In addition to providing community news and features, a newspaper also serves as a voice for the community through editorials, columns and letters to the editor.
Editorials have ranged from election topics to a way a government board has handled business to congratulation an organization or person for a job well done.
On many occasions, editorials arouse interest and discussion, especially from differing viewpoints. We definitely don’t live in a community where there is just one viewpoint.
Likewise, a letter to the editor is another forum to allow readers to express their viewpoints on a wide range of topics.
Not too long ago, one of our letter writers challenged members of the community to write a letter to the editor to share their feelings or to comment on a particular topic of interest. In his letter, he found it disheartening that more people do not rite a letter to express their feelings.
Months ago, we had a writer send us a personal email complaining about one of our columnists; however, the reader did not want us to publish his letter because it was addressed for my the editor. This is a classic letter to the editor, however, because the reader had concerns about the columnist and here logic and offered a well-developed opposing viewpoint.
Last month a retired teacher approached us, upset with a column from the Nevada Policy Research Institute that advised teachers how to legally leave either their local or Nevada State Education Association and not pay dues.
While the LVN listened to his concerns, we also felt this would have been a good rebuttal to the NPRI topic as a letter to the editor; furthermore, anyone associated with the local education association as an officer or the NSEA would be encouraged to write a response as a guest columnist.
The LVN has consistently published ways to contact us for letters to the editor, and we plan to take it one step further:
We are striving to increase the number of letter writers to our Perspective pages on Wednesday and Thursdays.
For the next quarter that ends in September, we will take the names of our letter writers, throw them into a big bowl and draw out a name for a gift certificate for dinner at one of Fallon’s restaurants.
When sending a letter, ensure the content is accurate and fair-minded. The First Amendment does not offer protection for libel.
We have two letters in today’s issue, and we hope to see more next week. Send your letters to lahontanvalleynews.com and include your name and phone number.
Editorials written by the LVN Editorial Board appear on Wednesdays.