Letters Policy | BC Free Press letters to the editor policy

Letter to the Editor Policy

The Barron County Free Press welcomes letters from readers across Barron County and surrounding communities, including Rice Lake, Barron, Turtle Lake, Chetek, Cameron, and Cumberland. We value a range of viewpoints and invite readers to share thoughtful opinions and perspectives on issues of public interest.

How to Submit

Submit your letter by one of these methods:

Email: joe@barroncountyfreepress.com. Use “Letter to the Editor” as the subject line.
Online: https://www.barroncountyfreepress.com/contact
Mail: Letter to the Editor, Barron County Free Press, 431 S. Main St. Rice Lake 54868
In person: Drop off your letter at 431 S. Main Street, M-Tu-Thu 8am-3pm.

For the weekly print edition, letters must arrive by 5:00 pm on Monday before the publication date. Late submissions may be considered for a later issue or online publication, but publication is not guaranteed. Letters should be no more than 300 words. We prefer letters submitted exclusively to the Barron County Free Press. Please tell us if you have submitted the same letter to another publication or if it has already appeared elsewhere.

Required Information and Verification

Every submission must include:

Your full name
Your hometown or community
A daytime telephone number
An email address

We use telephone and email details for verification and follow-up; they will not be published. We do not promise that contact information will remain confidential if disclosure is required by law.

We may contact you to confirm that you wrote the letter, clarify information, or request documentation supporting factual claims. We may decline a submission if we cannot verify its author or important factual assertions. Do not submit form letters, mass-campaign letters, or substantially AI-generated boilerplate. You are responsible for the letter’s accuracy and content, including if you used an AI tool to assist with drafting or editing.

Names, Anonymity, and Pseudonyms

Unsigned letters are not accepted. In a limited circumstance, such as a credible fear of retaliation, the editor may consider withholding a writer’s name from publication. The editor decides whether an exception is appropriate. The writer must still provide their full identity and contact information for verification. A pseudonym may be used only if the editor approves it in advance; approval is not guaranteed.

Content Standards

Letters should address matters of public interest and be civil, relevant, and based on the writer’s genuine views. We do not publish letters that contain:

Personal attacks on private individuals
Defamatory statements, obscenity, hate speech, or threats
Unverified factual claims presented as established fact
Material that violates the law or that we otherwise determine is unsuitable for publication

Clearly distinguish opinion from factual claims. Calling a statement an opinion does not make an unsupported factual assertion an opinion. We may ask for documentation or other support for disputed factual claims and may decline a letter if the claims cannot be adequately verified.

Election-Related Letters

Election-related letters must meet all requirements of this policy and arrive no later than 5:00 p.m. on the Friday before the last issue scheduled to appear before the election. We limit each writer to one published letter in any 30-day period. We do not accept coordinated or mass-campaign submissions.

Candidates may submit letters, subject to the same word limit, deadlines, verification, and editorial standards. Candidate letters do not receive guaranteed publication or space. The editor may provide an opportunity for a response to a letter concerning a candidate or campaign, but is not obligated to do so. Political advertising is handled separately under the newspaper’s advertising policies.

Editing and Publication Decisions

We may edit letters for length, clarity, grammar, style, and legal concerns while preserving the writer’s intended substance. We may publish a shortened version without sending it to the writer for advance approval. If we believe an edit would materially change the letter’s meaning, we may contact the writer or decline to publish it.

We reserve the right to decline, edit, postpone, or discontinue publication of any submission. We are not obligated to publish a letter or explain a decision, and submission does not guarantee publication.

Permission to Publish

By submitting a letter, you grant the Barron County Free Press a nonexclusive, royalty-free license to edit, reproduce, publish, distribute, and archive the letter, together with your approved byline and community, in print, online, on social media, and in the newspaper’s archives. This permission does not transfer your ownership of the letter.

Corrections and Complaints

If you believe a published letter contains a factual error, contact the editor at joe@barroncountyfreepress.com or 715-558-5612. Identify the letter and the specific statement at issue, explain why you believe it is incorrect, and provide supporting information when available. The editor will review the request and may correct, clarify, annotate, or otherwise address the matter as appropriate. A request does not guarantee a correction or other particular outcome.

Complaints or legal demands concerning a letter may be referred to the editor, publisher, or legal counsel for review.

Editorial Independence

Letters to the Editor express the views of their writers, not necessarily those of the Barron County Free Press. The opinion section is separate from newsroom reporting. Letters do not direct or influence news coverage, and publication of a letter does not imply that the newspaper endorses its views.

Contact

Letters to the Editor
Barron County Free Press
431 S. Main Street, Rice Lake, WI 54868
joe@barroncountyfreepress.com
715-558-5612