The Oakland Press Forum Section appears weekly on Sundays.

There’s a reason it consists of four pages while during the rest of the week, we have only one Opinion Page each day.

Sunday is The Oakland Press’ largest circulation day and through the Forum Section, we can provide more, balanced letters and guest opinions to our readers.

Notice I stress “balanced.” As I mentioned Monday, the Opinion Page strives to provide a balance of opinions — conservative and liberal. From an editorial standpoint, we are probably more conservative, although many readers will contest that statement.

But the most important thing is to try to provide a balance of opinions in the Forum section. For example, normally on Page 3 we run columns from Walter Williams, a conservative, and Leonard Pitts Jr., a liberal. It would be fantastic if they each wrote on the same topic but that’s almost impossible to coordinate. However, the two definitely support and express often diametrically opposite views.

As far as letters to the editor go, if we have them, we will run those with differing opinions on the same topics in the same section. Normally, however, getting such balance in one edition is difficult because we run the letters as they come in. What normally happens is several letters may support a particular topic and then we’ll get several opinions opposing that same subject. Consequently, the balance may not come in that section but should come over a period of time and editions.

The same is true for the Forum Front page feature, which can come from any number of sources — The Associated Press, the Cato Institute or other news syndicates. Here too, the balance may not come within a particularly section but over a week or two.

The balance isn’t perfect or equal. Some times we run more conservative pieces, sometimes more liberal.

You can debate which we run more of but the important fact is we do try to provide a balance.