EDMOND — I love the political season. It incites people’s passions, curiosity and, more importantly, their desire to actually participate in this wonderful democracy.
The Edmond Sun has been the recipient of far more letters to the editor than usual and I would like to thank each and every one of those letter writers. It’s my firm belief that this page in the newspaper — the Opinion Page — is not my page but really the reader’s page. It’s their spot in the newspaper that is truly their forum and their place to express themselves with little filtering.
Our policy is to publish every letter we receive with a few exceptions. We reserve the space on The Sun’s Opinion page for those who reside in Edmond, Deer Creek and Arcadia, first and foremost. If you have an Oklahoma City address, but live in the Edmond school district, please let us know that when sending in your letter. We’ll make sure it gets put in the priority bin.
A few letters received this year I have not published because of their content. One recent letter writer wrote in her e-mail to me that some of the letters we have published are too vitriolic and that she purposely worked to make her point without any name-calling or other acts of literary hatred. And she did a beautiful job of it, too.
It is no easy task determining what is fair content to publish on an opinion page and what is in the realm of poor taste. Perceptions of what is right and wrong can differ widely. This newspaper tries to take a stance that allows readers the freedom of expression to make their point without libeling anyone or putting forth false information. We also keep the standards of our community at the forefront of our thoughts when editing.
I will be the first to admit that many times I do not agree with what local columnists and letter writers put forth, but I also will be among the first to champion their right to their personal opinion.
Some letters we receive are never published because they are not the original thoughts of the letter writer. It’s quite popular today among the political campaign machines to write letters for people, e-mail them out to vast numbers and hope those who are supporters will pick it up, attach their name to it and send it in to local newspapers. This violates the very honesty and accuracy that we in the newspaper business strive for on a daily basis. We wouldn’t attribute quotes in a news story to someone who did not say them, so how can we attribute the thoughts in a letter to someone who didn’t actually write those thoughts?
The Sun has received several such letters in the past two weeks alone and I’ve had to regretfully call each local resident and explain why their submission cannot publish. It’s fairly easy to spot a form letter in this day and age of Google.
My offer to each of those letter writers is the same that I will make to every person who reads this page — send us your original thoughts and we’ll happily print them both in the newspaper and online at www.edmondsun.com. Write about your worries, your solutions, who you’re supporting and why. It’s all a part of the dialogue that helps make our nation great.
LISA SHEARER is managing editor of The Edmond Sun. She may be reached via e-mail at lshearer@edmondsun.com.
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