Sylvia Browne is a self-proclaimed "psychic" with a documented history of raking in money while tossing out inept claims. In 1999, Opal Jo Jennings was abducted. One month later, Browne told her upset grandmother that Opal had been taken into slavery in Japan. In 2003, Opal's skeletal remains were found.

In 2002, 11-year-old Shawn Hornbeck disappeared. Four months later, Browne told his distraught parents that Shawn's remains could be found 20 miles away. In 2007, Shawn was found alive and reunited with his family.

Browne coldheartedly feeds horror and false hope to grieving families while selling herself as a visionary worthy of exorbitant fees. Last week, MediaOne of Utah, which is co-owned by The Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News, sponsored the traveling Sylvia Browne fiasco. The Tribune provided advertising, which featured its masthead, and a fluff interview, which didn't mention the paper's sponsorship ("Head games: Psychic Sylvia Browne speaks her clairvoyant mind," Tribune , Dec. 5).

What's next on MediaOne's agenda? Sponsoring a platform for faith healers, homeopaths or vaccine fear-mongers? Is this the level of credibility and integrity The Tribune aspires to? Is this the future of our local print media?

David McKean

Salt Lake City