Opinion
Editorial: Change coming to the opinion pages
A newspaper’s opinion pages are somewhat like a weekly town hall meeting.
The columnists are chosen to spark discussions among readers more than to reflect the paper’s stand on anything.
Staff may appear on those pages throughout the week. At this paper, we encourage staff to write about areas outside the realms they cover on a regular basis.
Some of us try to be funny; all of us hope to inform readers.
And the weekly Letters to the Editor section is reserved as a spot for readers to make their opinions known to the community.
Sure, blogs litter the Internet landscape, providing all sorts of people to sound off about anything they wish.
And readers can visit the newspaper Web site and leave comments on stories, but those are done anonymously, and you can’t really be sure whether the writer is your next-door neighbor.
But in our letters section, readers know exactly who is making the comments, whether on local or broader issues.
From time to time, readers will complain about a letter writer. Why in the world, they ask, do you insist on giving that person a forum?
Because it is one of the few places left where they can express their opinion and hope to spark a discussion on the issues important to them instead of to us.
But we also receive complaints that a few individuals dominate the section, and we want to provide the opportunity for a broader cross section of our readership to express themselves.
So we are making some minor adjustments to our policies.
First, letter writers will be limited to one submission a month.
Second, we are cutting our word limit to 400 words. Some of our columnists write shorter pieces than some of our letter writers, and we believe letters should express thoughts concisely.
Last, we are also cutting the allowable length for guest column submissions to 800 words. Part of this decision has to do with available space — we don’t have as much as we used to. The other part of the decision is similar to the letter length — tight, cogent writing is more likely to be read and encourages writers to focus their points
As always, we cannot print letters that make personal attacks on private individuals or that contain profane language.
We will edit letters and guest columns for grammar and punctuation and to make them conform to newspaper style.
And readers should always remember that our printing of a letter or column does not mean those opinions are ours or those of any of the staff.
Deadlines remain the same, noon on Thursdays, and you may make your submission by mail or e-mail or by bringing the submission to our offices during regular business hours.
So pick up those pens and boot those computers and let Johnson County know what you think.
This editorial is the opinion of the Cleburne Times-Review
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