Letter to the Editor
Editor:
The news that the LW Weekly will suspend publication of political letters raises considerable issues. Are there First Amendment rights being raised here? Whose paper is it anyway? Shareholders whose fees help sustain the paper ought to have a voice in what appears in the paper. No crediting of the decision to suspend was reported, other than this unsigned notice.
The arguments on which the decision was made are also concerning. It is true that we are experiencing a “season of heightened tumult and division” but are political letters causing polarization? Will polarization cease to exist if letters are suspended? That is doubtful. Are the political letters sometimes repetitive? Some of the non-political letters are repetitive as well but that doesn’t negate their value.
Fact-checking difficulty was also raised as an issue, but opinion letters are not subject to fact-checking so that seems to be a moot concern. As with all media, we all have the options to change the channel or not read what isn’t of interest; letters can be ignored just as well. The LW Weekly is for the most part our only vehicle of information in Leisure World. Local papers and TV rarely cover Leisure World. Should our opinion page always be full of sunny reports of good service and joy at living here? We live in both our small world here and the larger world and one would hope that we would have the freedom to express our opinions on any issue of our choosing. Please reverse this arbitrary decision. Pat Kruger Mutual 9 Editor’s note: Newspapers have a First Amendment right to refuse to print letters to the editor and any other content for that matter. In this case, the GRF, which owns the newspaper, has ultimate control, although the LW Weekly has a professional staff that exercises editorial judgment and upholds journalistic standards. The decision to no longer print letters related to national politics was a mutual one, made in the wake of increasingly vitriolic and repetitive letters, often amounting to a few writers exchanging hyperbole. It was decided that the Perspectives’ limited editorial space could be better used. The GRF Operations Committee will be developing a policy related to political letters at an upcoming meeting. Meanwhile, the LW Weekly will continue to be a source of education, information and connection for this community. Letters to the editor will still offer a place for residents' criticisms, compliments and other discourse on local issues. As for fact checking, GRF policy does not require editors to fact check letters, but all letters are routinely reviewed to make sure they don't contain libelous or irrefutably false statements.
