Letter to the Editor
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I was shocked to see that the Memphis Democrat published the Letter to the Editor in the August 21, 2025 edition of the newspaper. While “public figures” such as hospital CEOs are afforded less protection in the media, in my opinion, this reads as a personal attack, and I believe it crossed the line of what is acceptable. Constituents absolutely have the right to question decisions made by leaders, but where is the newsworthiness of this missive? What crucial public concerns are being addressed?
Considering the premise that 90% of press releases submitted to the local paper are promoting the submitter, does this situation truly warrant a letter to the editor suggesting the nominator not the nominee deserves the accolades? If that is the author’s issue, why single out the hospital CEO? Was there not similar outrage sparked by the front-page article a few weeks ago about the NEMOnews Media Group’s comparable award from a trade association, which it most likely nominated itself for?
Is the letter trying to suggest the CEO isn’t worthy of the award because of the school from where her degree was earned? Is the author just miffed about the fact that the CEO earned the MBA degree, at the behest of the hospital and on the organization’s dollar in order for the small, rural hospital to have an internal candidate in a job market that doesn’t traditionally generate significant applicant pools? The letter appears to have missed the opportunity to further chastise the CEO for completing the schooling while working full-time as the director of the highly successful physical therapy department, not to mention raising a family and being active in the community. How dare she work hard to become qualified! What a miserable person she is to take on all of the responsibility and the stress of stepping up to lead the most critical economic driver in our entire community, not at a high point, but in times of extreme financial hardship not of her own making.
I believe most publications would not have run this thinly veiled attempt at character assassination with the author’s signature yet somehow this correspondence made it into print in the Memphis Democrat without any attribution. It turns out it was an editing error by the newspaper, but it only compounded the impact of the mistake of publishing the letter in the first place. If the letter had been signed, chances are people would have just chalked it up to a baseless personal attack by an author that doesn’t even live in this community and has previously supported the negative narrative surrounding the administration change at the hospital. The omitted signature instead captured the community’s interest and drew much more attention to the letter than it should have warranted, leaving the community guessing about who would have authored such a negative note.
It’s ironic that in this very same issue of the newspaper on page 8 there is a newspaper advertisement that states “Local Journalism Helps Protect Our Community. Your support helps protect local journalism – Subscribe Now!” What part of publishing pointless personal attacks is helping protect our community? We already live in times when fewer and fewer candidates are answering the call to serve the community, so such letters to the editor are just adding to the list of reasons not to serve and that leaves our community vulnerable, not protected.
I fully understand the weight of responsibility associated with a newspaper’s role as gatekeeper, making decisions that are not always easy about what content to allow within its pages. I know for a fact that I made my fair share of mistakes about what should or shouldn’t be published. I also authored editorial content that I am sure was read as personal affronts to those involved. We learn from our mistakes. For me, the idea of the letter to the editor section is to share ideas and opposing viewpoints that can foster thought and introspection, debate and maybe even suggestions on how to do better. Criticism can be constructive. Personal attacks are not.
If we want to point out the speck in someone else’s eye, be prepared for the tree limb growing out of our own optic nerve to be revealed in similar fashion. By running the August 21st letter to the editor, I feel like the newspaper is opening the gate to the lower road. I fully expect that my signature at the end of this letter will open me up to hatchets targeting my arboreal warts, but if it takes the unwarranted target off someone else for a while, I think it is a worthy cause. As Dr. Martin Luther King stated, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” As Dr. King’s fellow sophisticate, the cartoon character Popeye’s would say when he was at the end of his rope, “That’s all I can stands, I can’t stands no more.” I mean no ill will toward the letter’s author or the newspaper itself, but remaining silent seemed like a greater sin.
Chris Feeney
Memphis, MO
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