No strangers to conflict. (Convention Panels).

The aptly titled "Roasting Sacred Cows" provided unexpected revelations.

Audience members discovered the one topic Cynthia Tucker--editorial page editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution--wouldn't touch. They heard conservative firebrand Cal Thomas deliver an impassioned defense of criticism of the military, even in times of war. And they saw cartoonist Signe Wilkerson's depiction of herself, bound to a stake on a pyre of fountain pens.

The topic resonated with writers, who found themselves questioning the line between outspokenness and patriotism in the wake of the September 11 attacks. Moderator John Seigenthaler, the first editorial director of USA Today and founder of The First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University, asked the panelists to focus on three incendiary areas: Military policy; religion-based criticism, and racial tension.

In a country still gripped with patriotic fervor, editorial boards have grown to expect any note of dissension with President Bush's policies to draw a flood of reader anger.

That shouldn't dissuade writers, Thomas said. "I celebrate the freedom we have to do that," he said. "There are 50,000 dead people on a wall in Washington who would have appreciated a little criticism" of a government's decision to go to war.

Leveling that kind of criticism gets easier as time goes on, panelists agreed. But the issue of religion may have become tougher over time. Americans who never questioned their commitment to religious liberty found themselves struggling to divide the religion of Islam from the fanaticism of suicide hijackers.

In some ways, Wilkerson said, the American media went overboard trying to draw a distinction. In the process, editorial boards stilled some voices that wanted to speak out on religious issues. "I think we bent over backwards to be tolerant," she said.

Tucker agreed. That's why the Journal-Constitution ran letters that might have been perceived as bigoted, in an attempt to provide a better reflection of what was happening in the community. She still thinks that was a good decision, even though her paper's own editorials urged conciliation.

Tucker's no stranger to conflict, and the perennial hot button of racism is one she hasn't been afraid to push in Atlanta. Tucker found herself labeled "Oreo" and "Uncle Tom" after a series of articles charging the family of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with greed and opportunism.

But it's even harder for non-minority writers to conduct campaigns like that, Thomas argued. Editorial page editors are still predominantly white men, and many boards don't have any minorities at all --and that often causes reticence even when criticism of black leaders is deserved.

The panelists agreed that newspapers have a duty to push forward with valid criticism--even at the risk of being labeled racist or unpatriotic. But there's also a need for balance, Seigenthaler said.

On that point, all three panelists agreed--and Tucker revealed that there are a few places even she won't go. Her editorial board, like many around the country, didn't comment on the Ninth Judicial Circuit's fleeting declaration that the Pledge of Allegiance violated the constitutional separation of church and state.

"You do have to think of your ability to persuade," she said. "But at the same time, you can't abdicate your responsibility."

NCEW member Krys Fluker is an editorial writer with the Daytona Beach News-Journal. E-mail her at [e-mail]