Give Up Times-Star For Lent, Priest Says   

Any member of St. Joseph Basilica Church who hadn't decided what to give up for Lent this year got an unusual suggestion from their priest: the local newspaper.

Angry that the Alameda, California, Times-Star prints unsigned opinions in a column called Straight Talk, the Rev. Patrick Goodwin said in his March 1 sermon, "I would not be unhappy if for Lent you decided to cancel your subscription to the Times-Star. Get your refund and donate it to the charity of your choice." He suggested parishioners call advertisers if they were unhappy with the 2 1/2-year-old column, which appears on the paper's editorial page and includes opinions of anonymous writers and callers.

Goodwin says criticisms of the church in Straight Talk sensitized him to the problems that other allegations in the column created for residents. "They kill you first and find out the facts later," Goodwin says. The Times-Star has also reported on a renovation at the church and the drunk-driving arrest of a church official as a result of tips in Straight Talk. To discuss his concerns, Goodwin met with Editor Tom Tuttle.

What sparked Goodwin's sermon was an article in the paper two days later that cited the meeting, which church officials say they understood to be confidential.

However, Tuttle wrote in the Times-Star's Feb. 28 edition that the newspaper agreed to keep confidential the substance of the meeting, not the fact that it occurred.

Stephen Mullin, a pastoral associate who attended the meeting, says Straight Talk is an affront to First Amendment sensibilities. "The anonymous nature of Straight Talk could lead to people making libelous statements," he says. "We object to the overall principle. When you write a letter to the editor, you publish the writer's name. Straight Talk should be no different."

In an editorial March 4, the Times-Star defended the column. "Straight Talk is a lively, at times controversial feature. It's also one of our town's most honest and open barometers of public opinion on local issues. Even some politicians...panned in its columns see Straight Talk as a useful form of feedback."

Despite church pressure, Straight Talk seems likely to stay. A poll found that readers supported keeping the column by a 2-1 margin, Tuttle says.

The paper's circulation suffered little from Goodwin's Lent suggestion. Tuttle says the paper lost about 35 subscribers after the sermon, but gained about 100 new ones. The only ad it lost was the church's.

"We knew we were taking on a losing battle by battling the press," Goodwin says. "But we felt it was important enough to stick our necks out."