Re: Daily News letters

[Linda Pall <lpall@moscow.com>]

Dear Mike and Visionaries:

About the letter writing: There is always a little fall off in the summer of
letter writers to the editorial page of the Daily News. I would not
attribute it to the 300 word limit because that's been informally or
formally in place for some time.

I assume Mike's reference to the expansion of editorial writers refers to
the new and welcome policy of signing editorials. 

It is not yet the expansion of editorial page columnists but we can hope
this will soon happen.  I am not writing my Saturday column anymore because
the paper feels that it is a conflict of interest for a city council member
to write a regular column... the idea is that since the editorial columns
will be supporting or opposing candidates in the future and certainly
policies in the interim, having a council member opining regularly looks too
cozy. Some will agree; others may wonder how my 'dog' columns fit into this.
(Some might wonder how the dog got through at all...) 

I could not believe last night's editorial page and the half page of
advertisements with the apology that technology got them.(I'm also hoping
that the juxtaposition of the comics page and the editorial page will soon
cease... surely there's enough opinion in this town to have an op-ed page.
It's not the New York Times but things are looking up with Roger's thumb
print on the operation. 

This is a great opportunity for Vision 2020 people to offer themselves for
columnist status. It is great fun and wonderful discipline to get 700 words
that other people MIGHT like to read together on a regular basis.

Mike, I would suggest you for this job but I have heard that you may be
looking to run for a council seat yourself this fall!

And that reminds me of one OTHER thing: there is an election this fall and
YOU are welcome to consider placing yourself in front of the voters for the
honor of representing perhaps the finest town in Idaho. Talk to me via
e-mail, phone or in person...it's a great job (most of the time).

All the best to all of you,
Linda Pall





At 11:18 AM 7/13/99 +0000, you wrote:
>Has anyone else noticed the decline in the number of letters to the editor 
>published in the Daily News lately?  Has the 300 word limit chilled
writers--or 
>caused a lot of letters sent for publication to be excluded?  
>
>Although there were many writers with whom I disagreed, I always applauded the 
>DN's policy of attempting to publish all letters--or when crowded for space 
>because of a significant issue, of publishing as many as possible.  
>
>With the expansion of editorial writers and the decline of public letters, I 
>know less what the community thinks and see the influence of the few 
>editorialists increasing.  Increasing editorial opinions may be a good think 
>ultimately, but I see decreasing the opportunities to take issue with the 
>editorials as a definite bad thing.  I only take the DN for local news.  I'd 
>rather see the international tidbits deleted in favor of more local news and 
>commentary.  
>
>Since I understand Mr. Kendall is a v2020 member, perhaps he would consider 
>your comments (and mine) in reviewing the policy on letters.
>
>Regards.
>
>Mike Curley
>
>