Why publish fringe commentary by Deborah Saunders?

Published 1:30 am Thursday, September 8, 2022

I am curious about the wire service that distributes Debra J. Saunders’ column (“Closing schools wasn’t a ‘mistake’; it was a crime,” The Herald, Sept. 5).

Which wire service that brings us opinions from the Discovery Institute? This ‘institute’ is a local far-right group that besides political jabs like this one, also devotes a great deal of time to pushing creationism in the media and our schools.

The Herald would not offer editorial space to Alex Jones’ Info Wars and similarly you should pause before publishing commentary from this outfit.

Given the limited space available for editorials and opinion journalism, I hope that in the future you continue to provide a broad conversation and mix of ideas, but that you avoid the unhelpful fringe commentary available in today’s electronic media.

Thanks for listening.

Robert Youngken

Seattle

Editor’s note: Debra Saunders’ columns are distributed by the Creators Syndicate, as are those by Froma Harrop, whose columns also appear on these pages. The Opinion Page also features columnists and writers from The Washington Post syndicate, Bloomberg Opinion and local authors, The Herald Opinion page selects articles to provide a range of subjects, opinion and analysis.