Letter from the Editor: Changes to Comments

By Medicine Hat News Opinion on January 16, 2021.

To our valued readers,

Having just taken over the city editor’s desk, I figured it’s a good time to address a few changes being made to the Comments section moving forward.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned since joining the Medicine Hat News in 2014, it’s that this city is home to a wide array of perspectives, and this paper should be a reflection of that.

Since taking over as city editor at the start of the month, I have recruited four new columnists to help provide a more balanced offering of opinions. Keep an eye out for the work of Dr. Daniel Schnee – whose first column ran this week – Larry Samcoe, Allyson McCaw and Cash Moore in Thursday editions of the News.

I also encourage readers to continue sharing their thoughts through letters to the editor. However, limited space – largely brought on by the pandemic – has made it all but impossible to publish every letter to the editor that we receive in print. I hope to address this issue in two ways.

First, we’re asking readers to keep letters to no more than 350 words. This will allow as many voices as possible to have their say in the paper on a regular basis. Second, we will push to get more letters to the editor online through a new feature titled “Weekend Mailbag.”

Letters of appropriate length and content will be published in a timely manner, and those that cannot be published within a week of submission due to space issues will be placed in the Mailbag for the following weekend.

As for the content of letters, the News will continue to provide a hub for civil discourse on issues relating to our community, province and country. As such, we welcome respectful criticism of differing opinions, however no derogatory language or name-calling will be tolerated.

I understand we are living in a time of great division, and frustration comes with that, but I believe it is possible to firmly criticize an opinion without attacking the person expressing it.

I look forward to serving this community as city editor and hope to provide a product all our readers can take pride in picking up each morning – and I know we have the team to do just that.

Ryan McCracken is the city editor of the Medicine Hat News. He can be reached at rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com