Publisher shares thoughts on 'My Turn' column

This week, the Columbia Basin Herald has had to do something we almost never do: retract and apologize for a "My Turn" column.

Ordinarily we stand by our reporters' columns, whether we agree with them or not. "My Turn" is intended to be a reflection of the reporter's individual opinion, not a statement of the paper's position, and we respect their right to their own opinions.

But Lynne Lynch's column on Monday crossed the line from opinion to bad-mouthing, and we can't stand behind that.

Do problems like unprofessional dress and foul-mouthed students occur at our schools? No question about it. Is there a place for discussion of those problems? There certainly is.

But simply lambasting teachers and students who have no opportunity to respond, and in a situation where they could be identified, was not the way to have that discussion. Mrs. Lynch, a well-seasoned, excellent senior reporter, should have known that. The editor should have known that; he should had moved it to our Thursday opinion page. It was beneath the Herald's standards, and should never have been put in a "My Turn." In fact, to be unbiased and lend credibility to reporting both sides of an issue, reporters should refrain from expressing their opinion in the pages of the newspaper they create. We would rather have readers express their opinions, which allows us to cover both sides of an issue without taking sides.

Our school system, whether you agree with its direction or not, is a pillar of our community. It's the glue that hold's us all together. It's a point of pride when talking about the area. It solidifies the identity of our community. It produces the next generation of leaders who will face similar challenges in the future. We would never want to harm any of these qualities in a spiteful fashion.

We will continue to report on school activities in the future. You may not always agree with the article or the reasons for an article. We could promise never to show the district in a bad light but, in the future, there may be a need to raise questions. This was not one of those situations.

Sorry isn't an easy thing to say, but to all the administrators, teachers, classified employees, school board and especially our superintendent, we apologize from the bottom of our hearts for our carelessness in the article selection and placement.

We retract the words of the column, and we would like to reassure our readers that we have great respect for our teachers. In fact, as any regular reader knows, the Columbia Basin Herald goes out of its way to highlight all that's good in our school system.

That's not to say we won't report when there's something wrong. That's part of a newspaper's job. But as part of the Moses Lake community, we stand squarely behind our schools, teachers and other educators. We're very sorry that something we printed called into question the quality of our kids' education.

- Harlan J. Beagley, publisher of

the Columbia Basin Herald