Is an editor responsible for everything his paper prints? Certainly. Editors often act, however, as if this responsibility did not extend to syndicated columnists. Unlike the rest of the staff, the absentee pundit rarely has to prove or go bail for his facts, or gossip, no matter how irresponsible or erroneous.
The Democratic Cincinnati Enquirer got fed up with the flap-jawed way some of its columnists were talking. In an editorial, it warned its readers that Westbrook Pegler and Walter Winchell often don't know what they're talking about.
Pegler, the Enquirer complained, had noted...
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