Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Hey ladies, what’s the deal?

I ran onto this letter to the editor that was published on the Herald Journal Web site today. Go on, read it, folks.

My reaction: Why? Why, Herald Journal? I'm not advocating censorship, but how is this important enough to publish? Though it's funny, entertaining, and kind of pathetic-ville, it's not newsworthy or relevant in any way. A LOT of single people have dating qualms (myself included, of course). And guess what- we deal with them. Do people have nothing better to do than whine to the local newspaper about their dating lives? Seriously, the HJ is not Craigslist, a dating website, or the ward newsletter. I know it's just a letter-to-the-editor, but still... ugh. I'm all for free speech, and I'm not trying to suggest otherwise. I guess it's just annoying. I'm not trying to come down on the HJ. But I wonder how newspapers choose which letters-to-the-editor to publish, and if they publish all the ones they receive. Does anyone know? Has anyone seen anything like this in a bigger newspaper? Let me know what you guys think!

9 comments:

  1. Wow! That is too funny. I feel bad that that poor guy has nothing better to do than to write a letter to the editor about his bad date. If that were me I wouldn't want anyone to know that had happened, let alone the whole city of Logan.
    I figure this letter was printed mainly for the fact to give readers a good laugh. Sometimes we need articles like that in the newspaper to lighten the mood from bombings, killings, and political crap! I think any letters to the editor that are that crazy deserve to be printed!

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  2. That letter was a little too personal for my taste. I don't think the HG really did anything wrong by printing, but, well, who cares? It seems this man is applying his one experience to all women, and I think that's ridiculous. It sounds like he was just trying to call her out, and decided to use the press as his tool. I don't even know who this guy is, so why does he want everyone to know about his dating experience? My only conclusion is people need to get a life and write letters about REAL issues instead of complaining about how their life sucks. That is the purpose of the press. I blame stupid readers not the HJ. I think someone needs to send them a good letter so they have something intelligent to print. That's my feelings anyway.

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  3. Sorry, that was HJ. Great typo. I am fired.

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  4. I don't think this is news worthy because it isn't new. Men have been frustrated with their relationships with women for centuries and visa-versa.
    I'm guessing there is a pretty good chance that the HJ had very little else to do than print this letter. I don't know if there are many more hot topics right now that people are writing in now. I doubt that something like this would make it into a bigger newspaper.

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  5. That particular letter to the editor should never have seen print. Newspapers are under no obligation to publish everything that oozes out of the mailbox. Editors frequently hear from people on the what my old paper called "the lunatic fringe" or who are disgruntled by events in their lives that are strictly personal -- such as this one.

    The HJ has a Web site with comments enabled. This letter could find a comfortable home there, but not in the paper.

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  6. Just to clarify, I only saw it published on the HJ Web site-- I didn't get a chance to see if it was in the actual paper. (I doubt it though) I know publishing it on their site isn't that big of a deal (versus the actual paper), and maybe I shouldn't have even written about it, but I just thought it was funny and kind of inane. Then again, Diane has a point-- sometimes we do need things, "fluff," rather, to lighten the load from hard news that can weigh heavy on our little souls sometimes. But when it gets to the point where fluff is the predominant thing we see in the news and when celebrities' faces are plastered all over news sites and our homepages-- that's when it's cause for alarm.

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  7. Just to add my two cents ... If anyone is even looking at this thread at this point ... I have nothing to do with letters here at the HJ, and I'll leave my personal opinion out of this, but here's the general explanation: The HJ prints 99 percent of the letters it receives if the letters meet certain criteria. They have to be fewer than 450 words, cannot libel anyone and can't attack an individual unless that person is a public figure — or if that person has "started the fight," so to speak. (Like, they wrote an original letter/column, etc.) Letters also must be signed by one person (rarely two) and have legitimate contact information attached to them. Also, they can't be strictly promotional for a business or Web site or whatnot.

    Basically, if you write something that's short enough, in English, doesn't libel another person and isn't an ad, it'll get in the paper. If you meet someone who says the paper censors past those qualifications, I dare say they MIGHT be lying.

    ... For better or worse.

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  8. I cannot believe this was even put on the website! How ridiculous! What's even more amazing is that this experience somehow prompted the guy to write a "letter to the editor" about it. How sad...I would certainly not want to publicize such a story. And as for it being posted on the HJ website...this certainly serves as a lesson about the disparaging impact of a slow news day.

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  9. Wow...I can't believe this got in! I can imagine the HJ getting a lot of these kinds of letters but NEVER putting them on the Internet! They must have been in some desperation? Can you imagine being the girl he wrote this about? I feel really embarassed for him. It was also quite the stereotypical and jump to conclusions letter wasn't it...another ethical dilema of newspapers gone, what will the material be like journalists have to put up with on the Internet?

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