Our letters policy and liable

by Ken Johnston

It seems that Mr. Mike Baranowski of Nestor Falls has taken to personally judging the editorial policies of the Record, the Fort Frances Times and the Westend Weekly. He took a swipe at the Record and Times last week in a letter that he wrote and had published in the Weekly.
Mr. Baranowski has written a column for the Fort Frances Times in the past. On occasion he sends it to the Record as well; some times as his column and sometimes as a letter to the editor.
Generally letters to the editor are to the editor of one paper, not three different ones.
Recently Mr. Baranowski wrote a letter in response to a letter that was never seen by our readers as it was not sent to the Record. Hence I chose not publish his.
A couple of weeks ago he sent us his column, which he said was part one of a two part series. In addition to not having verification of the facts in the column, I was also not willing to gamble that we would see the second part of the column as its appearance on our fax machine was spotty at best in the past.
Mr. Baranowski wrote us a letter again this week criticizing the policy of the Times for editing another letter writer’s letter that rebutted one of his letters/columns. He is of the belief that whatever he puts in the letter makes only him liable for slander. However, that is incorrect.
If the Record or any other newspaper publishes a letter containing liable there are three parties that can be held responsible. The letter writer, the editor and the publisher of the paper.
Our letter’s to the editor policy is clearly stated on the left of this page.
As for the editorial possibilities of the two other papers in question, I can not comment.
–Until then,
Ken