This blog is designed to give readers a glimpse of our editorial-page operation and how we make our decisions. We’ll let you know who we’re meeting with, what they’re telling us, what events and issues we’re looking at. We’ll also pass on information and observations that may not make our print editions. In addition to the editorial board members who post on this blog, the board includes Publisher David Zeeck, Executive Editor Karen Peterson and Managing Editor Dale Phelps.
Editorial board bloggers
Editorial page editor Patrick O’Callahan oversees the online and printed opinion sections of The News Tribune. He came to The News Tribune in 1987 and has worked at Washington newspapers since 1979. E-mail him at patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com
Editorial writer Cheryl Tucker, in addition to writing commentary, manages the daily production of the editorial and op-ed pages and edits letters to the editor. She began her journalism career in 1974 at a Virginia newspaper and came to The News Tribune in 1978. E-mail her at cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com.
Editorial writer Kim Bradford manages the online opinion section of The News Tribune and writes commentary. She joined The News Tribune in 2005 after working 11 years at newspapers in Washington and Maryland. E-mail her at kim.bradford@thenewstribune.com.
Guest bloggers
Editor emeritus David Seago retired from The News Tribune in 2008 after 41 years at The News Tribune. E-mail him at sds99@harbornet.com.
Richard Davis’ column on state politics frequently runs in the print edition of The News Tribune. He was president of the Washington Research Council, a statewide think tank, from 1986 through 2006. Currently, as a principal with The Simeon Partnership, Inc. he coordinates the activities of the Washington Alliance for a Competitive Economy, a business coalition founded by the Research Council, the Association of Washington Business and the Washington Roundtable.
Karen Irwin of University Place, a mother of four, has been a frequent contributor to The News Tribune's print editions. She has also written for Seattle's Child, Puget Sound Parent, the Tacoma Weekly, the Fayetteville Observer Times and the political blog Right Meets Left. She graduated from California Lutheran University with a degree in English literature and is currently working toward a history degree.
Michael Allen, professor of history at the University of Washington Tacoma, was born and raised in Ellensburg. He served with the U.S. Marines in Vietnam from 1969-70. He has written five books, including the prize-winning "Patriot's History of the United States: From Columbus' Great Discovery to the War on Terror," "Rodeo Cowboys in the North American Imagination" and "Western Rivermen, 1763-1861: Ohio and Mississippi Boatmen and the Myth of the Alligator Horse." Allen lives in Tacoma and Ellensburg and has three children.
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We've gotten a raft of complaints from Roman Catholics - and at least one Lutheran - about a Mike Peters cartoon we ran a week ago Saturday that depicted the Pope covered by a condom.
It was a criticism of the questions he'd raised about the use of condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS in Africa. Political cartoonists are not big on subtlety.
When possible, we respond to every critic who brings a complaint to us. Here's one response I wrote today:
I’m sorry the political cartoon we published a week ago was the cause of distress in your home. Although I didn’t select that cartoon myself, I am responsible for the opinion section and ultimately for the publication of the cartoon in question.
I and the editorial board of The News Tribune have the utmost respect for the Roman Catholic Church. Our opinion pages serve as a forum for many different points of view, some conflicting with each other and some conflicting with our own. They are meant to be provocative and to stimulate thought about important issues in the news.
There’s often a fine line between being provocative and critical, and being merely insulting. We have to look for that line on a daily basis, with many of the items we print, and I can’t say that we invariably get it right.
In this case, the cartoon reflected a widespread criticism of Pope Benedict’s comments about condoms. Much of the criticism did not address the nuances of the Pope’s comments, but our section runs commentary – including cartoons – even from critics whose own views are open to criticism. We will print the other side, too; we have already run letters attacking the cartoon. Tomorrow, in fact, we are running a defense of the Pope’s comments written by a senior researcher at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Again, I’m sorry the cartoon caused distress. It does not reflect the editorial board’s view of Pope Benedict XVI or the Catholic Church.
Patrick O’Callahan
