Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1992-08-26, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26,1992. The Other Side Letters By Keith Roulston There's no easy way out on some editor’s decisions One thing you learn quickly when you become an editor of a community newspaper, you're going to have somebody mad at you most of the time no matter what you do. You know that every decision you make is going to get someone angry: pick this club's meeting over that club's meeting to fill that little bit of space you have left and you're going to have most of the members of the left-out club upset. But that's nothing besides the more difficult decisions on how things should be covered in which one part of the population is bound to come down on one side of an issue, the rest on the other. Take court coverage for instance. The easiest decision an editor can make is not to cover court at all. It saves you work, and it saves you Festival’s 1993 vouchers on sale Due to our audience's response to the tough economic times the Bly th Festival is now offering the 1993 voucher packages at a reduced price. For a limited time only (’til September 12, 1992) the 1993 Voucher Packages are on sale for only $44.00 — the lowest price since 1990. Already announced to open the 1993 season is The Blyth & District Community Play, currently in progress. This project is a theatre event which is about and by the people of our area. Last Christmas we organized A Village Christmas pageant and the Yuletide Yodel that garnered lots of community spirit and proved that there is an amazing wealth of talent and commitment to a community event. Our hope is that the Blyth and District Community Play will serve to build on this existing spirit and provide a stronger link between the local rural community and the Blyth Festival and its audience. Get your vouchers today so that you too will become a part of this unique adventure. You won’t want to miss it! ...... because of its special mandate, the theatre deservedly enjoys a national profile, mainly through its development of the original works that often find continued life elsewhere." Vit Wagner, The Toronto Star Get your vouchers today and don't miss next season's new Canadian plays and their debut on the Blyth Festival stages. aggravation. However, even if your conscience let's you away with not doing part of your job, you're sometimes confronted with cases you can't turn away from, such as the Brussels Stockyard fraud case a couple of years back. You con­ science then says, why should I cover this case and write about the conviction when all those other cases go uncovered. At the Citizen we made a decision nearly five years ago that if one case was to get covered, all cases dealt with by our local court should be reported... even members of our own families if necessary. Some people are delighted with this, others think it’s cheap sensa­ tionalism. Sometimes a person's position depends on whether they know someone involved. Anything involving sexual crimes is particularly controversial. There was a sexual assault case a couple of years ago that had the editor's phone ringing off the hook, even at home, and had people can­ celling subscriptions. Most of the callers were concerned about reporting what the man had done, and the hurt it would bring on his family. But friends of the victim in the case were just as adamant the case should be reported. They wanted to buy an advertisement to expose the man and his actions...even before the courts had convicted him. Generally people like to see criminal activity uncovered, unless they know the convicted person and his or her family. Reporting on local politics is another no-win situation. Some people truly believe in the power of the press and think that a newspa­ per should be able to right all wrongs. If the local council is doing something the reader thinks is wrong, they feel that the newspa­ per editor should immediately be able to turn that decision around with a few words in the paper. The newspaper is supposed to expose all the wrong-doings of council, even those that don't take place in an open meeting. The newspaper is expected to employ the same kind of investigative reporting tenacity that Woodward and Bernstein used to break the Watergate story, but not to miss covering the local pee wee hockey game. But then there are those who don't like to read about controver­ sy. They see a controversy about something that's happening in local politics as something that makes their community look bad. If the newspaper would only ignore it, perhaps it would go away. If the newspaper would only report good, positive things, then everybody would behave the way they were supposed to. In their view, if Woodward and Bernstein had just written positive stories about the local hospital, the U.S. would never have had to face the terrible news of having to have a president exposed as a crook. These kinds of decisions are the ones an editor has to make every­ day. All an editor can do is try to define a set of principles and stick by them. Still its easier said than done and if you see a weary look on the face of a newspaper editor some days, it may be one of those days she or he just couldn't win for losing. THE EDITOR, It is a sad situation when people think that private property can be used as a dump. It would seem that somebody must have been misdirected to the Township dump, or could not follow directions given. On two occasions recently, we have been “blessed” with two bags of garbage, one of which was full of baby diapers, and also a large assortment of personal and household trash, which was deposited on a laneway leading to our property. Those are not isolated incidents, as we have discovered several other unwanted articles on our property during the eight years we have lived here. Most villages have garbage pickup and all townships have dumps. I see no need for anyone to carry their garbage to private property in order to gel rid of it. We are environmentally conscious landowners, constantly trying to improve our surroundings, and certainly do not want other people's rubbish. In future when the pcrson(s) concerned have excess garbage, I would suggest they get clear directions to their local dump and follow them correctly, without a detour to our property, or anyone else's. Renee and Lome Snell RR 1, Clinton THE EDITOR, I have just returned from my third week-end at the Blyth Festival and I must say how very much I have enjoyed the quality of the plays this year as well as a number of wonderful events such as “A Journey Through Listowel” and “Ozone on Down”. I was very sorry to miss the Japanese company and the Native Theatre School. The variety and scope of this kind of programming is astonishing and, as Continued on page 7 Panasonic Word Processors Personal Word Processor with 32,000 Character Text Memory, 3.5-inch Floppy Disk Drive, Letter Quality Daisywheei^^*«8®^j^^^^J|F Portable Electronic Typewriter with Accu-Speil Plus™, 10,000 Character Text Memory, 30 Character plus Counter LCD Display, Auto Column Function, Address List and Computer l/F Capability •Built-in Accu-Spell Plus™ corrects spelling with approx. 63,000 word dictionary plus user dictionary (approx. 120 words) *10,000 character text memory with 20 phrase storage Letter Quality Daisywheel jsF Portable Electronic Typewnter with 1,400 Character Text Memory, Quick-Erase and Automatic Functions •Built-in Ac~u-Spell™ checks spelling with approx. 86,000 word dictionary JBF Letter Quality Daisywheel - Portable Electronic Typewriter with Accu-Spell Letter Quality Daisywheel . Portable Electronic Typewriter with 3,300 Character Text Memory, Quick-Erase and Automatic Functions •3,300 character text memory KX-W900 Letter Quality Daisywheel Portable Electronic . .. Typewriter with 7,000 Character Text Memory. 15 Character plus 7 Guidance LCD Computer l/F Capability •7,000 character text memory •Built-in Accu-Spell™ checks spelling with approx. 86,000 word dictionary »1 5 character plus 7 Guidance LCD Plus™, 24,000 Character Text Memory', 40 Character by 4 line LCD Display, Auto Column, Address List, Computer l/F Capability and 3 line Correction Memory •Built-in Accu-Spell Plus™ corrects spelling with approx. 63,000 word dictionary plus user dictionary (approx. 120 words) 80 character by 7 line LCD Display, Auto Column Plus, Mail Merge/Mail List, Address List, Accu-Spell Plus™ and Thesarus •Built-in Accu-Spell Plus™ corrects spelling with approx. 63,000 word dictionary plus user dictionary (approx. 120 words) *45,000 word Thesaurus Invites you to attend their... BEGINNERS' WORKSHOP Speakers Louise Hope - Ken Young Saturday, September 19th Hensall United Church, 76 King St. 9:00 a m. - 4:30 p.m. Registration $15.°° before Sept. 11/92 $18.°° at the door Information Phone 235-0523 ) FRENCH DICTIONARIES AVALABLE GRAYHURST BUSINESS SUPPLIES LTD. 38 EAST STREET, GODERICH 524-2647 .mamiLXEoouA:LA.Ai -A iA A A.-A.