In the past few days I have checked with several newspapers in the area concerning their policy on publishing Letters to the Editor (LTEs). I could find none that have the same restrictions as our beloved Pittsburg Gazette. While all have similar policies concerning editing for content, clarity, fact checking, etc., none have the policy of allowing only two letters during a 12-month period. For example, the Gilmer Mirror asks (not demands) writers to limit their submissions to one a month and priority is given to letters of 500 words or less.

The Tyler paper allows two submissions a month but asks writers to keep their letters to 250 words. They pointed out to me in their email that they make exceptions for various reasons.  The Mt. Pleasant Tribune requests readers to limit their letters to 300 words with submissions limited, generally, to one letter a month although exceptions can be made.

I'm sure that the Pittsburg Gazette would not consider their policy of limiting writers to two LTEs a YEAR as censorship so I guess we can assume that they are just understaffed. Surely the paper is not trying to restrict citizen participation in community affairs to protect special interests entities, e.g., the PISD and others. Surely not!