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I find a lot of the Advocate becoming sillier every day. Maybe it's my age or my journalism background, but I am under the impression that the mission of a newspaper, other than making money, is to provide authentic, researched information to the public it serves.

How, then, does the "Question of the Day" fit this mission when mostly uninformed coffee drinkers are asked to give an opinion on a subject about which they have no knowledge? What does that serve?

And the call-in opinions are routinely uninformed, mostly shooting from the hip sound bites. The call-in feature does, however, give "Bill" from Woodsboro an opportunity to spout his over-the-top political leanings on a once or, occasionally, twice-daily basis.

That way, he doesn't have to wait a month between his letters to the editor to provide readers with the knowledge that he would vote for a jackass (or Jimmy Carter again) if it was running on the Democratic ticket.

I know you have to compete with TV these days and most newspapers are going to a style started by USA Today, but is it necessary to resort to the lowest common denominator to do that?

Tom Eastland

Victoria