One of my favorite functions of newspapers is the venue they provide for people to write letters to the editor.
Letters to the editor have been a tradition in newspapers since, well, since newspapers existed.
Letters To The Editor
Readers can submit letters to the editor by emailing [email protected]…. Include name, address and phone number. Letters can also be submitted by visiting http://www.nwaonlin…. By mail, letters may be sent to Public Viewpoint, P.O. Box 7, Springdale, AR, 72765.
Oh, sure, I hear from the people who seem eager for newspapers to die and for everything to live in cyberspace. A lot of it comes from people who have their own vested interests that might benefit from such an outcome. Maybe they'll get their wish one day, but newspapers will be around for a while longer, I believe. They still have a loyal audience. The economic realities of the last few years have forced some significant changes, but name me an industry that isn't responding to similar shifts.
Some of those naysayers can't fathom why anyone would want to write a letter to the editor. Why not just post a comment online, or send out a tweet or offer up a status update on Facebook? Those are all good options for reaching select audiences, made up of "friends" or like-minded people willing to open up their online space for another individual's comments. And what a lot of people like about online social media is their ability to block people they don't want to hear from. For many, the online experience becomes an echo chamber. It's like Rachel Maddow "friending" President Obama and Ted Cruz connecting with Rush Limbaugh on Twitter.
And as valuable as they are to some folks, I would argue online comments -- the kind readers can make at the end of stories or blog posts -- haven't lived up to their potential. Anyone who has visited online sites -- whether nwaonline.com, newspaper sites across the country or quasi-news sites focused on teasing "You'll never believe ..." kinds of headlines -- knows posting a comment isn't the same as crafting a letter to the editor. Many of the comment threads online start with an interesting question or comment, but they quickly spiral into a predictable tit-for-tat equivalent of a shouting match. The people engaged in the clash must get something out of it, but most readers become bored with the online rants fairly quickly.
But letters to the editor require a bit of work before they're worthy of publishing. By "worthy," I'm not talking judgment about the idea they're advancing or the political perspective from which they arise. I'm just saying a letter has to have some context and a writer has to put some effort into articulating his or her thoughts with some clarity. If the writer doesn't, the letter is rejected for publication. That said, I'm proud to say we at this newspaper strive to say "yes" and have managed to publish a vast majority of letters we receive. Perhaps the only exception is when we're flooded with letters on a topic. Then we occasionally have to pick and choose. In doing so, I work hard to make sure what's published is a reflection of the pro and con arguments being submitted.
Our primary goal in publishing letters to the editor is to give readers a mechanism to express their viewpoints on public policy matters. Because matters of faith naturally guide many people's perspective on such matters, we get our share of letters citing religious beliefs. Insomuch as they are relevant to public policy debate, that matters. Letters that are strictly about evangelizing, biblical quotations or debates on religion doctrine are less likely to get published unless they are directly reacting to something published elsewhere in the newspaper, such as a column in our Religion section.
And the best thing about newspapers and the letters to the editor in them, to me, is how they create a common, community experience across the newspaper's circulation area. They help create a shared knowledge base that's critical for communities and regions to function, for government to find common ground and for conversations to happen. That's hard to do if everyone lives within their own silo.
It takes time to write a letter to the editor, and many of us these days are reticent to devote the thought and time to such an exercise, just as we are often content to let some elected representative worry about the details of governmental and community issues. But if you've ever had an opinion on those kinds of issues, why not give it a try sometime? Why not go through the process of articulating an argument and see how it goes?
What good is having an opinion if not to affect change?
GREG HARTON IS OPINION PAGE EDITOR FOR NWA MEDIA.
Commentary on 01/05/2015