Letter: Xpress should broaden letters’ focus

Graphic by Lori Deaton

The Citizen Times’ parent organization, Gannett, has made a decision to reduce the daily letters to the editor to a Sunday-only format. It’s my thought that this gives the Mountain Xpress an opportunity to expand the topics and length of the letters to the editor column. My guess is a good number of individuals will begin submitting letters to the Mountain Xpress because of the reduced opportunities in the Citizen Times.

Traditionally, your format has been a locally focused forum of shared ideas. I would encourage you to expand it to cover national and international issues so that writers of letters to the editor have more topics they can speak to, and your readers will be exposed to more food for thought.

In addition, visitors from throughout the nation and around the world who visit Asheville will see with every weekly issue of the Mountain Xpress that our community has a deep interest in shared, thoughtful, well-articulated topics that are local, countrywide and international.

— Richard Boyum
Candler

Editor’s response: Thank you for writing in with your suggestion. We most definitely want to encourage letters that are thoughtful and well articulated. However, since its founding, Xpress has focused on the news, issues, arts and culture of Asheville and Western North Carolina — a decidedly local emphasis that extends to the Opinion pages. Our mission continues to be: “To build community and strengthen democracy by serving an active, thoughtful readership at the local level, where the impact of citizen action is greatest.” So, yes to more food for thought in Xpress — as long as the flavors remain local.

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Thanks for reading through to the end…

We share your inclination to get the whole story. For the past 25 years, Xpress has been committed to in-depth, balanced reporting about the greater Asheville area. We want everyone to have access to our stories. That’s a big part of why we've never charged for the paper or put up a paywall.

We’re pretty sure that you know journalism faces big challenges these days. Advertising no longer pays the whole cost. Media outlets around the country are asking their readers to chip in. Xpress needs help, too. We hope you’ll consider signing up to be a member of Xpress. For as little as $5 a month — the cost of a craft beer or kombucha — you can help keep local journalism strong. It only takes a moment.

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4 thoughts on “Letter: Xpress should broaden letters’ focus

  1. Curious

    Will Asheville ever have a good (or even decent) daily newspaper? Or are the economics just against it?

  2. MV

    What visitors from other parts of the world should know when they visit here is how they impact our community. Mountain Xpress should continue to focus on that. There are plenty of other sources for non-local news. We’re bombarded with it every second of our lives.

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