To the editor:

I am thankful for the “letters to the editor” forum the Marshall Independent provides and the opportunity it gives members of our community to participate in a level of discourse rarely found in our social media driven culture. Even when I vehemently disagree with a published letter, I am grateful for our right to participate in America’s fourth estate.

That said, I was shocked and profoundly disappointed by the recent publishing of a letter containing misleading and misconstrued “statistics” that the letter’s author attempted to pass as objective truth. It was a great disservice to readers and our community to publish such utter “BS” without, at minimum, a disclaimer.

Upon request, the editor provided the author’s sources, but will the average reader go that far to research their local newspaper?

How many readers took the next step to search Google for facts as simple as “what percentage of the U.S. population is LGBTQ?”

(My search results showed a February 2021 article from Gallup estimating 5.6%. The obscure source from 2013 that the letter’s author used said 1.6%.)

The Columbia Journalism Review recently published an article entitled: “Local newsrooms can combat polarization, if only they have the margins.” (This article can be found via Google and I encourage the Independent’s publisher and editor to read it if they have not already.) It stressed the importance of local newspapers “maintaining a robust local opinion section,” such as opinion pieces and letters to the editor. But it also acknowledged that the resources for local newspapers to sustain these features are being cut.

I can empathize if the Independent cannot keep up with the deluge of letters as members of the community battle for the soul of our city (some quite literally). I urge the Marshall Independent’s publisher, editor, and staff to work to allocate the necessary resources to provide the proper moderation these conversations warrant. If this is not possible, I encourage them to consider this: are you okay with the Independent’s opinion page being used as a tool to legitimize racist and homophobic propaganda?

If the choice is the latter, I’d rather do without this community service.

Barbra Springer

Marshall