Celebrating the power of the pen

Letters to the editor are a longstanding newspaper tradition. There are historians who argue, for instance, that letters published in the newspapers of the day played a key role in fomenting the American Revolution in the 1770s.

Looking back in our archives, I can find no evidence that this newspaper has played such a role. But almost immediately after the first edition of the Evening Journal — the predecessor of this publication — hit the streets on Nov. 11, 1903, readers took up their pens to react to the news of the day in the young community on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River.

In Voice of a City, a book commemorating this newspaper’s 100th anniversary, authors Marc Horton and Bill Sass described the subjects of those early letters to the editor — everything from the pay of civil servants (too high) to a dog bylaw (not strict enough).

“I have travelled considerably in my time, but I must say I have never seen, anywhere, so many yelping curs permitted to annoy both drivers and wheelmen,” wrote one irritated citizen in 1904.

More than a century later, the subject matter of Journal letters has changed, but the passion has not.

Every week, as letters editor Brian Tucker explains below, we are deluged with far more letters than we could possibly publish on a remarkable array of topics.

While many of those missives are of the “shocked and appalled” variety, over the past year our readers have opined on local, national and international news; they have taken Journal writers and editors to task; and they have paused to thank their fellow citizens for acts of kindness and charity.

Surprisingly, interest in writing letters to the editor is little diminished, in spite of the fact that it is now possible to comment instantly on breaking news stories online and to broadcast one’s opinions far and wide through a variety of social media.

And although most readers’ letters are now submitted by email, we still receive dozens each week that are sent via Canada Post.

Perhaps that is because the letters page of a newspaper provides a different kind of venue for a discussion of issues. It’s a forum that provides wide exposure to the community, and it’s a platform where respectful, thoughtful discourse is encouraged.

Thanks to all of you for providing so much of it over the past year.