The Alexander City Outlook

Columnist’s mistakes addressed

Dozens of readers responded to the mistakes made in the commentary section of Friday’s sports page.

Some found significant mistakes on the part of a guest columnist Bruce Meyers, with the most noteworthy one being a section of the column that was inadvertently plagiarized from a column by Pat Forde appearing on ESPN.com. The mistakes were not caught by The Outlook’s editorial staff, and we apologize for the mistake on our part and Bruce’s part. It was certainly not intentional.

However, we should not apologize for the ideas expressed in the column, because providing a public forum for opinion is one of the primary goals of every newspaper. It is so highly valued by our government that the freedom of speech and a free press is specifically protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Several readers responded that Bruce’s comments about the state of Auburn football were offensive to current players, students and alumni. That may well be the case, but commentary sections of our newspaper and other newspapers are dedicated to furthering a diverse spectrum of opinions.

One letter that was left unsigned by the author said, “Objectivity is an essential quality of writing and this article was clearly lacking in that category to say the least.”

We do not dispute that articles appearing as news or sports stories must be objective, but there is a distinct difference between those stories and subjective columns or editorials appearing in the newspaper. Our paper prides itself on providing a community forum for expressing opinions in the Alex City area, and it is open to any opinion that isn’t vulgar, libelous or slanderous in nature. While many people on and off the staff might disagree with Bruce’s assertions about Auburn football, those assertions do have a place in our paper.

We appreciate the many responses from readers calling attention the problems with Friday’s column. Those mistakes have been addressed with the author. The Outlook staff will always try to minimize mistakes when they are found in any guest column.

As with any profession, the people who work here are just that – people. We have made mistakes, and I promise, we will make more.

Our paper is based on our readers’ loyalty, their input and their reactions – both praise and criticism. It is good to know that we are well read among the sports community, and we hope that we will continue to be read by those who identified the mistakes in Friday’s paper.