Our reader raises the question of whether the lack of an "Editor's Note" means everything in a letter can be assumed to be true. (Read his My View in this week's paper.) We think he raises valid points.
After a thoughtful email discourse with this reader and consultation with the Vermont Press Association we are changing our policy. Recognizing that the Letters to the Editor and My View sections of the newspaper are really our readers' pages and pages where they must be free to express their opinions, we are also aware that it is wrong and does a disservice to our community to knowingly publish false information.
Henceforth, we will ask letter writers proffering facts (as opposed to opinion) to provide sources. We will fact check and if information is inaccurate we will return letters to their authors with a request for revision. This was among the recommendations of the Vermont Press Association -- and we think it is good advice.
Obviously we are not experts on every single possible topic on which our readers write letters. But we do know the facts about our local issues and we will do our best to make sure we do not print false information. We think it is important that people deal with facts rather than misinformation. There is always room to agree and disagree on the letters pages of our paper without resorting to misinformation.
We respect the opinions of our readers and we take pride in the often lively debate that occurs among community members on our pages. We think it is a healthy and necessary discourse.
Our thanks to our reader for raising the issue.
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