Matt Butler
Jefferson City
Dear Editor:
When I peruse the News-Tribune’s opinion section online, the first thing I look at is the byline. It indicates to me not just who the author is, but their standing as well. Is the piece the collective opinion of the editorial board, the voice of a syndicated columnist like George Will, or simply a concerned citizen? It seems fair to assume that a piece without a byline, like Sept. 12th “Obama goes on attack, but arguments fall flat against Trump successes” speaks for the editorial board. Imagine my surprise, then, to discover after some research that the piece was in fact the work of syndicated columnist Cal Thomas.
I disagree with the News-Tribune’s decision to run such hyper-partisan pieces (regardless of which side of the aisle they’re coming from), but I can respect it if they are properly attributed. This, however, is a whole different story — it indicates that the newspaper endorses the views voiced in the article.
Since it turns out that the piece was indeed attributed to Thomas in the print edition, I’m guessing that this was simply a mistake on the website; it’s not the first time I’ve seen lack of attribution in the opinion section online, though. Accidents happen, but running a piece like that one with no attribution is misleading, irresponsible and negligent. Readers deserve better.