Want a Voice in the NYT? Write ‘Pithy’ Letters ‘With a Strong Conservative Point of View’

Quick follow on the earlier post wondering why one conservative letter writer has been published in The New York Times at least 44 times in the last decade…

Here’s a September 2007 online exchange with The Times’ editorial page editor Andrew Rosenthal, who is asked directly why Margaret McGirr gets so much play in the paper. From the response:

[W]e do publish her letters from time to time. The reasons are simple — she writes pithy and often witty letters, with a strong conservative point of view. That’s something we always look for as a balance to the liberal letter writers who predominate on the page, because they predominate among our readers. She helps provide a diversity of ideas. Who wants to hear only the point of view he or she agrees with? By [t]he way, we generally do not publish the same letter writer more than once every two months.

I get that they want a diversity of ideas, but when one end of the argument comes repeatedly from the same person, how much diversity can you claim?