For several years, WBFO has offered the opportunity for citizens to prepare a Commentary on a subject of their choice and to record it in their own voice for airing on WBFO. WBFO's general policy on Commentaries is found on its website at www.wbfo.org/about/integrity.php3. Until recently, WBFO's News Director, Mark Scott, was facilitating this process for three Commentaries each week. Four individuals were invited to submit monthly Commentaries, and other Commentaries were accepted on a regular basis from the general public. While several public radio stations in the nation offer on-air opportunities to their community, public radio stations in general do not view it as part of their mission or their mandate to open their airwaves to the general public for this purpose, and many do not do so. In addition, the workload entailed in this effort is considerable, especially at a station with a small news staff that covers the entire region on a daily basis. The decision to reduce the number of Commentaries had been discussed by station management for considerable time prior to the decision to limit the number of Commentaries to one per week. In order to promote a diversity of voices, it was decided at the same time to discontinue the invited monthly Commentaries.
Recently, WBFO aired two Commentaries that were related to the war between Israel and Hezbollah. The first one by John Lloyd took a position that was opposed to Israel's actions in the war and America's policies with respect to Israel. The second Commentary by Mickey Osterreicher presented a contrary point of view. The primary mission of WBFO's News Department is to serve as a source of local news in a region where only three radio stations offer such coverage. Commentaries from listeners on issues of national and world interest are an added element of our news service, but certainly not required as part of our mandate. Moreover, it is consistent neither with our News Department mission, nor with our editorial position, to conduct an ongoing public debate using citizen voices on a specific topic of local or national interest. Instead, the station seeks to offer listeners a balanced view on controversial topics, whether national or local, in keeping with accepted journalistic standards. Since the opinions offered by Mr. Lloyd and Mr. Osterreicher were totally divergent, and since prior Commentaries also addressed the topic, WBFO believes it has met its standard of balance, and that it has no journalistic, moral or regulatory obligation to air further Commentaries on the same topic at this time. National news and public affairs programming are available to our local audiences through the various National Public Radio Programs we offer, such as "Morning Edition," "Talk of the Nation," "Fresh Air" and "All Things Considered."
In sum, our editorial position is to offer a diversity of voices - both former and new - on a diversity of topics, and to devote the majority of our News Department resources to the production and airing of local and regional news, as well as state news that specifically affects our community. To continue a point/counterpoint debate on a single topic would be contrary to our stated mission and our past practices, and contrary to the practices of most public radio stations. Having stated this, as the world situation evolves, WBFO will air future Commentaries on topics that have been previously covered, but which address a new set of conditions or more recent events.
This submission is in response to the letter "Public radio station censors anti-Israeli commentary" on Sept. 1
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
