhan, Alexander Cockburn), the ``right'' (Sowell and Feder - Oliver North, too, until he decided to run for the Senate) and off the wall (Joe Bob Briggs).
And it distributes advice columns (Ann Landers), comic strips (``Wizard of Id'' and ``B.C.,'' for example), editorial cartoons, puzzles and so on.
In other words, a typical syndicate. Or maybe not so typical.
The name, says vice president and editorial director Katherine Searcy, was inspired by the syndicate's goal to put the emphasis back on the artistic creators - the cartoonists and writers - rather than treating them as a ``stable of talent,'' sometimes forced to sign over ownership of their features.
``In every other way,'' said Searcy, ``we are a traditional syndicate with no affiliations, religious or otherwise.''
Next question: Which editor at your newspaper does what?
On the editorial page masthead, it's pretty clear: Cole C. Campbell is Editor of The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star, John A. Barnes is Editorial Page Editor of the two papers.
Yet frequently, readers call and chew out (or praise) Campbell for an editorial or Barnes for the news content. As most of you have figured out, it's the other way around.
Editorial writer-editor Barnes, who joined the paper in May, has the final say on the opinion pages. That includes editorials, syndicated op-ed (``opposite editorial'') columns and cartoons, and letters to the editor.
Editor Campbell is in charge of all news gathering in the paper - local news, sports, features, business, etc., as well as their presentation.
Whatever their titles, the two editors work separately - a time-honored system that holds true for most newspapers.
And, finally, there's the perennial question about letters to the editor. These are handled by Barnes and associate editor Glenn Allen Scott.
Why, I'm asked regularly, are writers limited to just one letter every six months?
Let's start with the numbers. Scott says the editorial office gets about 800 such letters a month - piled high on office manager Beth Williams' desk.
Because space is limited, only about a quarter of those letters can be printed in the main part of the newspaper and most have to be edited for length.
Numbers aside, some people - frustrated columnists, no doubt - love to write and do so regularly, as often as once a week. To ensure more voices and diversity, the six-month rule was initiated - it had been a three-month limit until recently.
But even letters that aren't published in the mainsheet have impact. Those bearing on city issues are forwarded to the community sections for printing. And any letter about newspaper coverage goes to my office and, in turn, to the appropriate editors and reporters.
So write on! And have a happy 4th of July. MEMO: Call the public editor at 446-2475, or send a computer message to
lynn(AT)infi.net. by CNB