We run brown-bag forums on different topics. We have a youth panel, and they direct the course that our youth news takes. It's called 'Youth 2000,' a special emphasis to show that we write FOR kids, and write positive things about them. Scott Luxor, the Camera's deputy managing editor, says it produces from half a dozen to more than 100 online responses. The big numbers pour in on hot-button issues, such as the war between drivers and pedestrians.
Some responses run in the print edition, and all run online.
The Camera doesn't accept telephone responses because transcribing them takes too much staff time, Luxor says. Millard, the senior associate editor, says the Camera runs two-thirds of the 90 to 100 letters it gets each week. They feel it's their First Amendment right. We run critical letters, unless it's a personal attack on a reporter with no facts to back it. The reason, Hartman says, is the advent of email, which makes writing easier, in both directions.