2.2.09 FREEDOM OF SPEECH IN PUBLIC NEWS

to the editor:

Last month I spoke several times with Mr. Mike Morsch, the executive editor of the Montgomery Newspapers of which the Souderton Independent is one. In the first conversation he stated that he did not want to make the Independent my bully pulpit and that he wanted me to keep my letters 1. less preachy 2. short 3. local.

One further letter was published in which I encouraged Mr. Morsch to make it standard policy to give two full pages each week to the opinions of every day people. The next letter i sent to the editor of the Independent, Emily Morris, was not able to be published with the reason given that Mr. Morsch has said that only one letter of 300 words length could be considered for publication every month. This Mr. Morsch has not said to me but evidently only to Ms. Morris. What he did say was that some papers have that as a limit.

When I called Mr. Morsch he did not seem to be open to publishing all that came in in a given week to the two page limit and I'm sure he does not see his policy as a limitation of the freedom of speech. I think he said that he had been limiting single writers who contributed often, such as myself, in a similar manner for years.

He also shared with me a recent example from one of the papers in the Abington area where there were a great number of pro-Obama letters during the campaign. He said that people started to call and ask if the paper was pro-Obama. Instead of saying 'we publish everything we get and these are what we are getting', he indicated to me that they started to withhold some of those from publication. I indicated that I was of the opinion that everything received should see light, whether from one person or 1000, whether from one viewpoint or 1000.

I guess we don't see eye-to-eye but I feel this is an issue of foundational importance. I don't think a publication should pose as 'public' and not reflect 'public' viewpoints but those shaped by narrower interests. stephen paine, 54 w chestnut st., souderton 215-721-9821