RSS
There's a backlog of letters
The fact I receive letters daily is not news — that’s part of the job.
But the volume of letters often differ, as you might expect, depending upon what’s happening in the news.
Generally, I tell readers that their letters, provided they meet the basic standards, will be published in a one to two weeks. This normally gives me time to fulfill my commitment. But sometimes that one to two week window isn’t enough.
That’s why I’ve decided to write in this blog, from time to time,to give you an update on the letters to the editor situation.
As you may have guessed, one of the reasons for this particular blog is that I’m falling behind on my letters. Issues in the news are consuming a large percentage of the letters I receive. Gov. Rick Snyder’s budget is by far the most popular topic. This can be broken down into letters concerned about the proposed tax on pensions to correspondence asking the governor not to cut education spending or revenue sharing for local communities.
Some letters discuss other topics, such as health care, the deficit, etc., but by far, at this time, the governor’s budget is the most written about subject.
Because there is a time element to these letters, I have put somewhat of a priority on getting them in. Letters about clean energy, abortion and government waste will have to take a back seat, for now. They’re important topics but they are issues that have been brewing for years and most likely are not going to go away any time soon.
Generally, we run letters on a first come, first serve basis. That’s why you may see a number of letters printed for a particular issue and then and a number of letters written in response.But sometimes I have to bend this rule if one letter has a more critical time element than another.
The good news for letter writers is that eventually I will get their correspondence in, either on an Opinion Page or at least online on The Oakland Press website.
Every letter is important but, because of space limitations, every letter can’t run the day after we receive it.
Please be patient and understanding and if you have some suggestions to improve this system, feel free to comment or contact me.
But the volume of letters often differ, as you might expect, depending upon what’s happening in the news.
Generally, I tell readers that their letters, provided they meet the basic standards, will be published in a one to two weeks. This normally gives me time to fulfill my commitment. But sometimes that one to two week window isn’t enough.
That’s why I’ve decided to write in this blog, from time to time,to give you an update on the letters to the editor situation.
As you may have guessed, one of the reasons for this particular blog is that I’m falling behind on my letters. Issues in the news are consuming a large percentage of the letters I receive. Gov. Rick Snyder’s budget is by far the most popular topic. This can be broken down into letters concerned about the proposed tax on pensions to correspondence asking the governor not to cut education spending or revenue sharing for local communities.
Some letters discuss other topics, such as health care, the deficit, etc., but by far, at this time, the governor’s budget is the most written about subject.
Because there is a time element to these letters, I have put somewhat of a priority on getting them in. Letters about clean energy, abortion and government waste will have to take a back seat, for now. They’re important topics but they are issues that have been brewing for years and most likely are not going to go away any time soon.
Generally, we run letters on a first come, first serve basis. That’s why you may see a number of letters printed for a particular issue and then and a number of letters written in response.But sometimes I have to bend this rule if one letter has a more critical time element than another.
The good news for letter writers is that eventually I will get their correspondence in, either on an Opinion Page or at least online on The Oakland Press website.
Every letter is important but, because of space limitations, every letter can’t run the day after we receive it.
Please be patient and understanding and if you have some suggestions to improve this system, feel free to comment or contact me.
posted by Allan Adler at
8:51 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home