PRESS: Clearly identify opinion

The Coeur d’Alene Press routinely provides opportunities for Kootenai County residents to write opinion pieces on a wide variety of topics. That is a basic tenet of community journalism, and should be applauded. They are, normally, identified as opinion pieces, another basic tenet of journalism.

However, a recent profile of Dwight Van Horn (“Dwight Van Horn: North Idaho’s own NRA director,” Feb. 17) is clearly a mix of fact and opinion, with analysis of events provided by the author and not attributed to Mr. Van Horn. Clearly, this profile crosses the line form a news article into opinion and should have been identified as such. This profile was not written by a Press staff writer, but rather was written by “Mike Satren, Special to the Press.” The Press should have provided at least minimal background information on Mr. Satren so a reader of this profile could filter it for any bias that might have influenced his writing.

A quick Google search for Mr. Satren found an article published on the “Freedom Advocates” website, “Wolves in Our Backyard,” May 30, 2007, which identifies Mr. Satren as follows: “Mike Satren, former Outdoors editor for Hagadone News in North Idaho, is a freelance photographer/writer and NRA firearms instructor.”

This letter is written not in support or opposition to Mr. Satren’s opinions, but rather as a critique of the way this profile was handled by The Press. An article not written by a member of The Press staff should be clearly identified as “opinion” when it contains the writer’s opinion, and it should provide background identification of any content provider who is not employed as a Press staffer.

JAY FROMKIN

Post Falls