SUZANNE TATE: To Get Letters Published, Must Comply With Paper's Policy

Before I slip into my office each morning, I stop off at my mailbox in the newsroom to retrieve a handful of letters from readers.

You see their thoughts on these pages each day – they are mad about political decisions, appreciative of road paving, thankful for a good doctor, or angry over a judge’s ruling. As we near Nov. 4, they are professing their support for one candidate, or disdain for another.

I love getting the “real” mail; the so-called “snail mail” is rare in an electronic age. When readers take time to pen their thoughts on paper, seal it in an envelope and affix a stamp, it’s more personal. Certainly it’s faster and easier for us to turn around an electronic letter – one sent to us by e-mail. But seeing the scrawl of a reader, or the immaculate penmanship of another, or the occasional cheerful sticker, makes me remember how personal letter-writing really is.

In 2008, we can complain from the privacy of our homes and use our keyboards as weapons. Disgruntled people can send nastygrams through cyberspace without any human contact. But many readers still choose to put pen to paper when sending their thoughts to their newspaper. And as we have said many times before: This newspaper publishes all letters to the editor, provided they meet our fairly innocuous guidelines. That goes for letters sent by any method.

But recently, I have had several letters that cannot run for various reasons, all stemming from our policy.

n Letters must be original works, 300 words or less. Readers generally follow this one, or are willing to have their letters edited to this length. We also grant a little leeway. We simply don’t have room to run epistles. Some of the best letters I have seen are a couple of sentences; brief, clear, direct.

n Letters should be on topics of general interest or recent news events. That means we can’t run letters describing the painful and personal details of your divorce. We also won’t run letters that make unsubstantiated claims about alien abductions or secret government meetings.

n We verify all letters to make sure they are written by the person who has sent them in. That is to protect against the kind of ghostwritten letters described in today’s editorial. It’s also to guard against someone writing a letter and signing another person’s name to it.

n Letters must include the writer’s name, address and daytime telephone number. I have to be able to call you to verify your letter, but that becomes more difficult if you don’t include your telephone number. I have tracked some writers down through the telephone directory or whitepages.com, but if the number is unlisted or not in their name, this won’t work. We send a letter back to you saying: We need your phone number to verify your letter. But by the time that happens, the issue in the letter may be old. So, if you want your letter in the paper, include your daytime telephone number. If I have to hunt you down, or ultimately send you a letter, other letters will go in front of yours.

n Only one letter per writer, per month. This is to allow as many people as possible to participate. This space is a forum for our readers and a place to share as many divergent views from as many people as possible. Share the space and give everyone a turn.

We don’t withhold letters because of content, unless they are distasteful, profane or libelous. Any delay has to do with ability to reach the writer, length of the letter and available space in the newspaper.

We have a lot of letters now, and I expect the interest to continue to grow as we approach the presidential election. I will publish all letters that meet our guidelines as promptly as possible.

The last day we will run election letters will be Nov. 1, the Saturday before the Tuesday election. We always create a buffer of a few days between the last letter and the election.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me. I’ll be checking my mailbox (and my electronic inbox) each day.

Suzanne Tate is the opinion page editor of the Bristol Herald Courier. Reach her at (276) 645-2534 or state@bristolnews.com.