GREAT IDEA!!!!!

The Times London is celebrating 70 yrs of its letter to editor section.
It carried out special section of 16 pages SIR on this occasion.

The paper gives some interesting facts:

23% from London.

4% from Scotland.

3% from wales.

1% from North Ireland.

84% from men.

15% from women.

66 letters received by post each day on average.

424 e-mail letters received each day on average, not counting the junk.

16 letters a day are published on average (the section has been expanded in the last few months. Smart move!)

65,051 letters received by the Letters department in 1985, The Time’s bicentenary year.

180,000 letters a year received now.

2,010 number of word, on average, printed on the letters page every day. That’s 12,061 words a week.

143 words, average letter printed (versus the Twitter’s 140 characters)

11,071 the longest letter printed in The ties, published on October 13, 1898 with an account of the Dreyfus case.

89% of chosen letters appear on the page within three days of arriving.

32% appear within one day of arriving.

3,2% of letters received make it to print -that’s a1 in 31

So, on November 14, 2009 the Times printed this letter:

“Sir, My brothers and I have for years agreed that if one has a letter published in The Times the others must each give him a bottle of champagne (double if it is not spotted). Historically I have been the loser, but publication of this helps to restore the balance. Lord Justice Scott Baker”

In our country, letter writting was treated as a highly intellectual .activity. Letter writters were very respectable people in society. I have come across very good journalists in upcountry who started as letter writers and their letters were so good, editors offered them to become fulltime reporters. Khandwa, Ratlam, Mandsore, Hoshangabad, Katni, Kanpur, Sitapur, Lakhimpur, Kodarma, Garhwa, Daltonganj, Deoghar are such towns where one can find such journalists. But unfortunately, letter space in newspapers got squeezed and letter writers shunted out since last 10 yr or so. 

I find it very foolish of newspapers owners and editors who talk about reader connectedness and on the other hand keep on cropping letter space.

Newspaper of the Future

1.) It will have fewer pages and be physically smaller (perhaps tabloid) in size.

2.) It will have longer articles that offer more in-depth reporting an analysis.

3.) It will be precisely targeted, either in terms of geographical area or interest.

4.) It will have a vivid voice, which will provoke reader reaction.

5.) It will be sleekly designed.

6.) It will have a web component that will complement, not duplicate its contents.

7.) It will either be free or more expensive than today's papers.


8.) It may not be on paper at all. It may be on some sort of portable device. Newspaper publishers have invested for years in flexible, e-paper displays that feel like newsprint but update like websites. None of the projects have come to fruition ... yet.

9.) Its readers may not be united by geography. They may be a community of interest or enthusiasm.

10.) It will shift and evolve rapidly, as its readers' needs shift and evolve.