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--> --> The Tidings' `Guest forum' stinks The op-ed page probably did need some re-thinking, but I can't say much for the changes you've made so far. Reserving the term "Commentary" for paid columnists, while demoting local, unpaid contributors to a category called "Guest forum," stinks. It stinks because your paid journalists (except for Molly Ivins, who's a treasure) are mediocrities, and because the work of many local writers, now sunk to the bottom of the page and squeezed down to only 600 words, often excels in interest, in style, and in relevance anything your paid hacks produce. To add insult to injury, you've deprived the "Guest forum" writer of any headline indicating subject matter. Instead, readers are informed, in an explosion of redundancy, that the "Guest forum" is (and this sentence is underlined) a "Forum for readers to express their points of view." In case any dunderhead may still be in doubt as to the source of what he is about to read (but where would you find such a dunderhead even reading a newspaper?), he is told, in smaller print underneath the heading "Guest forum," that this is a "Guest opinion submitted by _________." All of this, mind you, on a page headed in large, bold letters, "Opinion." I think our editor should continue his reforms, with the goal of restoring the vitality and zest of a genuinely public forum which this page, at its best, formerly produced. He should say "No" to syndicated hacks, thank-you letters, boxed fillers, rigid limits, and his romance with redundancy. He should say "Yes" to vigorous debate and intellectual exchange, remembering that Tidings readers demand more than bland mediocrity. Isaac Walker Ashland Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing