Letters to the Editor

Letters and Their Writers

Who writes letters to the editor? Who does not? What do they illustrate about the thinking of citizens? These and other questions concern researchers who consider letters to the editor a window offering a unique view of public life. Unlike opinion polls, which ask specific questions of sample populations, letters to the editor express what individuals think is important in their own words. Editors of small newspapers may run nearly all the letters they receive. But larger outlets, including national news magazines, often must be highly selective in choosing what to use. How are letters [Page 842]picked? How heavily are they edited? Are potentially offensive comments removed or published anyway? Journalistic websites such as http://poynter.org, run by the Poynter Institute, and trade publications such as Masthead, the journal of the National Conference of Editorial Writers, suggest that editors who receive and relay letters wrestle with these questions in the spirit of fostering a marketplace of ideas and civic engagement.

People who write letters to the editor tend to be older, better educated and wealthier than those who do not. People disgruntled over something are more likely to write than those who are satisfied. The views of letter-writers may be more strongly held and more extreme than those of the population as a whole. Letter-writers also may be people who, simply put, feel compelled to take some civic action. Roderick P. Hart of the University of Texas finds that people who write to editors are more likely to demonstrate what he calls “political irre-pressibility.” For instance, he found, letter-writers to newspapers in medium-size communities were more likely than nonwriters to offer unsolicited comments to the researchers who surveyed them, to donate to political causes, and to volunteer for political campaigns. Letter-writers also are more likely than nonwriters to be white males. Most newspapers at least since the mid-1990s have required published letters to include the real names of the authors. Some critics believe this may inhibit some women and members of minority groups from submitting letters, for fear they could be harassed by others in their communities. Political parties and other ideological beliefs do not seem to make much difference in who writes to editors.

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