Comments on: Decent Letters-to-the-Editor pages?

Question: Decent Letters-to-the-Editor pages?

UbuRoivas — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 19:12:04 -0800

Any recommendations for decent Letters-to-the-Editor pages?

Before MetaFilter was invented, the best way I knew of to get my daily fix of what the more intelligent or humourous members of the general public thought about stuff was by reading the Letters to the Editor page of any quality newspaper.

The Times' letters page is probably the venerable grandfather of all, but for parochial & cost reasons I would normally stick to the Herald, if anybody needs any guidance to the kind of thing I am looking for.

My question is this: can anybody point me towards similar sites from American newspapers? Last time I checked the only two I know of that are worth reading (NYT & WaPo), the letters pages seemed very meagre indeed, and quite undemocratic: it seemed that you already had to be a senator, ambassador, hospital director etc to be chosen as worthy for publication.

If anybody knows of any particularly insightful, witty & well-edited letters pages from elsewhere in the world, I would also like to hear your recommendations.

By: zachxman

zachxman — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 19:24:31 -0800

Do you know aboutThe Huffington Post? Though much of the content can be US-centric and left-leaning, it has quite a roster of contributors.

By: amyms

amyms — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 19:28:42 -0800

I stumbled across the San Francisco Chronicle's letters-to-the-editor section awhile back while doing some research, and I keep going back to it because it's usually filled with a good mix of serious and frivolous. They also have an Open Forum page.

By: rob511

rob511 — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 19:37:46 -0800

While much of The Economist's site is premium content; its online letters page (The In-Box) is free to view. You can also bypass the premium option and register to add comments, if you choose.

By: Abiezer

Abiezer — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 20:02:57 -0800

The LRB's has its moments; best when an academic row is brewing.

By: Abiezer

Abiezer — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 20:03:47 -0800

Oops, missed that it was supposed to American. Apologies.

By: UbuRoivas

UbuRoivas — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 20:20:28 -0800

no, no, no!

i primarily wanted to find American sources, but also anything good from elsewhere...London Review of Books is one I hadn't even considered...thanks, Abiezer!

By: HotPatatta

HotPatatta — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 23:20:21 -0800

The New Yorker has some good ones, as does the New York Review of Books.

By: Jahaza

Jahaza — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 03:02:44 -0800

Of the American newspapers I've read on a regular basis at various times over the past few years, (Times, NY Post, NY Sun, various locals, Wall Street Journal, USA Today) the Wall Street Journal's letters section has always seemed the most interesting to me with a good mix of writers (e.g. not all or not no experts/news participants/company spokesmen). Of course the letters tend towards economic and business topics....

Also, in the new redesign it's no longer on the op-ed page where it used to be, but IIRC, in the second section.

By: i love cheese

i love cheese — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 16:53:00 -0800

I love reading the letters to the editor in Stars & Stripes. The topics range from the trivial (license plates in Germany) to the profound (religious freedom) with lots of politics thrown in.

Almost without fail, every month or so someone will send in a letter that strikes a nerve (e.g., prayer in school, gays in the military, pay and benefits, etc.), this is usually followed by two or three rounds of back and forth debate, some thoughtful, some not so much. No matter when I look, there's always something witty, always something stupid, and always something good.