CHECKING FOR ASTROTURF: Editor & Publisher is reporting on efforts to sniff out "astroturf," fake letters to the editor. It seems a lot of newspapers are beginning to call letter senders to verify if they actually wrote what they sent in.
This is how we did it at my last newspaper. All letters to the editor had to include name, address and phone number, and the person responsible for screening the letters had to call every person who wrote in. It seems like a pain in the ass, but it weeded out the rare prank letter.
