A great many Americans feel that the press (among many other institutions) fails to listen to them attentively, and fails to give them a chance to speak up or talk back. This week we introduce two features in response--or at least partial response--to this sentiment. One is Forum, a revamped Letters section, open to comment from readers, prominent and otherwise. The second is Soundings, a scientific polling of opinions and trends in American society.

In a typical week nowadays we get 1,300 letters. Since the spring of 1973, Watergate has inspired 40,000 pieces of mail, many of them eloquent and impassioned. In order to provide a better showcase for all kinds of opinion, Forum, which replaces the old Letters section, will run in the middle of the magazine and be given more prominent display. The first Forum deals with, among other topics, amnesty for Nixon, his resignation and its meaning. Some of the writers, such as William Ruckelshaus and Norton Simon, are well known; others are not. Future contributors are invited to spell out their views about subjects treated in TIME as well as on other topics of current interest. We hope for thoughtful, substantial and provocative statements--and, within limits, we expect to give them the space they deserve.

To complement Forum's individual expressions, Soundings, a poll jointly planned by TIME and the opinion-research firm of Yankelovich, Skelly & White, Inc., will appear roughly four times a year. Its major innovation is a carefully designed set of indicators of politics and social trends. These are based on responses over a period of time to a set of related questions. One such indicator, for example, is economic stress, and it is clearly rising. Others are conservatism and social resentment; more will emerge in the future. The survey deals with matters that can never be as concretely measured as economic factors, such as the G.N.P. or the unemployment rate; but shifts in our indicators, we think, can be taken as significant barometer readings of the changing social-political climate. After Watergate, and as the 1976 elections approach, America is once again becoming concerned with a variety of other very specific issues and problems. By being highly sensitive to public issues, we hope Soundings will be especially useful and illuminating in this era.

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