Guidelines for letters

Hello, Wahkiakum County Eagle readers. We at The Eagle truly appreciate your support and always strive to meet your needs to the best of our ability.

With the political season approaching in Wahkiakum County, The Eagle has already received numerous letters to the editor arguing for or against candidates. Every week on Page 2, The Eagle prints the standing guidelines for letters to the editor. One of these guidelines is that “Letters should address local issues and refrain from personal attack or character assassination.” Some of the letters we have received recently have not followed this guideline.

Sometimes, a letter to the editor will single out an individual or group and accuse them of certain behavior. This criticism can be considered defamatory and could put the letter author, as well as the paper, at risk.

We encourage community members who wish to support a candidate to do so in our publication. Arguing against a candidate‘s policies is also acceptable, but personal attacks do not fit our guidelines. Anything that denigrates, accuses, or defames any person does not fit in our letters page.

We see part of our mission as facilitating civic discourse in our community; both in terms of encouraging discussion of civic issues, but also ensuring that the discussion is civil. If you submit a letter that doesn’t fit our guidelines, we will work with you to modify your letter and help you communicate your point in a way that works; but, fundamentally, publication of anything in the paper is at the discretion of our editorial staff and publisher.

Thank you for your support and for your vigorous contributions to the political life of our community.

Kirk McKnight,

Editor