The Deseret News is struggling ("Deseret News to cut 35 staff positions; revamp operations," June 5). No surprise. So are The New York Times and many other American newspapers. What is surprising is Deseret News Editor Joe Cannon's comment: "We will become more local, more online, and more Mormon." More Mormon? What does that say about editorial judgment in describing a product that is supposed to retain objectivity in news reporting?

Given the demographics of Utah, surely the gap between the circulation figures of the two newspapers cannot have much to do with religion. If it did, the Deseret News wouldn't be where it is and has been for decades. So, what the non-Mormon, Pulitzer Prize-winning former Deseret News Editor John Hughes couldn't do, what more modern graphics couldn't do, what changing to a morning edition couldn't do, this projected "more Mormon" revamp will?

In the meantime, I'll read the Deseret News online and subscribe to The Tribune. If I want The Church News, I'll buy Saturday's News. When I want to read about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I'll trust Tribune reporter Peggy Fletcher Stack's objectivity.

Robert L. Wrathall

Bountiful