LETTER FROM THE EDITOR: HOW SOME NEWS OCCURS OVER LUNCH

One of the things editors get to do is eat lunch with some pretty important people. Being an editor gives you enormous power to sway the minds of readers -- at least that is what a good many politicians think.

By and large, editors share the responsibility for what readers see in the newspaper. News content, for example, is largely determined by other editors whose primary responsibilities include selecting news stories, editing them and writing headlines.

Readers of the Southeast Missourian are fortunate on two counts: The newspaper has abundant space allocated for news -- more than many papers this size. And we have some talented editors who care about giving readers a well-rounded taste of each day's news.

As for the opinions expressed by this newspaper, and many other newspapers as well, those ideas are formulated by consensus. At the Missourian, that consensus is the product of weekly meetings of the editorial board, whose members are listed each day above our editorials.

Anyone who wants to get his or her opinion published in the newspaper has several options: a letter to the editor, a guest column or a telephone call to Speak Out. But politicians know about another way, one in which they can often get their views on the front page. This is to become the topic of a news story.

News stories are factual in that they report what happened, what was said and who said it. What a source for a news story says, however, may or may not be factual. In most cases reporters and editors seek to balance quotes in stories by talking to more than one source. These sources may disagree on the facts or express opposing opinions, and it is left to the reader to sift through the information.

Occasionally, key politicians create situations in which they have a fairly high expectation that they will be prominently quoted in a news story. That was the case last week when Gov. Carnahan invited several editors from around the state to lunch at the Governor's Mansion in Jefferson City.

This technique has clout. First, almost anyone is flattered to be invited to the governor's house to eat. Second, the governor has a captive audience while editors slurp their soup (in this case an unidentified brown soup thought by the governor possibly to be squash soup). Third, the governor is attended by smart, young, energetic staff members who can cite statistics nonstop until the last crumb of cherry-chocolate torte is eaten.

Last week the governor wanted to talk about Amendment 7, the Hancock II tax-limitation proposal. He was pointed in calling the effort a threat to the state's financial stability. He observed that Missouri is a low-tax state, a fiscally responsible state, has a balanced budget and already lives within the limits of Hancock I, the original constitutional amendment whose purpose was to put controls on state spending.

Of course, the governor's forthright and sincere statements would be countered and even pooh-poohed by the supporters of Hancock II. But at least for an hour during a pleasant lunch in the mansion's ornate dining room, Gov. Carnahan had his say without any shrill interruptions.

Now if U.S. Rep. Mel Hancock, for whom Hancock I and II are named, wants to get in his two cents' worth without any quick-witted state officials to sandbag his remarks, I am available for lunch almost any day this week. I have never seen the dining room of his home.

~R. Joe Sullivan is the editor of the Southeast Missourian.