Editorial Board

The Pages: Finding your way around WE IN THE EDITORIAL department of The Sun always look forward to this annual opportunity to tell our readers about ourselves, our pages and - most important - the role of the editorial page as the institutional voice of this newspaper. The editorial and Opinion Commentary pages are distinctly separate from the pages overseen by the editor of the news, sports and features pages. That division ensures the independence of the editorial - or opinion - department, the objectivity of the news department, and the integrity of both.

Editorials, unlike other articles that appear in this newspaper, don't have bylines. The name of the person who writes it doesn't appear at the top - or the bottom - of each editorial. That's because the editorials represent the voice of The Sun, not of any one individual. They reflect the paper's abiding values and core concerns. The editorial page speaks for the publisher, but in a broader sense, it speaks for The Sun and its history. We like to think of it as the soul of the newspaper.

Ignoring efforts to stop carnage on city's streets The Sun's editorial about Baltimore's high murder count incorrectly wrote: "There is virtual silence among other city officials on this subject. No council member, no state senator, no member of the House of Delegates and few ministers dare to speak forcefully against the carnage that robs Baltimore of human potential and quality of life" ("Murder's toll," Sept. 13). This statement was a direct slap in the face to me, and to the many other city officials and ministers who have long toiled to get at the root of the problems that plague our city.

Tina wanted to tantalize, so she started Talk. Poor Ivana. She tanked with Ivana. Everyone was dying for Martha Stewart Living. But Oprah made a bigger splash when she jumped in with O. We're all seeing double, now that Mary-Kate and Ashley have launched mary-kateandashley. And now, Rosie has hit the newsstands, courtesy of Rosie. Rosie O'Donnell, the wise-cracking, star-struck talk show host, is the latest to join the migration of celebrities from TV to the magazine racks in the supermarket checkout line.

HOW do you sum up a century? How does a newspaper's editorial board evaluate 100 years worth of developments -- good and bad -- in its prime readership area?These were the questions confronting this newspaper's editorialists as they grappled with the best way to mark the arrival of the year 2000.What emerged was a decision to celebrate the best of what has happened in Baltimore and in Maryland since 1900 by selecting a group of individuals who made lasting and far-reaching contributions to our community and to society.

NOW THE campaign for mayor of Baltimore approaches bare-knuckle time. Twice in the past two weeks, Carl Stokes and Lawrence Bell, brought together by a minister, met with about 10 close advisers, and Stokes told Bell he should drop out of the race. The first meeting was polite; the second, not quite.One person who was there described an uncertain Bell softly declining to withdraw at the first meeting, and then, at the second meeting, angrily pointing to his healthier campaign finances and the most recently published poll numbers as arguments that it was crazy to suggest that he quit.

The mission of The Sun's editorial page is to provide timely, compelling commentary on issues of interest to Maryland readers, particularly those in the Baltimore area. The editorial page will seek to engage, educate, challenge and amuse. It will recognize the strengths of the community, as well as its weaknesses, acting as a forum for discussion of alternatives and a force for positive change. It will chastise when necessary and offer praise when deserved.-- Editorial page mission statementAn editorial is the institutional opinion of The Sun, not that of any one individual.

A READER HAS kindly pointed out that there is too much tripe on the opposite-editorial page. He is quite right, and I am proud of some of that tripe. But the reader thinks it a problem, and he offers a solution -- peer review.''I am expected to publish as a condition of my employment,'' notes my correspondent, who is a physician. ''When I submit my data for publication, it must undergo the scrutiny of up to four reviewers and an editorial board. . . . There is no assurance that the paper will be deemed suitable for publication.

Africa ignored for too longI applaud The Sun editorial board for drawing the attention of Americans to Africa. In fewer than two weeks, you twice expended some of your editorial energy on topics related to the African continent. ''An African intervention force?'' appeared on Oct. 2, followed 13 days later by ''Forgotten continent."The two editorials do offer a timely opportunity to discuss and analyze some of the many challenges that bedevil the second largest continent in the world as it trudges toward the 21st century.