LAST time round in this slot, I talked about the variety of topics covered in the Letters Pages over the preceding three weeks, which ranged from the battle of Waterloo to the battle for Westminster.
What I neglected to say, however, was the number of correspondents whose views have been published in The Herald.
I mention this because a reader recently complained to me about the frequency with which a certain letter writer had appeared (the person in question has been published five times in three months). I will admit there are some names and addresses with which regular readers will be familiar, largely down to the sheer number of the contributions they send in (although quality and lucidity will always be the benchmarks), but in the 18 issues of The Herald since my last Inside Track column, we have by my reckoning published 133 different contributors. To arrive at this number, I have counted letters with multiple signatories (from doctors, child care specialists and the like) as single contributions.
This figure is pleasing, but I would like it to be higher. Over to you...
I have also been in correspondence with a reader in the last week or two regarding our policy of editing letters.
It is an inevitable fact of newsprint that sometimes letters have to be edited to accommodate the space available.
They may also be edited for reasons of grammar and punctuation - the aim always being to make them easier to read - for clarification, and, occasionally, in the interests of taste and propriety. As I have said before in this slot, we do not allow gratuitous insults. A politician may be a barefaced liar who would sell his granny for a vote, but unless the transaction can be proven to have taken place, we would have to omit that accusation. That is not to say, however, that he or she cannot be misguided, misinformed or economical with the truth.
Letters may also be edited to avoid duplication. A good case in point would be yesterday's two missives on the possibility of Cumbernauld being chosen as the site for a new Scottish film studio - one from the leader of North Lanarkshire Council, the other from the depute leader of that authority's minority group. Each had salient and separate points to make, and we were able to avoid unnecessary repetition.
Unfortunately, I am not able to phone every reader about every edit, though where changes are major, I will endeavour to allow the correspondent either to look over the amended version or to resubmit. This option is often given to readers whose letters exceed our maximum length of 500 words.
Speaking of which, small is often beautiful. A classic example was Wednesday's letter from John Birkett of St Andrews, recalling the meeting in 1961 between the then Kirk Moderator, Dr Archibald Craig, and Pope John XXIII - "Supposedly His Holiness laid a hand on Dr Craig's shoulder, saying: 'Arrivederci, Erchie', to which Dr Craig responded: 'Ca' canny, Giovanni'."
The chief aim of the Letters Pages is to promote informed debate. I like to think we offer entertainment along the way.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
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