A better civil discourse in letters to the editor – Midland Daily News

A better civil discourse in letters to the editor

There currently is a crisis underway that began prior to when life as we knew it changed with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

It has permeated every inch of our lives, online and offline. It has divided the nation, fractured political parties, severed friendships and pitted family members against one another.

It's misinformation, a faceless enemy born in part through foreign and domestic efforts to discredit legitimate news entities, in addition to widespread news illiteracy.

When the need for reliable information has been no greater, misinformation permeates social media, and we find ourselves clinging to information that substantiates our beliefs, regardless of whether it's true. The line between what's opinion and what's fact is more than blurred, and many of us can no longer discern the difference between the two.

Recently, the biggest culprits of spreading misinformation are a vocal minority of society that captures news headlines with efforts disguised as patriotism but riddled with political straw man arguments that having nothing to do with the public health crisis at hand.

Don't believe me? There literally are people who believe the coronavirus is a hoax. Never mind that thousands of Americans have died. Nevermind the consensus from our health care and science communities. Never mind the facts. Whatever bolsters our beliefs, right?

Part of the blame lies with media, including newspapers. In the 2000s, we ushered in an era where we allowed anonymous comments on all of our sites. The result was a toilet bowl of mean, uneducated and irresponsible "free speech" versus a robust exchange of constructive ideas and criticism.

It took us a while, but most newspapers have moved to using Facebook to moderate comments, so as to remove the anonymity that I firmly believe contributed to the downfall of civil discussion.

Seemingly simultaneously taking place was the belief that it's not polite to discuss hot-button issues such as politics and religion. By removing those topics from America's dinner tables, we lost the ability to have courteous, thoughtful and productive conversations.

And through it all, there have been economic and societal changes that have affected newsrooms of all sizes, including our Daily News.

Newsroom layoffs haven't just affected the front page. They have impacted sports, photography, design and editorial departments in all markets, from the big metros to the small community newspapers.

One casualty that has resulted from the obstacles I outlined above is the quality of local opinion pages. Some newspapers have clung to running columns from talking heads in New York City and Washington D.C. Others, including the Daily News, have worked to localize opinion content to make it relevant to our local communities.

But all of us have struggled with letters to the editor in recent times. In fact, some community newspapers have done away with opinion pages because, in all markets, we have lost subscribers who have disagreed with opinion content. What's the point of dividing our communities and losing readership over someone's opinion? Why should we continue offering readers a platform to air their opinions when they can do so on social media at the click of the button? Online, they aren't subject to word limits and other rules outlined in a newspaper's letter-to-the-editor policy.

When I came to the Midland Daily News last summer, I spoke with multiple subscribers and a common complaint I heard was that there was no consistency on our opinion page, particularly that some people were given a platform to write long columns about national issues, while others had to adhere to the letter-to-the-editor word limit. This was from fans of both sides of the political aisle. Some subscribers said they didn't want to read long columns from local residents extolling the virtues of the president and others said they didn't want to read lengthy columns and letters criticizing President Trump.

It was clear there was no consistency regarding who was allowed to write a column and who was subject to the letter-to-the editor word limit. It was also clear people felt very constricted by the 250-word limit.

When I came on board, I met with the editorial board here (which consists of the editor, managing editor, digital editor and a reporter). We talked about what the Daily News was currently doing, and what it could improve. We also conducted a reader survey of paid subscribers. The feedback from that echoed what subscribers told me when I got here: They wanted consistency in terms of what platform residents are given on the Midland Daily News' opinion page.

Our editorial board discussed our overall mission, which is to inform and connect, and decided that we will give local non-profits and other organizations a platform via Community Connections on our opinion page to run columns about their group and what they are doing in the local area, as well as local issues that are of importance to our entire readership.

The idea was to bolster the value of our opinion page for our entire readership. But we felt there still is value in publishing local letters to the editor. We still feel that way, however, we want to make sure our opinion page is not used as a weapon for "gotcha" pieces by local political operatives. We want to ensure we are not disseminating falsehoods in the guise of "but it's just an opinion."

We know there is a greater need for fact-checking, and we've tried thinking outside the box. On two occasions, we have given subjects of letters to the editors a chance to respond on the same day a letter has run. The idea was we would do this on the front page, why not on the opinion page?

The affected letter writers were not pleased with the decision, and it was a lesson learned for us, as we found this is not a sustainable solution to the concerns at hand (fairness, quality and access). What we needed to do, and what we have since done, is update our letter policy to address those concerns.

New updates we have made to our letter-to-the-editor policy include that the Daily News will edit letters for length (the limit for letters is now 350 words), conciseness and clarity. If a topic has been thoroughly debated in the letters column, subsequent letters will not be published if they do not add new information or ideas to the debate. Letters that are libelous, malicious, inaccurate, in bad taste, demonstrably false, contain conspiracy theories or those that make attacks on private or public people will not be published.

While we are aware some letter writers may feel this infringes on their right to free speech, we believe the majority of our subscribers will appreciate the improvement in letter quality that will result from a more stringent selection process.

Another recent change we've been implementing is better sourcing on news releases that we publish in our paper and online. There have been questions from many online readers about authorship when it comes to items that are submitted for publication in the Daily News.

All items received are processed by our newsroom staffers and then edited by our editors. For greater transparency in print and online, we will be publishing which staffer processes each release, along with their contact information, so readers have a local contact to call or email if there's a question about a release.

I'm very much interested in hearing what our readers think of these changes. Please give me a call or shoot me a letter or email with your thoughts.

Or you can always write a letter to the editor.

Kate Hessling is the editor of the Midland Daily News. She can be reached at khessling@hearstnp.com.

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A better civil discourse in letters to the editor - Midland Daily News