When letters to the editor bring actual news
In this age of instant online communications, it’s surprising how many traditional letters to the editor we still get. There’s really been no drop-off in letters over the last decade. We try to get them processed, verified, edited and online – then into print – as quickly as possible. But even so, it can take a while.
Some letters, though, jump right to the top of the priority list: When they break news. That doesn’t happen too often, but it did today.
I came in this morning to find a letter in my email inbox signed by 15 York County school superintendents critical of Gov. Corbett’s education reform plan – particularly his voucher and charter school proposals. Any time most of the local school chiefs sign on to a letter, that’s news. We needed to get the letter online immediately.
Unfortunately, it was a PDF attachment – not easily translated into text that we can post on our site. Susan Mafnas, editorial assistant, dropped everything and retyped the letter so we could post it online. Thanks, Susan!
Keep those letters coming – the newsier the better!