OK, OK, the People Will Be Heard

Brother! You slave away at a newspaper, working long hours and giving your job the best years of your life, only to learn that your editors have no faith in your judgment.

Take the letters published below, for instance. I was adamantly opposed to printing them because the columns they address were comprehensive and infallible. So why waste space on less-intelligent, superfluous opinions? But no! I was overruled.

What’s more, my editors inexplicably will not allow me to print my own snide rebuttal at the end of each letter, denying me the columnist’s historic right to always have the caustic last word. I mean, the concept works great for Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, who now encourage viewers to tape and send in responses to the movie critiques aired on their syndicated TV series.

Only Sunday, they graciously aired a young boy’s taped reply to some of their reviews. Naturally, they attacked his views afterward, which was not only their right, but also their duty as critics with an obligation to share their superior profundity with the masses.

If only my editors would see the wisdom of this policy. But instead. . . .

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Regarding “Today’s Topic: Hosts Who Shirk the Blame,” you seem to feel that Jenny Jones, her staff and KCOP-TV Channel 13 are responsible for the murder of Scott Amedure. You state that by having Amedure reveal his secret crush on Jonathan Schmitz, Schmitz was so traumatized that he was incited to murder--three days later.

When are people in this society going to take responsibility for their own actions?

Schmitz’s embarrassment, shame and unstable mental condition are certainly not to be denied; however, there were options--the most obvious would have been for him to walk off the stage. Do you honestly feel that Schmitz was entitled to murder Amedure, simply because on national TV, Amedure hugged Schmitz and revealed his crush on him?

ARTHA CONERLY

Pasadena

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You seem to think that Jenny Jones should have investigated Schmitz’s background and discovered his history of “mental illness.” Aside from the fact that the jury didn’t buy that at all, let’s talk about your job.

You are a critic for the Los Angeles Times, and your pronouncements must sometimes make the difference between life and death for some of the shows you critique. So you can’t pretend that you don’t sometimes have a very profound effect on other people’s lives. In the process of evaluating what you see, you must often talk to and consult with a great many other people, and incorporate what you’ve learned from them in your column. How many of them do you investigate for mental illnesses in their backgrounds?

DERALD E. MARTIN

Joshua Tree

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I found Jenny Jones’ claim that she was little more than a talking head on her own show ludicrous, although we realize that such claims were obviously motivated by the civil suit hanging over her head. Another point:

Although you say later in the column that the same-sex secret crush episode was shown widely, I think it was wrong to say near the beginning that “the episode was never broadcast.” It certainly was broadcast in its grim entirety by Court TV, and the clips with Amedure and Schmitz have probably been seen more than anything from a talk show since Geraldo Rivera was struck over the head with a chair.

RON HARDCASTLE

Los Angeles

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One young guy is dead, another is going to wish he were dead (serving 25 to 50 years in prison), and Jenny Jones, her producers and her sponsors fill their pockets. I share your outrage.

ROB TESTA

La Puente

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Perhaps someone might have pointed out to you by now your error in your description of Caryl Chessman in the review of “In Cold Blood.” Chessman was not a killer, brutal or otherwise. In fact, he was never even accused of killing anyone. The charge was kidnapping-robbery, which was a capital offense in those days. As time goes by, the misconception as a killer, I fear, is held by many people.

JOHN GAY

Writer of “Kill Me If You Can,” a 1977 TV movie about Chessman

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An “aura of goodness” undermining Alan Alda’s performance in “Kill Me If You Can”? Uh-uh. Alda was chillingly convincing as Chessman. So successful was his portrayal of the man as a sleazy rat, what was undermined was the sympathy the audience was supposed to feel in this anti-capital punishment piece.

EARL EAGER ALBERT

Temple City

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I wholeheartedly accept the “traffic boy” moniker you gave me as genuine flattery, coming from you. See, I honestly forgot you still had a job over at The Times. Hell, I thought you were retired by now. Or dead . . . or something. Isn’t that funny?

Whoops! My mommy’s calling, and I’m sure those pesky orderlies are after you to take your medicine. Seriously, though, your intended slings and arrows fell about my feet like so many spring roses.

P.S.: Would you have used the “Traffic Boy” title if I had been African-American? Just wondering.

JIM THORNTON

KCBS-TV/KNX-AM

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Your piece on “Seinfeld” really surprised me. Such paeans of praise for the show so appropriately called “the show about nothing”? I don’t see how I can ever respect your opinion again.

MURRAY RUDOMIN

Van Nuys