The only position given coverage has been that on the anti-smoking side. No dialog has been permitted. Neither political correctness nor bottom-line journalism intent solely on not offending advertisers can excuse this miserable failure to present a balanced picture adequately informing the public on matters reaching far beyond the immediate subject.

Following such a course of action the Fourth Estate has become a mere propaganda pawn on one side of the debate. This policy is having disastrous effects.  If it were truly a matter of public health no objection could be made. But that is decidedly NOT the case. It is no longer simply a matter of smoking or not smoking. Personal liberty and freedom of choice are at stake as the reprehensible methods of anti-tobacco practices (perhaps unknown even to you) spread to other areas of our society. The result is the progressive disintegration of ethics and principle, not only in journalism but in science, government and the court system in this country.

If, as seems the probable case, you are uninformed about this aspect of the debate, then it is crucial that you acquaint yourselves with the facts, then inform your readers.

Speaking on behalf of fifty million smokers as well as an uncounted number of non-smokers in favor of retaining our Freedoms we, the undersigned, strongly object to such unconscionable slanting of the news and demand that you  open up your news and editorial pages as well as your letters to the editor departments to the other side of the story.

All we ask is fairness.