The most common question I get is, “Can you tell me when my letter will run?” While we are constantly looking for ways to improve our letters process, we cannot guarantee writers a date of publication. That’s because each week, we strive to provide a good mix of letters on various topics from all viewpoints, and also to publish the most timely letters when we can.
With the start of football season, we always expect to see letters from sports fans. A passionate bunch, they write especially when their team is doing poorly. After LSU's loss to USC in Las Vegas last week, we heard from some of you venting your frustrations about the team.
We have several writers who send in letters regularly, some even on a daily basis. I value the feedback these “frequent flyers” give us, even though we can’t publish all of their missives. This group of readers helps keep us on our toes, often noticing things that we might not have. We generally try to get a mix of letters in from readers, so if you are a frequent contributor, I hope you know that even though we value your feedback, we don’t generally publish more than one letter per month from the same writer. And indeed, when we have a large backlog of letters, it’s not likely that one writer will get published more than once a quarter.
As Louisiana students head back to school, we are looking for audience input on the challenges our state faces to improve education. Recent LEAP scores show that Louisiana students have made some small gains in English, but progress otherwise has been largely stagnant. Our education team did a lot of work to present the scores in a way that parents could understand where their school stands. We know that information like this is important to put in context.
In the Opinions section, we know our job is to provide a platform for commentary on the news of the day. We work in partnership with a newsroom dedicated to digging through records and seeking out sources to bring you news about your community and our state. For the most part, we try to stay in our lane as do they, although at times our columnists will interview sources and uncover new facts as they are seeking to write about a topic.
No doubt these past few weeks have been head-spinning for those who follow national politics.
Our community of letter writers often respond to one another, either to disagree with some point made or to amplify an argument. Generally, I like to see letter writers respond to something they see on the opinion pages, whether it's an editorial, a column or a letter. It shows we are fostering a conversation on important issues, or at least hitting on topics you care about.
It’s clear after the first presidential debate that many who have not been tuned into politics are now paying very close attention. Some of you have raised questions about the candidates and their fitness for office. Others are changing their minds on the issues. But there is still a long road ahead until Election Day.
As we reflected on the freedoms we enjoy in this country over the July Fourth holiday, one that I hope we never take for granted is our freedom to air our opinions in a forum like the Letters section of this newspaper. Our freedom to disagree and debate is one of the foundational elements of this country.
