There is some confusion about the difference between a news article and an opinion article.
Most newspapers, in print or online, offer both news and opinions. The Era-Leader posts many opinion articles.
In addition, we post Letters to the Editor, which are *always* an expression of a writer's opinion.
Letters to the Editor are not news articles; they are opinion articles. This is true not just for The Era-Leader but also for almost every print and online newspaper.
Despite the fact that letters to the editor are opinions, they still must be non-libelous to be published. That means when someone presents a letter to the editor to be published, we must verify it.
A letter to the editor recently criticized a Franklinton alderman candidate for a Facebook post that proved to be untruthful and harmful. Before publishing the letter to the editor, we verified that the candidate had indeed made the Facebook post and that later the candidate had apologized for the Facebook post.
The opinions expressed in the letter to the editor are those of the letter writer. The letter writer and the candidate who made the Facebook post and *everyone else* has the Constitutional right to express their opinions. We respect that and we will always do everything in our power to provide a forum for opinions, without allowing libelous material to be published.
If you have an opinion to express about this or any other matter, please send it to us as a Letter to the Editor. Assuming it is non-libelous, we'll publish it, both in the newspaper and online.
Readers, please always remember:
For The Era-Leader and for any other newspaper, there is a difference between a news article and an opinion article. Letters to the Editor and other opinion articles are *not* news articles.
Thanks for reading,
Steve Kuperstock, editor
The Era-Leader & era-leader.com
