The Silenced Majority

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In the June 1 edition of Newsweek, Robert J. Samuelson writes about the need to stop procrastinating and reform Social Security and Medicare.  Indeed, many people wonder why we keep kicking the can down the road.
 
Part of the answer came one week later, in Newsweek's June 8th edition. On p. 6, you see that in the week following Samuelson's column, 57 percent of all letters to the editor were regarding Samuelson's piece. An article about Iran generated 19 percent of all letters, the second-highest total.
 
Of the seven letters that Newsweek printed, how many of them were about Samuelson's column? Maybe four of the seven, which roughly equates to 57 percent? Or three of the seven, which would slightly underrepresent the response to Samuelson's column? How about two of seven, or perhaps just one?
 
The answer: ZERO. That's right, not a single reader response to Samuelson's article appears in Newsweek's June 8 issue.
 
Not only does this shed some light on the stumbling blocks to a serious conversation about entitlement reform, but it may also provide clues about the trouble Newsweek and other publications have connecting with readers.