I'm so glad to see you edit Two Cents. I sent something the other day and only half of what I wrote was put in the paper, and there wasn't even anything bad - just my opinion!
- from a reader submission to Two Cents
When we launched our Two Cents feature on the second page in the spring, we weren't sure what to expect.
The idea was to create a forum for people to offer quick-hitting opinions in an easy way. We hoped some would be though-provoking, perhaps others would be inspirational and maybe a few even would be funny.
What we didn't know was whether readers would actually use it. Much to our delight, the answer has been a resounding “yes.” Readers have made Two Cents into one of the most popular features in the newspaper. We're getting plenty of submissions, many of them in response to previous Two Cents entries. A few of you have even attached pennies to hard-copy submissions - I think we're up to a quarter's worth.
But with this heavy interest comes a tough task for the editors here charged with selecting items to publish each day in The Citizen. How we make those decisions has occasionally upset a few readers. I've even noticed that a few Two Cents entries themselves are comments about our decisions to either run, not run or edit certain entries.
I'll do my best here to explain our review process, and I welcome your feedback. This feature is a work in progress. Our goal is to make it as fair, reader-friendly and interesting as possible.
While we have published the overwhelming majority of Two Cents calls, e-mails and letters sent our way, a few have been victims of the delete key.
We're not going to publish allegations of wrongdoing if we don't have the ability to corroborate the information. Often we'll take those calls and treat them as news tips - something for our reporters to check on.
But the last thing we want is for Two Cents to be filled with half-truths or whole lies.
It's also important to remember that the best Two Cents items, at least from my perspective, are opinions about the news that has already been reported. A few times we've deleted items that are being repeated by multiple readers. We figure you're not interested in reading the same opinion, just worded a little differently, five times on the same page. The more original the entry, the better chance it has of getting published.
We're also trying to keep Two Cents free of personal attacks. It's one thing to criticize a public official's job performance, but it crosses the line when someone is calling that person a jerk (or something worse). As for the Two Cents items that we've edited, it almost always boils down to one simple rule: They need to be two sentences or less.
We do this to be concise, which makes for better reading and also allows us to publish more entries.
Executive editor Jeremy Boyer can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 231 or jeremy.boyer@lee.net
When we launched our Two Cents feature on the second page in the spring, we weren't sure what to expect.
The idea was to create a forum for people to offer quick-hitting opinions in an easy way. We hoped some would be though-provoking, perhaps others would be inspirational and maybe a few even would be funny.
What we didn't know was whether readers would actually use it. Much to our delight, the answer has been a resounding “yes.” Readers have made Two Cents into one of the most popular features in the newspaper. We're getting plenty of submissions, many of them in response to previous Two Cents entries. A few of you have even attached pennies to hard-copy submissions - I think we're up to a quarter's worth.
But with this heavy interest comes a tough task for the editors here charged with selecting items to publish each day in The Citizen. How we make those decisions has occasionally upset a few readers. I've even noticed that a few Two Cents entries themselves are comments about our decisions to either run, not run or edit certain entries.
I'll do my best here to explain our review process, and I welcome your feedback. This feature is a work in progress. Our goal is to make it as fair, reader-friendly and interesting as possible.
While we have published the overwhelming majority of Two Cents calls, e-mails and letters sent our way, a few have been victims of the delete key.
We're not going to publish allegations of wrongdoing if we don't have the ability to corroborate the information. Often we'll take those calls and treat them as news tips - something for our reporters to check on.
But the last thing we want is for Two Cents to be filled with half-truths or whole lies.
It's also important to remember that the best Two Cents items, at least from my perspective, are opinions about the news that has already been reported. A few times we've deleted items that are being repeated by multiple readers. We figure you're not interested in reading the same opinion, just worded a little differently, five times on the same page. The more original the entry, the better chance it has of getting published.
We're also trying to keep Two Cents free of personal attacks. It's one thing to criticize a public official's job performance, but it crosses the line when someone is calling that person a jerk (or something worse). As for the Two Cents items that we've edited, it almost always boils down to one simple rule: They need to be two sentences or less.
We do this to be concise, which makes for better reading and also allows us to publish more entries.
Executive editor Jeremy Boyer can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 231 or jeremy.boyer@lee.net
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