I love receiving letters to the editor. They are some of my favorite things to read when we get them. It’s fun to see what our readers are thinking about issues.
Do we agree with every viewpoint of the letters we receive? No.
Does that stop us from running those letters to the editor? No.
You might think that we run letters to the editor because our staff agrees with those viewpoints and then trash the ones that we disagree with.
We receive letters that criticize us for various reasons, anything from our improper use of grammar to others that call us out on reporting stories that they believe are unfairly reported or opinions that are wrong.
That won’t necessarily stop us from running them.
However, let me give you the main reason why we won’t run a letter to the editor.
The first is that if a letter is from an anonymous person or is not signed by a person. This one issue prevents us from running most letters to the editor.
I can’t tell you how many letters to the editor — great letters that give interesting opinions — I’ve had to throw away all because they weren’t signed or signed “Concerned Citizen.”
We’ve even had some great letters that pointed out errors in our reporting that we cannot run as an anonymous or unsigned letter.
I don’t care if you criticize us. I welcome it. We need it. We need to know what you think about us, but if you want to share those opinions with our readers, you can’t send us an unsigned letter.
This opinion page is a place where you are welcome to share your ideas, but please be willing to stand by your opinions.
Contact Brent at bmaze@-newtoncountyappeal.com.
