A while back, I wrote a letter to my local newspaper, the Post-Star of Glens Falls New York. On Sunday, this letter became the subject of a column by the newspaper's editor. It begins: "We published a letter to the editor last month where a reader wrote that The Associated Press "...is not much more than a branch of the U.S. State Department or the CIA."

The editor, Ken Tingley, goes on to publish what to my knowledge is an untruth: ""Years ago there was another competing wire service, United Press International, but it went out of business." My understanding is that the wire service changed hands several times, but never "went out of business." In fact, if one types "United Press International" into one's search engine of choice, one will inevitably find the news service's website, www.upi.com.

Midway through his essay, our editor makes the following assertion: "The letter we printed was disturbing because it was simply not true." Now to me, that smacks of editor backpeddling, a disease which is unfortunately endemic in the profession.

This newspaper is to be praised for printing letters that are definitely disturbing, more often than not because they are true.

If you have an interest in this issue and would like to chime in, the original column can be found at http://www.poststar.com/articles/2008/09/21/opinion/columns/editor/13930454.txt. Unfortunately, I cannot locate my original letter, either in my files or on the newspaper's website. I earlier wrote a letter to the editor on Richard Gage's presentation at MIT, which the newspaper printed, and which was followed by a letter by another reader that could be characterized of critical of my original submission. Fortunately, I posted both letters on my website, and they may be found there at http://www.petersnewyork.com/GAGE%20LETTER.html. Other entries that I have written that are critical of AP may be found at http://www.petersnewyork.com/Anthrax.html and http://www.petersnewyork.com/AIRPORT2.html. Are there any critics out there who believe that reader feedback to local newspapers might influence the type of coverage AP provides to its member newspapers?