To chose or not to chose, that is the question.
First of all lets make it clear that we are talking about a community newspaper. With that being said we must specify what kind of community we are serving. America is very diverse with many different types of people.
Someone might say that if a letter was sent in by someone in the community then it represents a portion, no matter how small, of the community. I agree with that idea. However, that does not mean everyones’ letter needs or should be published.
If you have limited space and you are forced to pick and chose then there are obvious choices to be made. First, I would not publish any letters that represent hate. When I say this I clearly mean any letters personally attacking someone based on race, religion or nationality. I believe this should be standard procedure anyway.
Second, I would limit the letters to issues in the immediate community. There are other places for people to voice there opinions about things going on in the country, a national newspaper, for example.
If it is a community newspaper then its’ purpose is to serve that community. The people want to know about their immediate area and the individuals in it. They look to their newspaper to find out how people feel about those things going on in their schools, churches, and local government.
Finally, I would not publish articles that are of no interest to the majority. A good example would be a letter discussing the religious holidays, celebrations and food of a certain culture when the majority of the community was of a different religious background and a different culture. A letter discussing the holidays, celebrations and food of the majority would be more appropriate. The community would be able to relate to this type of article better.
I think the key to making those tough decisions goes back to one thing, community. I think to best serve the citizens in that community you must do your research and find out who your community really is and what they like and do.
I believe everyones’ opinion is very important and should be heard. There is a right place to voice those opinions. If you have taken on the responsibility of formulating a policy for your editors about which letters to publish then you must do your best in choosing the most desirable letters.
In a sense you certainly would be acting as a censor. In this situation there is no choice. You can not publish all the letters. Why would you chose to publish letters of no interest to most of your readers? Why would you publish a hate letter when you had a letter about something relevant to the community, such as the local government? And if someone writes about a flood in another state and your own community has had no rain in weeks and your other option is a letter about the effects of the drought in your area, the decision is obvious.
You are censoring the letters in one way, because you have to. But, in a sense you really are not censoring them. You are actually choosing community based letters over national based letters or letters of little interest or impact in that particular community.
Keep in mind, this would not be the only paper in which citizens could voice their opinions.
