We’ve just completed compiling our entries for the Catholic Press Association’s Newspapers of Excellence competition. It takes quite a bit of time to peruse a year of editions but it’s also an opportunity for us to check ourselves and see if we are where we want to be.
Last year, we did very well in the contest, winning 11 awards. My favorite was first place for Best Editorial Pages among all the Catholic weeklies in the United States and Canada. The entry is comprised of the two-page spread that contains As The Tablet Sees It, The Editor’s Space and the Readers’ Forum.
In their critique, the judges were particularly impressed by the breadth of letters that we print every week. They said, “Nice to see an active letters to the editor page.”
Letters to the Editor can be tricky. Recently, I’ve received several letters complaining about the different opinions expressed in the Forum. Some were so upset by them that they did not want to receive the paper anymore.
Apparently, some feel that we should only print letters that agree with our editorial stances. Others think that if we print a letter, we agree with that opinion being expressed.
Nothing can be farther from the truth. In fact, many of the letters that we print annoy me. I vehemently disagree with many of the ideas put to paper. But to eliminate them would be unfair to our readership and counter-productive to what we are trying to do.
Letters to the editor, first of all, serve the purpose of correcting a false statement. They also allow someone who feels they have been misconstrued by another letter writer to restate their case.
But one of the main reasons we print letters is to carry on a dialogue. As we know, Catholics have different opinions about everything that occurs within the Church, from what the pope really meant to say to how we sing our hymns at Sunday Mass. Listening to what someone else has to say about something can widen our own perspective to better understand the truth and to further hone our own opinions. How often have we said to ourselves, “That’s another way of looking at it,” or “Maybe they have a point”?
The recent presidential race was like pouring fuel on an already raging fire. The summer months – when letters usually slow down – brought a tirade of reactions. We printed pro-Trump and anti-Trump, pro-Hillary and anti-Hillary.
Of course, there are limits to what we will print. For instance, we do not print personal or uncharitable attacks. We edit letters (all letters are subject to editing) so that they stick to the issues and not to personalities involved. It can be a close call. The challenge is – as one major cable channel likes to say – to be fair and balanced.
At the bottom of the Readers’ Forum, we print the criteria for submitting letters. If a writer does not wish anything to be changed, it is immediately discounted. The same applies to our columnists. If someone wants to write anonymously, they may do so as long as they submit their name and address to the editor.
When the results of the Catholic Press competition is announced in Quebec City in June, we hope to bring home some winners. But I’ll be particularly proud if we continue to be recognized as a place where everyone’s point of view is respected.
