Be fair with party labels

I just finished reading the entire front section of the April 3 edition, which features seven "news" articles about the indictment of former Democrat Gov. Rod Blagojevich and one editorial on the subject. Please go back and review each of these pieces and then inform your readers how often Blagojevich is identified by party in the entire front section of the paper. Let me help you - just once - and that reference is in passing on Page 4 which states: "Federal prosecutors are also going after Blagojevich's Chicago bungalow and his Washington, D.C., condo from the Democrat's years in the U.S. House."

Similarly, the other Democrats indicted are not referred to by party affiliation. The only indicted person listed with his party affiliation is "Republican insider William Cellini" - a phrase used once by Joe Ryan and Rob Olmstead in their front page article and the less-formal version of "Republican insider Bill Cellini" used in the editorial on Page 12. While I did not do a Lexis-Nexis search to provide specific factual examples, as a longtime subscriber to your paper, I can represent with a high level of confidence that malfeasance alleged or proven against Republicans almost always appears with specific reference to party affiliation in your paper. The numerous references to former Republican Gov. George Ryan come quickly to mind. If political affiliation is newsworthy when a person in the Republican party is being investigated, is indicted or has been convicted, the same standard should be applied to Democrats. As a news organization, the decision to identify a person's political affiliation should be consistently applied for members of both political parties, otherwise you are being deceptive to your readers. Clearly, in this reader's humble opinion, journalistic standards of excellence require an evenhanded reporting of the news and fairness upon the editorial page.

Steven R. Johnson

Wheaton