# Can the author of an Op-Ed piece lie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 6, 2003, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-author-of-an-op-ed-piece-lie/159517 "2003-03-06T16:41:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-author-of-an-op-ed-piece-lie/159517/21 "2003-03-07T16:52:42Z")
Yep. Thought it’s not so nefarious as that. The local campus newspaper printed a letter to the editor written by an anonymous college student about my Fraternity. In the letter he/she claimed that the fraternity did many things that are blatantly false. Among the allegations: -Drugs are distributed at parties to the general public. -16 year old women are regularly in attendance at the fraternity house. -Rape is a common occurance. It went on and on. All of these allegations, of course, are not true. No attempt was made by the paper to fact check any of this. The president of the fraternity was not contacted for a response. It seems to me that this is very similar to the idea of accusing a neighbor of being a child molestor without any proof, and the local paper printing it. I dunno. Like I said in the OP, I don’t really read old fashioned newspapers. I have no idea what is acceptable and normal practices for letters to the editor, Ed pages, Op-Ed pages and the like. I am sure at the end of the day it really comes down to the newspapers can do whatever they like. I am just curious as to what the standards, if any, are. ---
**Author:** ![racekarl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6bbea6/32.png) [@racekarl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racekarl)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-author-of-an-op-ed-piece-lie/159517/22 "2003-03-07T17:03:05Z")
Hmm, sounds like that paper needs a review of their editorial policies by the school administration. I was an editor on my college paper, and our policy, as I believe is the policy at most reputable newpapers was to not publish unsigned letters to the editor. The reason for this policy is to prevent exactly the kind of thing that happened to your fraternity. People will be emboldened to write all sort of wild things if they feel like they can never be taken to task for it. A repuputable editorial board should be highly skeptical of the claims of a person who is not willing to sign his or her name to those claims. ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-author-of-an-op-ed-piece-lie/159517/23 "2003-03-07T19:00:35Z")
Agreed. In general, anything that someone is not willing to sign there name to should be weighted less heavily. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-author-of-an-op-ed-piece-lie/159517/24 "2003-03-07T19:29:27Z")
I’m surprised no one’s mentioned Ann Coulter. ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-author-of-an-op-ed-piece-lie/159517/25 "2003-03-07T19:34:22Z")
I just noticed that I made that last post, right here on an anonymous message board. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![racekarl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6bbea6/32.png) [@racekarl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racekarl)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-author-of-an-op-ed-piece-lie/159517/26 "2003-03-07T19:37:20Z")
LOL yeah you’re right. But you’re in the clear anyway, since “less heavily” is relative. If everyone here is an anonymous coward, at least we’re all the same! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-author-of-an-op-ed-piece-lie/159517/27 "2003-03-07T19:38:18Z")
On that note, I recently read some interview with Anne Coulter. No cite, sorry, don’t remember. She said that those often used quotes of her saying we should “invade the Middle eastern countries and convert them to Christianity” were false. Not mis-quoted, but outright false. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-author-of-an-op-ed-piece-lie/159517/28 "2003-03-07T21:17:34Z")
Standards for letters to the editor are probably a little lower than op-ed columns. And I haven’t read the letter in question, so it’s hard to comment, because it depends on how much the letter alleged. But in general printing an anonymous letter making numerous allegations of illegal and outrageous behaviour is journalistically somewhere between shoddy to downright outrageous. Again, I don’t know the exact situation. A signed letter saying “this fraternity is a horrible neighbor, and they’re all a bunch of drunken jerks who are ruining the neighborhood” is perfectly acceptable and really part of what the letters to the editor are all about. In any case, the paper does have a major obligation (ethically, if not legally) to print a response from you. It’s kind of surprising how little there is legally to keep papers in line, but they almost always do try exceedingly hard to get things right (though not always admitting it when they didn’t). You should complain hard about them printing anonymous letters, and demand that they run a reply from you. (you could try to get an apology or retraction, but I probably wouldn’t waste time and/or antagonize them). ---
**Author:** ![zut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zut/32/2875_2.png) [@zut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zut)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-author-of-an-op-ed-piece-lie/159517/29 "2003-03-07T22:11:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Debaser \* > On that note, I recently read some interview with Anne Coulter. No cite, sorry, don’t remember. > > She said that those often used quotes of her saying we should “invade the Middle eastern countries and convert them to Christianity” were false. Not mis-quoted, but outright false. How could that be? [Here](http://www.nationalreview.com/coulter/coulter091301.shtml) is Ann Coulter’s September 13, 2001 column in the National Review. Note the last two paragraphs: > [@](#): > > Airports scrupulously apply the same laughably ineffective airport harassment to Suzy Chapstick as to **Muslim** hijackers. It is preposterous to assume every passenger is a potential crazed homicidal maniac. **We know who the homicidal maniacs are.** They are the ones cheering and dancing right now. > > **We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.** We weren’t punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That’s war. And this is war. [bolding mine] Is she really saying she _didn’t_ write the words appearing under her name? Or is she claiming a different meaning than the obvious one? Or am I being whooshed? ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-author-of-an-op-ed-piece-lie/159517/30 "2003-03-08T13:50:58Z")
Nope. I read the article you cited and she di d say it. [Here](http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=5365) is the article that I had read that she mentioned being mis-quoted. > [@](#): > > One of my favorite fabricated statements was the one created for me by Andrew Grossman of The Hollywood Reporter. He was reporting an exchange on the “Today” show about my 9/11 column in which I said of the terrorists and their sympathizers: “We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.” “Today” host Katie Couric asked me if I thought that was the best way to battle terrorism. > > Here is my precise answer: “Well, point one and point two, by the end of the week, had become official government policy. As for converting them to Christianity, I think it might be a good idea to get them on some sort of hobby other than slaughtering infidels. I mean, perhaps that’s the Peace Corps, perhaps it’s working for Planned Parenthood, but I’ve never seen the transforming effect of anything like Christianity.” > > Grossman’s full account of this exchange in The Hollywood Reporter was: “‘Do you still believe that’s the best way to fight terrorism?’ Couric demanded. That quote was taken out of context, Coulter insisted.” > > My parents are still waiting for the day that I formulate an argument as succinct and elegant as: “That was taken out of context. Now I’ll go back to eating my turkey.” Even my worst enemies would not believe I was a nonparticipant in an argument about me. So, she was complaining about Katie Couric mis-quoting her _response_ to the “convert them to chrisitianity”, not the actual statement in the first place. I just must have mis-read it. So, I apologize, I shouldn’t have mentioned something without going and finding the cite. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-author-of-an-op-ed-piece-lie/159517/31 "2003-03-08T14:10:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Indefatigable \* > \*\* > I think if something slanderous or libelous is published, i.e. if the writer said something nasty about someone without proof, the paper or the writer could get sued. Libel is libel. > \*\* In the US, I think that you can be as nasty as you like. For example, I think the statement, “Joe Blow is the kind of person who would steal a wheel chair.” is a protected expression of opinion. However, if you state something as a fact and say, “Joe Blow stole a wheel chair last Friday.” you had better be able to prove it. ---
**Author:** ![county](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@county](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/county)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-author-of-an-op-ed-piece-lie/159517/32 "2003-03-08T16:23:30Z")
Well, George Bush is pretty bad. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2003, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-author-of-an-op-ed-piece-lie/159517/33 "2003-03-08T17:37:59Z")
Almost all of these posts are confusing the issue with comments about libel and slkander which are not necessarily at all related to the OP. Perhaps another example is in order: the New York Post wants me to write an editorial piece in favor of harsher sentencing for armed robbers. I simply make something up to support this, say, “80% of all armed robbers are also child molesters.” There is nothing and no one who can punish the New York Post for publishing this. Even it I sat around with the paper’s owner and editorial board, and we made it up as a group effort, and there was a tape recording of us doing it. The Post might fire me as a scapegoat, but there would be no law requiring them to do so. Nor would anyone have grounds to sue it or me for publishing a deliberate lie, because no one can prove damages. In fact, [a recent appeals court ruling](http://www.2dca.org/opinion/February%2014,%202003/2D01-529.pdf) specifically upheld Fox Broadcasting’s right to fire employees for REFUSING to lie. Some more background is [reported here.](http://www.foxbghsuit.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-author-of-an-op-ed-piece-lie/159517/34 "2003-03-09T02:56:08Z")
A nitpick. OP-ED does not stand for opinion editorial. Most papers have an editorial page written by their staff. Columns from outside contributors usually appear on the opposite page. OP-ED pieces are the ones **OP** osite the **ED** itorial page. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2003, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-author-of-an-op-ed-piece-lie/159517/35 "2003-03-09T03:06:11Z")
Yes, op-ed people can and do lie. When I worked as a newspaper reporter, two other reporters, both of whom had worked at bigger papers, told me they sometimes offered to the public opinions they didn’t really believe just to stir up shit. IMO, this is about the same as lying. During my last year at a newspaper which shall go nameless, the editor uttered several lies in a front-page column touting a fall sports preview I had put together. That was one of the reasons I decided to get out of newspaper work. It also spoiled the pride I had taken in that section, one of the best I had done. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-author-of-an-op-ed-piece-lie/159517.md?page=1)