Last week, a Letter to the Editor was submitted that questioned the tactics used by Klamath Falls News regarding COVID and Letters to the Editor, stating that, “KFN should refrain from immersing the readers daily in Covid Obsessions.” The letter continues asking for KFN to change what is reported regarding COVID and questions additional publishing tactics.

Below is a copy of the letter and my response:

“KFN should refrain from immersing the readers daily in Covid Obsessions . The newspaper’s banner is beginning to look like it says “COVID COUNTY NEWS”. Please, no more virus imagery !

The people are over saturated and now numb with the never ending covid crap. People are not interested in obsessing on covid...especially from your source, a hometown paper .Why are so extremely few letters to the editor on display

Why is covid obsession the Only story so much of the daily publication ? Please consider some modifications. Thank you.”

— Thom Mitc, Van Ness, Klamath Falls, OR

I first would like to thank Mr. Mitc for sending in his Letter to the Editor. Like Mr. Mitc, anyone can send in a letter for consideration at klamathfallsnews.org/submit-letters. More on that below.

I also wish to address the questions and issues raised in the letter by Mr. Mitc, below is my response.

COVID Obsessions

When it comes to COVID-19 I decided early on in the pandemic that Klamath Falls News would report only the official data from the Klamath County Health Department and the State of Oregon. Even though I understand that there is much more official data out there including from the CDC, and WHO. I will explain.

Under my helm, KFN always has been, and always will be a local news brand. KFN is here to cover the Klamath Basin specifically. Yes, I agree there is important national news to consider – but that is not in the KFN wheelhouse – I will leave that coverage to larger news organizations as KFN is focused on the Klamath Basin.

With all that said, please remember that KFN is the product of just one man. Those bigger news organizations have employed a large number of people to easily monitor and report national and worldly news.

KFN is not meant to be your end-all-be-all central news source, but rather as a complement to all news sources. Allowing the reader to take in and decide what is important to them.

There are days where broader local news coverage is light. Yet daily, KFN receives and reports information from County Health and State Health officials. On those days of light news, it may look like KFN has “COVID Obsessions;” when in fact not much, if any, additional news was available for publication on that given date.

Or, it may just be possible that this one-man news brand who works tirelessly to bring the Basin news, took a day off.

Virus imagery

Virus imagery? I will have to ask Mr. Mitc for clarity on this. Are you referring to the graphics associated with the local case counts? If so, I use the same cover image each time so that they are easier to find for those specifically looking for them.

Oversaturation and numbness

As for oversaturated and numbness and people not being interested – I would agree many out there are tired of seeing stories, reports, and COVID case numbers daily (I, too, often grow tired of seeing them myself). With that said, there are equally as many readers who not only wish to see information but demand to read information regularly.

Hometown paper

Technically we are not a “paper” that is the other guys up on the hill. However Mr. Mitc, you are correct in that we are a small hometown news brand that offers news via our website, KlamathFallsNews.org, and our social media channels (i.e. Facebook and Twitter).

Here at KFN, we are proud of our roots that date back over 100-years here in the Basin. Our origins include the Pioneer Press, Lost River Star, and Butte Valley Star to name a few.

So few Letters to the Editor

Frankly, we do not receive many submissions. Of the ones submitted not all are fit for publication due to grammatical issues, context, or merely adding nothing more to society than a Facebook rant. In addition, KFN does not guarantee any letters submitted will be published.

However, writers of Letters to the Editor should not be discouraged by this. As described on our Letters to the Editor page anyone can submit at any time. I just ask the author to make sure the letter is grammatically correct, coherent, and to the point.

A Letter to the Editor can be written by anyone who wants to share an opinion with others who read Klamath Falls News. Kept to a maximum of 350 words, such letters can be written for a variety of reasons, including supporting, refuting or otherwise expressing an emotion about a current topic, influence public opinion, educate others, try to gain volunteers for a cause, or appeal to elected officials on a political issue.

Again, I thank Mr. Mitc for his letter last week and I appreciate his comments and feedback. If you wish to submit a Letter to the Editor you may do so at klamathfallsnews.org/submit-letters, if you wish to provide general feedback to KFN you may do so through our Contact page.

Brian Gailey
Publisher, Klamath Falls News

This editorial has not been endorsed or otherwise paid by any party. It has not been reviewed by any party prior to posting. The opinion is strictly that of the Klamath Falls News Publisher, Brian Gailey.