One of the things that make this blog different to other News sources is that the Cobourg Community actively comments on articles. In fact people tell me that’s one major reason they visit this site. Print Newspapers do something similar with their Letters to the Editor and Opinion columns (but without comments). At one point, Grahame Woods was writing an opinion column on Cobourg Blog and had a good following. Effective immediately, Cobourg Blog will accept “Letters to the Editor” from any Cobourg resident or business. They will be clearly labelled as such and as usual with this category, will be subject to rules: the real author will be named but not their email; promotion of events is allowed; advertising or promoting a business is only allowed if it’s a new thing; comments are not allowed. See all rules at the About Page here.
For a number of reasons, letters will be hosted on www.CobourgInternet.ca although the navigation menu at Cobourg Blog will include a link.
The main reason for the establishment of this new page is to provide a way for people to make a statement about a topic not covered in a post. Another is that I often get requests to promote something or mention an event. Now you can send me a “letter”!
Here are the “rules”.
Submitting a Letter
Send your submission to [email protected] – format is not critical since it will be re-formatted for the web page. Include any images as attachments. I would expect that most letters would be published.
Name of Author
The real name of the Author is required and will be published unless there are exceptional circumstances. Also required but NOT for publication is the email address and (preferably) Canada Post address so I can confirm who you are.
Content
- Letters can talk about a Post or may start a different topic. Letters are necessarily opinions and typically would talk about an idea.
- Political statements are allowed.
- No personal criticisms are allowed.
- Authors are encouraged to keep their letters on one topic.
- Images and Videos are allowed.
- Comments are not allowed on the Letters page.
Editing
- Obvious typos and major grammar errors will be corrected.
- The length of the “letter” should be no more than about 600 Words. Anything much longer may be rejected or edited.
The first “letter” is from MPP David Piccini talking about a Government initiative. Go here.
Print Article:
Thank you John, for making this much needed facility available.
The newspaper “letters to the editor” may not appear in a timely manner and only a limited number are printed.
Some people may be intimidated by the aura of a “letter to the editor”. An online submission somehow seems friendly and more accepting.