Department: Subscriber letters

 
Press (Almost) only subscribers make it onto the readers' letters page of the Neue Luzerner Zeitung. Not appropriate, says the expert. 
The reply came as a surprise: Jakob Hitz (name changed) had sent a letter to the editor of the Neue Luzerner Zeitung (NLZ) during a controversial regional referendum campaign and immediately received a rejection, together with an "offer for an annual subscription on exceptionally favorable terms". The reason for not considering his letter: On the letters to the editor page of the NLZ, "our subscribers should always have priority". Roland Bucher, responsible for the Forum section, confirms the rule. It is also made transparent in an occasional box on the forum page. However, it has some obvious pitfalls: should both cohabiting partners buy a subscription? And what about those who subscribe to the newspaper at work? A rejected letter to the editor simply has to intervene: "The effort involved in making a phone call is not that great," says Bucher.Stefan Ragaz, deputy editor-in-chief of the NLZ, explains that the editorial board decided on this rule around two years ago: "For me, it is clear that subscribers have priority over non-subscribers." Furthermore, "a subscribed newspaper has no interest in reducing subscription income". The regulation is "one of several filters" at times when the editorial team receives a particularly large number of letters from readers, i.e. especially before controversial votes.
Those local or cantonal politicians who do not wish to take out an NLZ subscription are also banned from the NLZ readers' letter page during these weeks. Those non-subscribers who treat themselves to the pleasure of reading the newspaper in a café in the morning are also banned. Unless, of course, the editors decide that their articles and arguments are new or important.
The Press Council has emphasized several times in recent years that there is no right to the publication of a particular letter to the editor, at least not as long as "no arbitrary general publication ban is imposed on a letter to the editor". Not even in regions where a media publisher has a dominant position. Media lawyer Peter Studer, until recently President of the Press Council, is "disconcerted" by such a practice, which he has never heard of before. It is not a breach of ethics, but it is not appropriate. "After all, the site is called a readers' forum and not a subscribers' forum," says Studer. He has no objections to appropriate criteria, such as "reference to a published article". Such a rule applies at the Basler Zeitung, as Heidi Ranz from the Readers' Letters Administration explains. Before votes, BaZ publishes an additional page with readers' letters commenting on the proposed votes. The Tages-Anzeiger also only uses objective criteria, as Peter W. Frey, who is occasionally responsible for letters to the editor, reports: "The editorial team decides according to content, relevance and interest."
At the Bund in Bern, letters are also checked against the "subscriber file", and here too subscribers have priority, reports Filip Haag, who is responsible for the readers' letters page. However, if the letter refers to a published Bund article, the Bund editorial team always assumes that it is from a subscriber. Haag also sees the printing of a letter to the editor as "a service to the reader". And not to the subscriber.
Hans Stutz
 

The crux of the matter with letters to the editorLetters' letters
Even in the age of blogs and citizen journalism, they are still considered an important instrument for the free expression of opinion. For some, it may be a somewhat antiquated way of expressing their opinion. However, there is no shortage of contributions to the forum columns of the printed press, as the public today takes it for granted that they can express themselves in the media in many different ways.
This was not always the case. Letters to the editor were often in short supply. Publishers and editorial offices therefore had to come up with something. The NZZ, for example, has a tradition of rewarding printed readers' contributions. Even schoolchildren made a sport out of scanning the news for profitable topics.
In his Ringier anniversary publication, journalist Karl Lüönd recounts an amusing example from the tabloid press: Hansjürg "Fibo" Deutsch, now responsible for the TV division at the publishing house and a young student at Blick, recalls: "There was a phase when there weren't enough good letters to the editor, especially from the interpersonal sphere. So I started writing such letters and was constantly inventing new problems." Deutsch's letter to the editor Seline Kalberer triggered heated discussions among readers. As a woman, he had written to Blick that his husband refused to push the baby carriage on a Sunday walk. "And suddenly there were women at the door of the editorial office who wanted to pour their hearts out to this Ms. Kalberer."
The complete opposite is currently happening in Cuba. For a few weeks now, the party organ Granma has been printing letters to the editor for the first time since the revolution, including very critical ones.
This only became possible in the course of the phase of self-criticism initiated by the new president and brother of Maximo Lider, Raul Castro. However, the opening remains controlled. The new regime continues to prohibit Cubans from using media such as the internet or satellite TV.
 
René Worni