Have some guts, and put your name down

Having spent my entire business life in newspapering, I have always thought one of the very best things about a newspaper was the Letter to the Editor.

It’s the pulpit for the readers, thousands and thousands of them, to advance their own ideas, disagree with the newspaper itself and even to disagree with other writers of Letters to the Editor.

And what makes them so valuable is the fact that the writers are required to sign their names.  This allows readers of the newspaper to “consider the source” day in and day out.  It also allows the newspaper to monitor what is written and by whom.  Many letters that arrive at a newspaper are unsuitable for publication, some because they are outright libelous, others because they are flatly untrue, others that are filled with expletives.

Responsible newspapers welcome points of view that differ with the newspaper’s point of view.  They also welcome letters from people who put forth new ideas on all kinds of subjects.

And what I have always treasured is the fact that people who write a Letter to the Editor must sign their names. 

And “as the world turns” (some call it progress), technology has become more and more a part of everything we see, hear and do. Newspapers, having been dragged into the newest and latest in the world of communications, joined the world of the internet. And in so doing, along came the presentation of news and opinion by the newspapers  on their Web sites.

Included are what are actually “Letters to the Editor”, but not labeled that way.  Readers of the newspaper websites are encouraged to voice their opinions on the Web site.

However, unfortunately newspapers no longer require that the opinions include the name of the writer. Thus, the backbone of the Letters to the Editor of the newspaper has been broken. Writers no longer have to identify themselves; they hide behind initials or fake names or nicknames, anything to hide their identity.  And newspapers publish them.  I think this is unfortunate.

The most unfortunate arena is politics. There used to be a time when people who had a political gripe had to “fess up” and reveal who they were. No more.  People who have political axes to grind merely have to go to a newspaper Web  site and fire away at anybody they want to. And politicians are fair game.  If website editors don’t print what is sent, they are accused of censoring public opinion. If they require that website blogs be signed, I guarantee you that you will read almost none.

I applaud the very few who are willing to stand up and be counted, those who sign their names when submitting opinions to a newsaper website. I personally don’t think that newspapers should accept unsigned opinion on their websites sites.  To me, it makes little sense that the newspaper will not publish an unsigned letter in the printed edition, but will publish all kinds of unsigned submissions on their internet websites. Where’s the logic?

As the politicians say, “I’m Lou Major Sr., and I approve this message.”

Lou Major Sr. is a former publisher of The Daily News.