Idaho conference focuses on wartime comment.

"President Rush" wants to unseat "Gottum Nukum" of "Irakistan." Congressman "Ball Badger" votes against a war resolution and instead proposes a resolution supporting the troops and bringing them home as soon as possible. He gets the label "Baghdad Ball Badger." As an editorial writer, do you dare to write in defense of Badger? Should your editorials reflect the views of the majority of your community that supports the war? Should you keep asserting, even after the fighting starts, that war is wrong? What do you say to the mother who comes into your office and says her son is in more danger because of anti-war protests?

These were provocative questions posed by Jim Fisher, editorial page editor of the Lewistown Tribune in Idaho, to open an April seminar on opinion writing for college journalists at the University of Idaho. About two dozen student editors and writers invited from the University of Idaho, Washington State University/Pullman, Eastern Washington University, North Idaho College, and Whitworth College warmed up to Fisher's "Socratic" presentation on the challenges of opinion writing in wartime.

The students generally agreed that censorship in wartime in wrong and that they would not like to live in a society where uniformity of opinion is enforced. But they were less sure about self-censorship in wartime. Fisher said his paper's editorials are far more liberal than his readership and that readers pay most attention to editorials that go against the grain of community opinion. "Do people learn from reading what they agree with?" he asked. "You need someone to try and shoot holes in your argument to make sure it holds water." As for reflecting community opinion, that's the job of the commentary section, not the paper's own editorials, Fisher said. "The opinion page is the page for everyone," he said.

Organized by Kenton Bird, assistant professor of journalism at the University of Idaho, the workshop was cosponsored by NCEW and UI. It featured a session on extending the reach and power of the opinion page, led by Doug Floyd of The Spokesman-Review in Spokane; a column-writing clinic with Bill Hall, retired EPE from Lewiston, and Vera White of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News, with WSU newspaper adviser David Cuillier moderating; and a presentation on using cartoons featuring Noah Kroese, the cartoonist for the UI's Idaho Argonaut, moderated by UI's Brian Beesley. There also was a mock editorial board meeting and a short critique session.

Over pizza in the UI student union, keynoter Kate Riley of The Seattle Times spoke about the need to push for access to information, both nationally and locally, in the post-9/11 era.

"Why is access important?" she asked. "Government is a public servant. People are better able to protect themselves if they are informed." As opinion writers, she told the students, "the more information we have, the better we can write persuasively."

Among the questions raised by students and the gist of response during the day-long session: If your editorial board all feels the same on an issue, should you make up opinions to get more diversity onto the page? (No, try and cast a wider net.) Should you reject letters including personal attacks on columnists? (Only if they lapse into bad taste.) How do you get more contributors to your page? (One idea suggested by a student: Put up sheets of butcher paper in the student union with a heading like "What do you think of the war in Iraq?" and print the responses.)

"The First Amendment is only of value if it involves views you hate by people you dislike," observed veteran editorial writer and columnist Hall. "You deal with scum by confronting it out in the sun, not pushing it under the rug where it grows."

Fred Fiske, senior editorial writer at the Post-standard in Syracuse, New York, chairs NCEW's Journalism Education Committee. E-mail [e-mail]