Share, debate, connect: Inside our readers’ letters

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Our letters section has been front of mind in recent weeks. Every day we publish about 2500 words from our readers, with somewhere between 25 to 35 letters, including the And Another Thing shorts. They are selected from a couple of hundred submissions – even more when an issue really resonates.

The job of selecting which letters are published, editing and fact checking them (often involving contacting the letter writers), is shared by a small team of experienced editors, including deputy opinion editor (letters) Damien Nowicki, Margaret Cook and Warwick McFadyen. Until late last year, Peter Anthony had been a proud guardian of the space. Sadly Peter died from gastric cancer, aged 63, last week. He hadn’t been far from our thoughts since he left The Age after his shock diagnosis late last year.

Until his shock diagnosis, Peter Anthony was a much admired guardian of our letters section.Credit: Scott McNaughton

When I last had contact with Peter several weeks ago, he wrote about missing the job – not only the conversations with letter writers, but also how the role touched many corners of the newsroom.

Those of you who have written a letter may have heard from Peter and experienced first-hand the passion and rigour he brought to the role, and no doubt his kindness too. As a colleague, he was thoughtful, a good listener who was generous with his time, and diplomatic, respectful of one’s views, even if he didn’t share them. As his friends and family prepare to farewell him next week, we are working on a fitting tribute to Peter in our letters section.

News of Peter’s death came just as we had been interviewing to fill a vacancy in the letters team, as Margaret Cook is retiring this month after 30 years at The Age, including 15 editing letters. Margaret says while she’ll miss The Age and her colleagues, it’s time to enjoy other parts of her life. I, for one, will miss our chats in the office.

All this has meant some reflection, not only on what the letter editing job involves, but also on the important and unique role the letters section plays at The Age. Long before social media, it has been a place for readers to share their views, debate issues and also connect with one another. Over the years, a community has evolved.

“Letters has been a challenging but always interesting job and it’s been especially wonderful to get to know so many of our readers,” Margaret told me this week. “I know how much they value the letters pages (‘their pages’) and the opportunity to debate ideas … and sometimes to point out where The Age got something wrong.”

Sitting down to write this note to you, I remembered that my first byline in The Age was on the letters page. I was 16, in high school and determined to one day be a journalist, when I dipped my toe into letter writing. In that first letter, I decried the $6.83 an hour I was paid working as a casual in the deli at my local Coles supermarket while news broke that week that the company’s chief executive at the time was paid an annual salary of $2.88 million. I still recall how excited I was to see that first letter in print. Buoyed by that early success, I continued writing, just as thrilled when each subsequent letter was published.

As with our news coverage, we strive for balance in our published letters, including a diversity of views, on a range of topics. While the big political story of the day, week or month often dominates the discourse, sometimes readers will react strongly to less predictable issues. Whatever the topic, however, there’s often wit, humour and passion.

Over months now, prompted by one reader, Age letter writers have gone back and forth debating whether it’s best to reverse into a parking spot or go front in. Letter writer James Proctor, Maiden Gully, likened it to the debate over which way the toilet paper should hang. In recent weeks, the Pierre Bonnard show at the NGV has both delighted and disappointed our readers (Alan Williams, Port Melbourne loved the “eclectic exhibition”, Sam Szoke-Burke, East Brunswick not so much – calling it “superficial”), while the hype surrounding the Succession finale exasperated some readers, including April Baragwanath, Geelong, who begged: please no more articles about the show. An Andrews government plan to give thousands of free fishing rods and tackle boxes to primary school children had many readers perplexed. “If students must be given something, why not free footballs?” asked Jenny Moxham, Monbulk. “Please send out binoculars or magnifying glasses instead,” wrote Leigh Ackland, Deepdene.

Also memorable, was the enormous, often personal and moving, response to senior reporter Michael Bachelard’s article in May about dementia and voluntary assisted dying. “Respect for life is and should be paramount, but so should one’s own right to have help in ending it,” Anne Riddell from Mount Martha wrote. Michael went on to write about the readers’ experiences with end-of-life decisions, drawing on the stories they generously shared.

There’s no doubt, our letters section works best when there are more viewpoints, more names, more life experiences to learn from. Damien tells me readers often protest that they see the same names over and over again. He’d love to see more readers writing letters and asked me to encourage you to write in. For those interested, here are some rules and tips for submitting letters – chief among them: keep it short, simple, fresh and civil. Letters can be emailed to: [email protected]

Give it a go, you may even get hooked like a young Orietta Guerrera, Coburg.

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