Reader Advocate: Covering all angles of a simmering issue

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2008, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The phone call started off pleasantly enough:

"I know you people at The Tribune think you are covering immigration fairly, but you are not," the man said.

"You take the side of all these illegals and you never present the other side. What is wrong with you?"

It went downhill from there.

It seems this reader believes the paper wants to save all illegal immigrants from the long arm of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

And, we do not tell the other side of the story.

What's the other side of the story? According to this reader - and others who have called over the last several months - the other side of the story is the one told by the Minutemen, those individuals who have volunteered to go to the border states and patrol to stave off the wave of immigrants.

We have told that story, a number of times.

And we continue to tell the story -- including the stories and editorials about the failure of the U.S. Congress to solve the immigration problem. And stories about the state Legislature's attempts to solve the problem at the Utah level.

We have written stories about raids on companies where undocumented workers were employed. We even followed some of those deported after the Swift Meat company raid in Cache County to their native areas in Mexico and reported on how the families were coping.

What we are not going to do in this paper is tell one side over another.

Currently considered a "third rail" in politics - or a concern that can kill a political career - the issue of immigration is one that often draws emotional, sometimes irrational, public comment.

Don't believe me? Take a look at the comments on Jessica Ravitz's http://www.sltrib.com/faith_ci_8335980%20?source=rv" Target="_BLANK">story on the break room for cabbies at Salt Lake International Airport -- closed after controversy developed when Muslim cabbies were using the quiet room for daily prayers. Now they are out on the pavement for the five-times a day religious duty. And, no cabbies can use the little building with toilets and snack machines.

Here are a few of the comments:

"They are all jihadists. deport them now and we will drive our own cabs, manage our own sleazy motels and convenience stores."

"But, large one, who is going to kill teenaged girls for not wearing head scarves?"

"Why not change your name to the beliefs you truly prescribe to? Hate, bigotry, intolerance . . . all based on your 'research' of the Islamic Religion. Your posts are tired, poorly researched and inflammatory. But, hey -- it's the internets and yer god givin' right, am I kerrect?"

"Good call, amazing isn't it? I knew as i was reading the article what types of comments would fill this thread."

"The poor scared ugly Americans. My bet is this guy probably just got pissed off because they turned the channel on the TV from Fox news."

"Round them up and send them to Mexico, might as well clear all of them out."

Makes me proud to be an American.

The real problem with this sort of brutish discourse is that those voices of reason on the forum - and there are indeed thoughtful people who weigh in on both sides of the immigration issue - get chased off.

And, voices of reason from the great American middle class - that silent majority - would be refreshing about now.

It's easy to sign up to http://www.sltrib.com so you can comment.

A little Buttars: The stories about some injudicious remarks by state Sen. Chris Buttars on the floor of the Senate resulted in many calls and e-mails. Most readers wanted to know if they correctly understood what Buttars had said.

Some people wanted to know why we wrote the story in the first place, My answer was simple: When a public official says something so egregious that he must apologize to the Senate body, then the public has the right to know.

And, that is one of the simple reasons that newspapers continue to publish: The people have the right to know what their governments do.

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* The Reader Advocate's phone number is 801-257-8782. Write to the Reader Advocate, The Salt Lake Tribune, 90 S. 400 West, Suite 700, Salt Lake City, Utah 84101. reader.advocate@sltrib.com.