This archive report was first published on 6 September 2019.
On July 27, Esther Muiruri sent a letter to the editor, but what was published on July 30 was a distorted version of her original letter, containing glaring errors that did not originate from her end.
Ms Muiruri's experience is not an isolated incident. On December 21, 2016, she sent a letter that was published on December 23 with a crucial error - the words 'well into its third week' were changed to 'is into its fifth week', which was easily verifiable through press reports.
Ms Muiruri has decided that it's probably not worth writing letters if what's going to be published is distorted and has errors introduced into it. She says it's exasperating to have such sloppy editing in one's letter and one has no way of correcting it.
As a writer, Ms Muiruri believes that editors have a right to edit letters for clarity and brevity, but not to 'butcher' them, which means cutting up copy without due regard to its original meaning and message.
Letter writers should be allowed to have their say without distortion, errors, or inaccuracies introduced by the editor. The whole purpose of the letters to the Editor is to give readers a forum to express their views freely.
