Editorial

Content should make our communities stronger

Saturday, December 14, 2019

The Daily American Republic recently took a hard look at one of its content features, Speak Out.

The discussion centered on a few topics, including what benefit does it provide to the community and what harm might it do.

We want to be a source of trusted news for our region, for both the information you need, and the information you want.

Speak Out is a long-standing tradition that allows individuals to anonymously share their thoughts on our opinion page. The comments are unedited, except for minor grammar and punctuation corrections.

We want it to be an outlet for the public to raise concerns or share opinions they, for many reasons, may not otherwise be able to speak openly about.

We do not want it to be a way to take cheap, anonymous shots at individuals or to make up wild rumors. There are other avenues we all know well where that type of unfiltered content rules.

So our Speak Out policy, from today going forward, will be that we will allow anonymous comments.

But they cannot name a specific individual in a disparaging manner. “I want to thank Jane Doe who helped me change my tire last week,” is okay, but “John Doe is stealing money from the local government” is not something we can use in an anonymous comment.

For those who wish to comment on a specific member of local government, for instance, then it needs to be in a letter to the editor, with a signature attached.

Speak Out comments can be made about groups, such as local government, and policies.

We also have a responsibility to verify specific claims that are made in Speak Out. If an item is not something we have already reported on, and we cannot verify that it occurred, then we cannot use it in an anonymous comment.

We want the content we provide to help make our communities stronger. We do not want it to be used to anonymously tear its people and region down.

Let us know what you think. Speak Out can be reached by calling (573) 686-6548 or emailing news@darnews.com . Letters to the editor may also be sent to news@darnews.com .

— Daily American Republic

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