We’ve made a few updates to our letters to the editor policies.
But the core principle remains the same: The letters page is our town square, and we support that tradition.
Community newspapers have long served as the place where neighbors debate ideas, challenge leaders, and speak directly to one another. We believe that’s an important part of civic life, and we want the letters page to remain a place where a wide range of voices can be heard.
But a town square still needs rules.
And newspapers, whether we like it or not, have a lot of them.
Newspapering is older than America itself. By the time the First Amendment was written, newspapers were already central to public debate, which is why freedom of the press was written into the Constitution. Over the centuries since, a complex web of laws and standards has developed around publishing. Much of it is byzantine and multilayered.
But one principle is simple and non-negotiable:
We fact-check.
If a letter contains factual claims, we will verify them. If the facts don’t bear out, we won’t publish them.
Some readers occasionally ask why that matters in an era when people can say almost anything online.
The answer is straightforward: Newspapers are legally responsible for what they publish.
In print, the publisher is responsible for the final act of libel — publication. If we knowingly publish false statements that harm someone’s reputation, we can be held liable.
By contrast, social media platforms operate under a different legal framework. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (1996) generally shields online platforms from being treated as the publisher or speaker of user-generated content. In other words, liability for defamatory statements typically rests with the person who posts them, not the platform that hosts them.
That distinction exists for practical reasons — platforms can’t realistically vet billions of posts — but it means the standards governing newspapers and social media are very different.
For a newspaper, the rule is clear.
We cannot — and will not — publish unverified accusations or claims that don’t hold up under basic fact-checking. If a statement proves unfounded, we won’t print it, even if someone insists on saying it.
It’s also worth saying something else clearly: No one has a “right” to be published in a newspaper whenever or however they want.
This is still a business. We have a finite amount of ink, paper, space — and time for fact-checking. Every letter we publish requires editing, verification and production resources.
That’s why we limit writers to one letter per month, and every letter will still be fact-checked before publication.
The goal isn’t to restrict debate. It’s to make sure the letters page remains fair, civil and accessible to many voices rather than dominated by a few.
The letters page is a place for strong opinions, vigorous debate and community conversation.
But it must also remain a place grounded in facts, fairness and accountability — the same principles that have guided newspapers for centuries.
