The question has come up, more than once, over why newspapers insist on names and contact details for Letters to the Editor, but do not for texts, or comments to their websites or Facebook pages.
It's not a perfect situation. It reflects the tension of the evolution of the digitalage and how it interacts with traditional media. It boils down to understanding the nature and culture of each of the forums, and accepting the flaws for the reward of encouraging debate and freedom of speech.
The formality of letters is old-fashioned, where those with robust opinions were expected to put their name to them. In return, newspapers byline editorials and reporters byline their work.
Texts are a difficult forum, because they are utterly anonymous. But with only 140 characters, it is an "off-the-cuff" forum with less potential for harm - although we certainly weed out abuse and defamation.
Facebook has far greater scope for comment and risk, because we post-moderate (check the comments after they go up). People appear to be honest about their names. Barring some pseudonyms, the public know who is commenting.
Comments to stories on newspapers' websites are usually the most fraught, because posters use pseudonyms and people do get carried away. Comments are frequently deleted. An engaged public, debating an issue, is a good thing, and a newspaper has the responsibility to provide forums to encourage freedom of speech.
We accept that freedom of speech today comes via a variety of forums and are happy to moderate honest opinion, but not willing to stifle it.
