Is your daily newspaper a good newspaper? Does it challenge you? Does it stimulate you? Does it suit you?
There will probably be as many answers as there are readers of newspapers.
But if you are thinking: “Steve, you pedantic wee beggar, how would I judge such a thing?” I think I can help. One sign of a healthy, relevant, and worth-reading newspaper is the quality of its Readers’ Letters Page.
The Courier’s letters section is, I will suggest, always worth reading. It is informative, amusing, ire-inducing, and frustrating. It is a vibrant part of the paper. It deserves to be read every day.
It has its ongoing debates, especially about independence and the causes (or not) of global warming. These discussions can be quite vehement.
It also has, as most newspapers do, regular contributors. It has ongoing feuds; know-it-alls, cool-calm-and-collected types; sarcastic types; dog-with-a-bone types who can’t let an argument go; and wasp-at-a-picnic types whose sole aim seems to be to antagonise.
It also has wise comment; sage judgments; people who see things from unusual angles; and intelligent, learned, informative gentlefolk whose utterances are worthy of respect.
Many display a gimlet-sharp turn of phrase
The rarest type of contributor is one so exercised by a particular matter they feel compelled to write in – though they never have done so before and will never do so again. Often, this sort of writer is worth paying attention to.
What you see and, importantly, what you don’t see on a letters page reflects society. Some people relish broadcasting their opinions, others have equally strong feelings but wouldn’t dream of revealing their politics, religious beliefs, theories on CO2 emissions, or complaints about council spending.
Personally, I take note of the standards of English in letters, the vocabularies, and the use of colloquial terms. Studied over the course of years these are indicators of the state of the language in the nation.
I doubt it would surprise you to learn that the grammatical skills displayed in some letters leaves something to be desired. It takes an insightful sub-edit to translate these into sense-making, English.
Other letters, however, are crafted by skilled wordsmiths.
Reader input is welcomed by all newspapers. The thoughts of clever people are a valuable commodity and I would encourage you, if you have something to say, to say it to a newspaper.
The most avid readers of any letters page are local politicians. They get feedback on policy, and (more important to most of them) they hunger to know how they are personally perceived.
I should point out one final thing, make of it what you will – many more men write in than women.
Word of the week
Garrulous (adjective)
Excessively talkative, especially on trivial matters. EG: “It’s unfair but a garrulous man might be described as a debater. A garrulous woman might be described as a gossip.”
Read the latest Oh my word! every Saturday in The Courier. Contact me at sfinan@dctmedia.co.uk
