Calling for back-up

By Richard Chacón - The Boston Globe: "THE OPINION columns that appear on this page are supposed to be provocative. They are argumentative, often one-sided, and typically deal with the day's most relevant and controversial issues.

Over the last several months, Globe readers have raised questions over the amount of scrutiny given to assertions made in opinion columns.

On April 11, Jeffrey Halper, coordinator of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, wrote in an op-ed that Palestinians have ''no functioning economy" because 70 percent of them ''live on less than $2 a day," and that they have ''no agriculture" because ''since 1967 Israel has uprooted or cut down a million olive and fruit trees."

Such broad statements are disputable, especially because Halper offers no sources for his figures. He said in a telephone interview last week that he was asked to provide attribution after the essay was published because the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America questioned the figures.

In a July 1 op-ed, Robert Kennedy Jr., senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, insisted that the federal government neglected to protect children from the dangers of mercury-based vaccines that might cause autism. Kennedy stated that ''hundreds of studies" support his argument. That may be true, but he cited only one by an FDA scientist who found that many autistic children are deficient in their capacity to produce an antioxidant that helps remove mercury from the body.

''I realize op-ed pieces are the opinion of the author, but doesn't the Globe have some responsibility for alleged facts included in the pieces?" Robert Evans, a reader from Acton, wrote in response to the Kennedy piece. ''Citation may get in the way of a good story but it allows the reader to help judge the correctness of what has been stated."

Both the Halper and Kennedy pieces would have benefited from better attribution.

Robert Kuttner, a regular Globe op-ed columnist and co-editor of American Prospect magazine, wrote two columns last month on the investigation into the leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity. In the first, Kuttner stated the special counsel was pressuring two journalists to testify rather than focus on White House officials. The next week, he apologized and argued instead that the special counsel needed the journalists' testimony to pursue a possible criminal case against White House adviser Karl Rove.

More than once, Kuttner stated that he arrived at the new conclusion based on ''more reporting," but never explained what that new reporting was; nor was he asked to provide any additional details, he said last week.

Shouldn't opinion columns be held to the same strict standards for sourcing and attribution that are applied to stories in the news sections? Absolutely. Are they? The previous examples suggest not.

Like most newspapers, the Globe op-ed page offers a mixture of opinion pieces. Some essays are written by staff columnists, journalists who are supposed to be well versed in proper sourcing and attribution. Other pieces are written by nonstaff contributors (like Kuttner) or free-lance writers who are knowledgeable in a particular field.

All op-ed columns go through rigorous editing for accuracy, style, and length before going into print, according to Marjorie Pritchard, the Globe's op-ed co-editor, who also cites the page's low error rate. There is also a trust that the writer wouldn't want to undercut a piece by making errors, she added.

It's not just about the editing. Op-ed writers -- whether staff or free-lance -- should refrain from broad statements presented as facts unless they can back them up with solid evidence.

''I should be held to the same standard of evidence as a reporter, with the difference being that I am entitled to draw conclusions," Kuttner said in a telephone interview last week. ''My editors have never questioned me on sourcing, but it's certainly fair to ask, 'Where's the evidence?' "

In practice, attributing every piece of information might be tough to do in a typical 750-word op-ed column, but here's a good suggestion from Kuttner: Make op-ed writers include their source information in brackets when submitting a column. That way, the editor knows where the material comes from and can decide whether to include that information in the final product.

Recent revelations of poor sourcing in news stories have brought tighter standards into many newsrooms. The influential people who help us shape our opinions should adopt the same rules.

The ombudsman represents the readers. His opinions and conclusions are his own. "