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Katharine Viner’s long read is excellent in its analysis of the challenges posed by unscrupulous leaders and rampant technology, and in its account of the good work being done by the Guardian (How to survive the information crisis: ‘We once talked about fake news – now reality itself feels fake’, 6 May). But I can’t help thinking that it is preaching to the converted: it is not Guardian readers, but those who might hold very different views, who need to be convinced of the arguments put forward.

Reading the article, I was hoping to hear more about efforts being made to reach out to those unlikely to share the values espoused by the Guardian. How can these values be communicated, for example, to Maga followers or, dare I say, readers of the Daily Mail? Here, a leaf can be taken out of the Guardian’s own “Dining across the divide” feature.

Has the Guardian sought to “dine across the divide” with media propagating very different views, whereby opinion pieces in the Guardian are published in those outlets and the latter have their articles in turn published by the Guardian? And, going further afield, could agreements be made with the media of non-western countries to have Guardian pieces relevant to those countries published in local outlets, if necessary translated?
Farrokh Suntook
London

• Katharine Viner gives an excellent review of the information crisis, but rather than fighting for a shared reality, as she suggests in conclusion, my ambition is to share and respect multiple realities. It has been challenging, but also rewarding in the way that it opens up avenues for engagement and learning that get blocked if we try to assert the supremacy of our own reality.

Many recent elections have delivered unwelcome messages, and there is a regrettable tendency to respond by rejecting the message and those who send it. There is an urge to fight and defeat an opponent. But these are not opponents; they are our neighbours. There is a need for radical change. The biosphere, our life support system, is also telling us that we can’t go on.

We have to learn to share rather than seeking solutions in new territories, new resources, new technologies, and that might mean listening to people whose values are rooted in their own communities (even if they don’t listen to us).
Martin Juckes
Reading

• What an amazing article by Katharine Viner and what a cri de coeur for a return to sanity, common sense, humanity, face-to-face communication and an ability to discriminate between reality and fabrication.

Yes, there is an affinity between Guardian readers, and one feels drawn towards others who one spies reading it or holding one under their arm. My husband, now nearly 83, has been an avid Guardian reader since his teens in Oldham. During the pandemic it was his daily walk to collect his newspaper, read it and tackle the puzzles that kept his spirits up.

It was during the pandemic that I, having not shown a huge interest before, took to reading the Guardian from front to back, I emphasise that because my husband always reads it from back to front to catch up on the sports news first.

Having only the one paper between us, this often meant the poor man did not get a look in as I tended to become more and more engrossed, often breaking off to write in to the letters page, sometimes up to three times a day. We will continue our loyalty for as long as our faculties allow, unless, of course, delivery can be arranged to the next world.
Jacqueline Simpson
Garforth, West Yorkshire

• Thank you so much for Katharine Viner’s long read, which so eloquently confirms my belief in the Guardian’s journalism and is the reason for my continued monthly subscription – that, and the fact that I feel I’m helping support your vital investigative journalism.

I’m sure that the brain overload caused by 24-hour news and the constant social media background noise is having a detrimental effect on us all. My walk to the village shop each morning to collect my paper, greeting other early risers on the way, confirms the value of community and the importance of personal interaction.

I’m retired and am hoping that the gradually increasing monthly cost won’t eventually force me to go online for my daily fix – it just wouldn’t be the same. Thank you and best wishes to the entire Guardian team – keep up the good work.
Lesley Povey
Trowbridge, Wiltshire

• There are few newspapers where the business model encourages readers to challenge the editor-in-chief. My quibble is not with the overall picture that Katharine Viner paints, which I applaud, but with the assertion that Jeff Bezos is “worth more than $220bn”. While it is true that he has accumulated wealth that exceeds that figure, he is not worth it, nor has he earned it. His human value is no greater than an Amazon warehouse worker or delivery driver.

Neither the planet nor her people can afford billionaires. The worth of the planet is inestimable, the worth of every human being equal. Worth matters; words matter. Can we subvert rapacious capitalism not only with progressive legislation, but also with the words we employ on a day-to-day basis?
Rob Pearce
Dorset Equality Group

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