My Father's Op-Ed Letter

Every now and again, my father writes a letter to the editors of major American newspapers. A handful of these letters are published annually. Although his letters have appeared in a variety of major papers, the vast majority are published solely in his local ANG (Tribune Group) affiliate, The Fremont Argus.

The letter which prompted this post happened to be desired by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Fremont Argus. The Post was first to contact my father; and he gave them the go ahead to run their edited version of his piece. The two other papers contacted him later in the day seeking permission to run the letter. Since the papers demand exclusivity, he didn't respond to the latter two queries. Absent his explicit permission, neither paper should have run his letter. Nonetheless, The New York Times printed an edited version of the letter.

Yesterday my father's letter about the the Enron verdicts sat atop the Times Editorial page while, at the same time, appearing in the Post. While my father prefers the editing of the Times version, he is shocked that they ran it at all. He has no doubt that both papers are aware of this double printing. We're both wondering if he'll hear back from either paper. Pehaps the Times will apologize for printing without permission. More likely, he'll receive an angry call from The Post about the lack of exclusivity.

If you don't want to login to either paper, I've archived both the NY Times and Washington Post letters.