Letters to the editor, over the top?
Submitted by Famous Whitewater on Thu, 06/18/2009 - 10:57.
So, Gustavs Groupie is a blog worth reading for a bunch of reasons, but we mostly read it for his take on the Fresno Bee's letter's to the editor. He reads them so we don't have to.
Here he argues not only with the letter writer, but with the Bee's judgment. Now, I realize he's picking and choosing which letters to highlight, but it does seem like there are lot to choose from.
So my question is this: A.) Is this a fair representation of the Bee's letters to editor section? B.) Are the printed letters a fair representation of the letters the Bee receives? C.) Does the paper have an obligation to vet letters beyond the legal standard for publishing?
Advertisement
quaint form of writing
internet is a way better way to express your ideas. But, I still read the letters and from time to time I hear from people I'm interested in that, for some reason are not on the net. I wish they had a blog so I could respond. But, it does seem like the same bunch of old codgers grinding on that axe.
For now
I think that the LTTE are useful in the sense that they are the primitive version of blogs and websites. Generally, I see a lot of people I estimate to be about 45-50 and older writing letters. Which is about the age of people who just missed out on the personal computer revolution and the advent of usenet groups, geocities, AOL, and eventually blogging.
I see letters phasing out, especially as newspapers try to phase into the electronic age. You'll probably see their sites structured more like blogs such as this one where users can create their own sub-sites/soapboxes/contributions.
But, if the Bee is going to continue to publish letters in which they edit and check content, I think they should be ethically obligated to be a little more careful about the inflammatory stuff they publish.
Actually...
You bring up a really good question. Do we even need letter's to the editor? What purpose does it serve? Is it to get divergent voices in the paper? If that's the case, does the letter's section accomplish the task? Or is it just giving a forum to the people most likely to write (as you say, 'those with an ax to grind'?).
2 centavos
i would guess that the letters they print are a fair representation of what they get. the people that write letters usually have an ax to grind. and, having read the letters for over a decade, they aren't always the most well thought through, logical arguments to be made. lots of name calling and poor attempts to be witty.
the bee should scrap that nonsense.
Post new comment