Surveying the letters page during the month of December, I found no more than a half-dozen letters that could be considered even remotely critical of the Times's coverage, and even they were worded so delicately that it wasn't at all clear the paper was being criticized. "The article 'Testing the Agency Stockpile in a Test Ban Era' (Nov. 28) presents an incomplete picture of nuclear-explosion testing in sustaining the United States arsenal," began a letter published on December 5. Another, appearing on December 8, began, "Your Dec. 3 front-page article about the shortening of Russian lives and decline in live births ('An Ailing Russia Lives a Tough Life That's Getting Shorter') did not mention an important factor...."

Even these mild critiques were greatly outnumbered by letters praising the Times for its coverage. Some examples:

"'Often, Parole Is One Stop on the Way Back to Prison' (front page, Nov. 29) is a wake-up call for those who feel that the best way to deal with people who commit crimes is to put them outside our field of vision...."

"Your Dec. 3 front-page article about the decline and fall of President Alberto K. Fujimori of Peru was terrifying and illuminating...."

"'Next Stop, Dessert: Street Theater Moves Onto the Subway' (Arts pages, Dec. 11) reminded me of how delightful experiencing 'underground' art can be...."

"Re 'For "New Danes," Differences Create a Divide' (front page, Dec. 18): I was truly moved by the story of Bunyamin Simsek and the failure of his arranged marriage...."

Overall, from reading the Times letters page, one gets the impression that most readers are deeply satisfied with--even grateful for--the paper's news coverage.

The letters pages at other top newspapers, while not exactly debating societies, do allow readers considerably more leeway. The letters in the Wall Street Journal can be quite barbed. For example:

"May I suggest that your Dec. 8 page-one article about P&G's effort to create a tampon market outside the U.S. strained the boundaries of polite public discourse? Whatever the business merit of the information, women's private parts were editorially relegated to the basic status of an animal science class discussion."

"For some reason, you seem to love to run scary airline stories. Last year you tried to convince the public that air-traffic controllers make many serious mistakes. Before that, you said older DC-9 aircraft could be dangerous. Now, you attack GE CF-6 aircraft engines as frightfully dangerous (page one, Jan. 2). Deeper in the story, you acknowledge that the average engine would fly 30 years before suffering a shutdown, and even then the shutdown might not lead to further complications. You take a handful of incidents and paint the whole airline industry as dangerous. Why?"

And, from the Washington Post:

"Shame on The Post for insensitive sensationalism in referring to Robert Downey Jr. [Style, Nov. 27] as a '35 year old actor/addict.' Were Mr. Downey suffering from epilepsy or asthma would The Post have called him a 35-year old 'actor/epileptic' or 'actor/asthmatic'? Addiction is a disease. Practice compassion...."

"Regarding the article 'On Brazilian TV, an Unhealthy Dose of "Reality"?'[Style, Dec. 16]: Did Stephen Buckley really have to give a blow-by-blow (literally) description of the horrific child abuse that was shown on a Brazilian TV station? His description is as bad as the TV station that aired it and is the lowest form of tabloid journalism. Did any of your higher-ups read this article?"

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