Opening our doors
A print version of this blog made its debut in The Sun this morning. Loved the headline: "Opening the doors to a paper's inner sanctum." The truth is we tend to take for granted what we do and assume that the community feels comfortable coming to us at any point. In fact, as we're reminded on occasion, there is a pervasive sense of mystery surrounding the newspaper and decisions we make regarding news coverage and, in particular, our editorial positions. It's what I love about this blog and our ability to interact with you on a whole new level.
Here's an anecdote from recently to illustrate my point. About two weeks ago, Mayor Pat Morris and some members of his team came by for an editorial board meeting, and started off by saying they wish they'd had the opportunity to talk to us before our most recent editorial had taken them to task regarding their handling of Operation Phoenix. In our mind, they had that opportunity all along, and yet, clearly, they felt we should have reached out to them.
The hope is that as a community and a newspaper, we can break through those kinds of barriers - real or perceived. If you've got a story to tell, tell us. If you would like to schedule an editorial board meeting, we'd love to hear from you. My email is: steve.lambert@inlandnewspapers.com. Editorial board meetings are arranged by our assistant editorial page editor, Jessica Keating (jessica.keating@inlandnewspapers.com).
Comments
I found your blog about a week ago and could see it was different. I put it on my blogroll and I've already received comments from my readers about how they enjoy your blog. It seems from what I can tell you definitely have the "blogging bug" already.
I appreciate the fact that the Sun doesn't take my links down when I write comments on your stories like a certain other newspaper and I can see some of my readers have already been making comments over here.
I wish you success.
Posted by: Sharon Gilbert | July 30, 2008 1:53 PM
Thanks Sharon. I appreciate the comments. Voices need to be heard, and I hope people feel comfortable posting here.
Posted by: Steve Lambert | July 30, 2008 2:18 PM
Mr. Lambert;
Thank you for your part in establishing the Blog System of the SB SUN Newspaper. It has open doors for individuals who feel compelled to share their opinions and voice their concerns. Yes, it is in competition to Voice of the People and I am sure that is really not what you intended but they are two separate and different mediums of communication. None the less, it is there and it is being used and more importantly it is being read. Perhaps there is a way to tell the readers how often each article and/or comment has been read.
This is also a great way to break a news worthy story without waiting for the Sun to be thrown into the morning sprinklers. As it says, we read it first in the Blog. There are a couple of newshounds who lately have been kept very busy with the City’s Operation Phoenix (OP) crash as well as the responsible city managers and their game of hot potato. Politics in SB has for many years been very controversial at best and the team of Rogers and Edwards compliment one another with their interpretation of the news and its presentation to the readers. The saga of OP is far from over and these reporters are doing outstanding reporting. I know this is very hard when the Mayor and his immediate team look to the SUN for suttle endorsements or an effective tool to communicate their view of an issue that has made the news (example OP). Sadly it appears that many of the voters are not too pleased with this current leadership and the way these leaders have had to be forced into accepting responsibility for their inactions or actions be that as they may. The BLOGs are working to get the news out and to cry foul when inconsistencies cloud the truth. Open honest journalism today is hard to find and harder to believe because it is so rare.
The SUN has a winner with their BLOGs, keep them available for all as they are now. As word spreads and the readers learn to access them and use them they will only get better. They are exciting for many and read first as the SUN comes up (the road).
Posted by: R.M. Edwards | July 30, 2008 5:48 PM