Send a Letter to the Editor

Guidelines: Letters to the Editor and Community Commentaries

(1) The Citizen of Laconia publishes letters to the editor in print and/or online. Which letters and commentaries appear in print versus the web will be based on the day-to-day flow of correspondence from readers and their relevance to current issues, as determined by the editorial staff.

(2) Letters should be limited to 350 words. Commentaries, which should not exceed 700 words, will run at the discretion of the editorial department. A review of whether a submission will be published as a commentary or a letter will, in part, be based on topic, timeliness, uniqueness, perspective and quality of writing. Writers are restricted to sending two letters and/or commentaries a month.

(3) The authorship of all letters and commentaries must be verified. In order to do this writers must submit their first and last name, city or town, and a phone number, although the phone number will not be published and used only for verification.

(4) While The Citizen generally tries to publish letters as written, editing is sometimes necessary and is done at the discretion of the editorial department staff.

(5) Letters and commentaries are reviewed for legal issues such as libel and privacy rights. These will be brought to readers' attention when possible.

(6) Letters and commentaries should be civil, in good taste and avoid name-calling. Finally, another way to get letters to The Citizen is by e-mail: letters@citizen.com. For those who use the U.S. Postal Service: The Citizen, Letters to the Editor, 171 Fair St., Laconia, NH 03246.

Name: (Required - We need your full name in order to publish your letter)

E-mail: (Required - We need to be able to verify any information contained in your letter)

Telephone: (Required - We need to be able to verify any information contained in your letter)

Community: (Required - Please list the town/city in which you reside)