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Giving the press freedom heaps an enormous responsibility on those involved in getting the news out. With each article comes a barrage of questions. Is the information accurate? Are the quotes correct? Is the piece written fairly? Is it worth printing? The list of questions is long.
No newspaper succeeds aS of the time. The degree to which it does succeed is probably a pretty good indicator of how good the paper is overall.
The success of any newspaper is due in large measure to how well it reflects the area it serves. We freely report county government decisions, school events, community notes and a variety of other events and features that affect the citizens of Rappahannock.
To be a good newspaper, the concerns of the citizens must be addressed. You have, in fact, a column in which to do this.
“Letters to the editor” effectively provides a useful means for your views to be heard.
There may be a burning issue in the county upon which you wish to comment. An organization may want to let more than 3,000 readers know to whom they are thankful, fetters relating to political races are accepted until two weeks before an election. — ah outcome could conceivably be altered by your pen.
But (there is a “but”) letters must be written according toj the same criteria that, like it or not, a journalist must exercise. Is the letter fair? Is it libelous? The list of criteria is about as long as the one a journalist must consider when he or she writes.
Bad newspapers often print each and every letter that comes its way without any regard to journalistic responsibility. Generally these newspapers report the news in an equally irresponsible manner. It is all done under the banner of “freedom of the press”.
Censorship is often the result in countries where press freedom is only a slogan. We do not have that here nor would we tolerate it. But what we should have here, in all cases, is a situation where the press acts responsibly.
Good newspapers have editors who edit. The news. The editorials. The features. The letters. Just about everything that goes into the paper.
Letters are edited for many reasons. Sometimes they are too long. In some cases they serve, intentionally or not, to rile the community about issues that affect no one but the writer. Some letters are libelous. In a few cases grammar must be corrected.
This newspaper will not, under any circumstances, print letters without signatures. If a writer does not have the fortitude to take responsibility for that which he or she has written, that person has little right to see the letter in print.
Most letters, however, require little or no editing. The percentage of these is usually about 99%.
Your letters are extremely important. More than just continuing an important historical precedent, letters reflect the views of our citizens whom this newspaper tries very hard to responsibly serve.
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