In my mind, the issues raised by the Jimmy Kimmel cancellation go beyond the airing of a late-night TV show. As a middle school language arts teacher, I taught my students to always question their sources of information. After seeing how Nexstar micromanaged operations at local stations, perhaps to further their business interests such as the acquisition of Tegna which is now before the FCC, I will have additional questions about the local programming on WDTN. How can I know if limitations have been imposed by Nexstar on the anchors and meteorologists to further the business interests of the stations’ owners? Once trust is lost, regaining that trust is difficult if not impossible.
- Jean Tarr, Dayton
The most difficult thing about gerrymandering is defining it: “I know it when I see it” seems to be most common followed by the cynical “it elects people I oppose.” The simplest definition is that a specific result is required, such as the number of a party’s representatives must proportionally reflect statewide voting totals.
Like a thousand plus others, so far, I have submitted my own Ohio congressional district map to the Ohio Legislature. I did not look at voting patterns nor ethnicity of precincts; my only consideration was community, (i.e., metropolitan cities, suburbs, rural and rural cities) based on the idea that neighbors across a street have common interests and concerns similarly to neighbors across farm fields.
My result was seven districts strong for Republicans, three for Democrats, and five that were competitive (less than 2% difference, but three favoring Dems). No urban city was split, but due to the 786,630 population required for a district, suburbs of Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland were placed in their own districts. Conversely, Dayton and Toledo districts had to be expanded to include nearby rural cities to reach the population threshold.
Lessons learned: the high concentration of democratic voters in urban areas renders achieving balance districts difficult without breaking Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland inner cities into multiple districts. Doing that would lose the community aspect to the representation, thus gerrymandering.
An alternative would be state wide voting for all 15 representatives.
- William Delaney, Beavercreek
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Interested in submitting a letter to the editor? Email your submission to edletter@coxinc.com.
What makes a good Letter to the Editor?
Our Letters to the Editor are generally collected and published once a week, based on the volume and quality of submissions we receive. Letters to the Editor are short, focused submissions that quickly address a single topic. They can run up to 250 words in length.
Letters to the Editor can respond to specific issues in stories we’ve reported, other contributed columns or syndicated columnists. They’re a quick and easy way to add your perspective to the discussion of any topic.
Learn more about how to get involved with our Ideas & Voices section.