Letters to the Editor: A Feedback Opportunity Turned into a Marketing Tool

Abstract

Letters to the editor are valuable tools improving feedback procedures for traditional print media, placing topics that occupy the public at large on the public agenda. In this article, the results of research on selection procedures and editing practices in Flemish newsrooms are presented. In addition to content analysis of published letters in several Flemish newspapers and in-depth interviews of the editors-in-chief, the study includes some qualitative, innovative and creative research techniques. In an attempt to analyse objectively the selection procedures, the researcher wrote more than 100 letters to the newspapers’ editorial offices. The outcome of this part of the study offers a thought-provoking insight into the selection criteria as well as the editing of the letters section.