Many newspapers have provided "letters to the editor" page for the public to express their opinion in recent years. Although most of these letters has expressed individual reader ’s opinion of national policies and social events, there has been little responses from the government. Since one of the functions of the press is to bridge the public and government, it is essential to know how the reader views the effectiveness of this page.
In addition to the letters to the editor page in the national edition, some newspapers have provided a local "letters to the editor" column for the public to express local concerns. In the mean time, reporters from local franchise would interview the local official and put both the letters and official responses on the column. So the reader can read both the opinions/questions and responses in the same column. This study has examined the United Daily ’s local "hot-line mail-box" for five months and has traced and telephone-interviewed writers, in order to know how the writer sees the effectiveness of the "letters to the editor" column. Hence the purposes of this study are to explore:
1.What are the demographic characteristics of writers of the "letters to the editor" column? 2.What kinds of relationship between the demographic characteristics of writers of the "letters to the editor" column and their writing behaviors? 3.Do the writers think the officials will solve the questions promptly, once the questions exposed on the press? 4.Does the writers change their attitudes of the press and government before and after the letters published? 5.What do the writers think of the "letter to the editor" column?
The results indicate that about 80% of the writers thought the "letters to editor" column would make a change, but only 39% thought it did after the published of the letter. Furthermore, about 42% writers are not satisfied and very dissatisfied with the government ’s handle of the question, while 21% are satisfied and very satisfied. Nevertheless, about 95% writers think the column is valuable. And finally, among those who are not satisfied and very dissatisfied writers, 55% will show their dissatisfaction in the next election.