Trending
Among the most important things a newspaper can do is give members of the community an opportunity to share their opinions.
That's why we continue to offer readers the chance to become involved in the discussion about local issues by running their letters to the editor.
They've been a feature of newspapers since at least the early 1700s, and though their subjects can vary widely, they continue to offer a place where someone can take officials -- elected and otherwise -- to task, express their concerns about important issues and even just say thank-you to sponsors and other area residents who step up and help with fundraisers and other community events.
Those submissions also serve as a way to look into just how connected newspapers are to their communities.
It's a point made by Jean Godden in a piece she wrote on Feb. 22, 2023, for Post Alley in Seattle, when she referred to an item written by the late Ronald D. Clark that appeared in "The Masthead:"
"Consider letters as a barometer of how well you are engaging with your readers," wrote Clark, who worked for 21 years as the editorial page editor of the St. Paul Pioneer Press before his death in 2003. "The more you receive, the more you're connecting; the fewer you receive, the stronger sign you are putting the masses to sleep."
Though the numbers might vary from week to week, we tend to receive a pretty steady stream of letters to the editor during the year. There's at least one time when those numbers do edge up -- and that's during the run-up to an election.
Since we're right in the middle of the campaign season, that means you can expect to see a greater volume of submissions from readers during the coming weeks. It also means it's a great time for a couple of reminders about how you submit a letter concerning candidates and issues that will appear on the Nov. 5 ballot.
The deadline to submit letters related to the election will be noon on Oct. 24, with those final submissions appearing Oct. 25 and Oct. 27, depending on the number of submissions received that week. Once that deadline has passed, letters having to do with the election will not be accepted. In essence, that means we will not run election-related letters in the Nov. 3 edition.
Every year, some readers will question why that policy has been put into place. The simple answer is that if we were to run a letter just a few days before the election that contained a mistake, there would be little time to issue a correction. Keeping that weekend before the election open gives us the opportunity to correct any mistake that happened earlier.
With that exception our normal guidelines remain unchanged. Writers are allowed one submission every four weeks, and there is a limit of 500 words for each submission.
Readers can offer a response to a letter, but a response to a response will not be accepted. The writer of the original letter gets his or her say, other readers get the chance to respond and then we will move on.
Not permitted are letters that are determined to be libelous or a personal attack on an individual. The same goes with anonymous letters or letters that contain multiple signatures. Every submission must include the name of the writer, the community he or she lives in and a telephone number that is used in the confirmation process and to allow easy contact if a question arises.
Those numbers are for internal use -- they are never published and are never shared.
There are multiple ways to get your letter to us: You can send them by e-mail or through our Virtual Newsroom.
You can drop them in the mail or hand-deliver them to our office.
If you're really old school, you can fax them to us.
If a letter has to be rejected for any reason, we will contact the writer and explain why.
No matter how you choose to get your letter to us, it is the responsibility of the writer to get it to us before the deadline, which is noon each Thursday.
Sadly, the number of newspapers and media outlets that continue to accept letters to the editor is slowly dwindling. There are multiple reasons for that, including a lot of information that has been gathered that shows younger readers would rather send a reply through any one of the many social media platforms that are out there.
That's not the same, though, as sharing your thoughts, your criticisms, your ideas, your suggestions and, yes, your thanks in the printed format.
"Inviting readers to publish letters sends a different message: That they are equal participants in the conversation, and that reader criticism is a necessary part of how the news is made," Marina Bolotnikova wrote in a May 18, 2022, article for Poynter titled "In the age of social media blasts, what's the point of letters to the editor?"
We're happy our readers continue to want to have a voice about things that are happening in our area, and it's our privilege to be able to continue to provide them with the format to do that.
(Gallabrese, a resident of Steubenville, is executive editor of the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times.)