Our view: These pages are for every viewpoint

This is an opinion page. Most weeks you will find an editorial, under the header “Our View” about a subject the newspaper staff have agreed we should take a stand on, comment about, applaud, or all of the above.

There’s always a “Harry’s Gang” column by publisher Pete Radosevich, and usually an “On the Mark” column by board member Ann Markusen — which may land on opinion or elsewhere in the paper, depending on the subject matter. (This week it’s definitely one for the opinion page.)

An opinion page like ours is not unique among newspapers, although with shrinking staff and outside ownership, many smaller newspapers don’t bother to write their own opinion pieces anymore. Many because they don’t have time, others because they don’t like to make waves. Instead they run syndicated columns, or columns intended to amuse, rather than opine.

We strongly believe that a local newspaper has an obligation to not only cover the news, but also to share its opinion on certain topics, because we have done the research and because that’s what good newspapers do.

But the opinions on this page are not limited to newspaper staff or owners.

We also publish numerous guest columns — largely by unpaid local writers who submit to the paper — and letters to the editor, also by local residents. The goal on the opinion page is a variety of viewpoints. There are only a few requirements for either a column or a letter, including a word limitation and nothing libelous, of course. If we know it’s not accurate, that’s a dealbreaker too. Local issues take precedence, and local authors. We don’t tend to run form letters sent by national groups. (See “Express Yourself” on this page for more guidelines.)

We endeavor to run every letter we get, or we contact the sender via email or phone if we decide it isn’t appropriate. Last week we didn’t run a letter because it was more advertising than opinion. Other times we’ve held a letter until we could finish fact checking or clarifying points. We will edit letters — as we do stories — to make them grammatically correct or easier to understand.

Two weeks ago, we apparently missed a letter that the writer said was submitted through the website. When she didn’t hear back from us and her letter didn’t run, she assumed it was because her opinion wasn’t the same as our own editorial published that week. That is absolutely untrue. Frankly, it would have made for a much more interesting page, having two different opinions on there. She refused to resend the letter when we contacted her by phone and email.

That’s unfortunate, because now our readers won’t be able to read that letter, think about it or respond to it. And we are left wondering what happened — where exactly that letter landed.

Thus, we are making a plea: If there is anyone else out there who has submitted a letter that didn’t run, please contact us. You should have received an email from editor Jana Peterson or publisher Pete Radosevich explaining why it wasn’t running. Otherwise, it should have been in the paper. If neither of those things happened, we want to hear from you. We have no way of knowing what we are missing if we never see it or hear from folks. We’d rather take an irate phone call and be able to make amends than have someone out there who is festering about something that easily could have been corrected.

So please, communicate. Email [email protected] or call 218-878-9332 and ask for Jana. Stop by the office at 122 Avenue C for a chat.

And if you haven’t sent a letter before, now is a great time to start. There’s certainly plenty going on in Carlton County to talk about.

We welcome your input to the Pine Knot News community newspaper. Send your thoughts, letters, or news to [email protected]. See some of the submission guidelines on this page.