One of the former editors of this newspaper had a saying: “If the pope’s plane crashed over the county line, The Lincoln County News would not cover it unless debris fell into Lincoln County.”
That hyperbolic scenario captures the mission of this newspaper. We focus our coverage on the people, entities, and happenings within the county’s borders, with occasional exceptions made for situations in which a local connection can be drawn.
Our letters to the editor policy reflects this aim, as it states submissions expressing national and/or state issues should provide a link or impact to Lincoln County. Letters without a link or impact stated will only run if there is room in that week’s edition.
This guideline was put in place in April 2023 after we solicited input from our readers about if the policy needed to be updated. The change was greeted with little fanfare and we went about a year without it causing a major issue.
As this is an election year and this is also the time of year in which we are most pressed for space due to a higher than normal amount of submissions, we made a small, internal change to procedure a few weeks ago.
Rather than gamble on whether there will be space for a letter that deals solely with a national or state issue, we’ve reached out to the authors of these letters in advance to thank them for their submission, inform them that we are pressed for space, and ask them to draw a local connection within their letter and resubmit it. We also provide the link to the letters policy on our website, where these guidelines have been published since April 2023.
Earlier this year, we met with the county Democratic and Republican leadership. In addition to talking about other matters related to the upcoming election, both parties asked that we make sure false or misleading information does not get included in letters.
Our editorial team works hard to ensure information about local matters are reported correctly in our news articles. The editorial page is supposed to be a place solely for opinion, not repeating national talking points verbatim.
The time it would take editorial team members to research every statement in every letter and work with every author of every letter would be better spent covering local issues.
Another reason we have started this practice is to avoid even a perception of bias as we head toward the general election. Say in a given week there are two letters about a national matter – one in favor of the issue, one against it – and there is only space for one more letter on the editorial page. The length of the letter would be the deciding factor as what filled the hole the best would be used.
Letter writers are often upset if their letter does not run, making accusations of the newspaper or staff. The manner of the communication is often not polite.
In the last two weeks, we’ve had two letter writers take us up on the offer to revise and resubmit, adding in a note about how a policy change would have real impacts locally. (It should also be noted that these letters dealt with topics on opposite sides of the political spectrum.)
Others, meanwhile, have taken a different route. One person responded that if we didn’t print their letter as submitted, it would concern them that the exclusion was biased. Another wondered if their letter did not fit the political “foundation” of The Lincoln County News, adding that they were sure the space “can better be used for notices of knitting circles and bean suppers.”
If there is a choice to be made between printing a notice about a local event and a letter treading the same ground about (either of) the presidential candidates that doesn’t provide a link to Lincoln County, we will pick the former every single time.
We don’t feel it’s a lot to ask that letters include a line about how a party’s platform or candidate’s proposal could directly impact Lincoln County residents. And, while it’s not stated in our policy, we also don’t think it’s too much to expect some civility when asking for such an edit.
As we navigate this election cycle to please be courteous our staff. We are trying to apply a consistent standard that allows the community to share their thoughts on items that impact this community.
There is enough nastiness and name-calling at the national stage. Let’s leave it there.
If you want to provide feedback on the letters policy, this editorial, or any of our other practices, please head over to shorturl.at/3kmwZ to take the survey.
