Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Qs for the local paper's publisher

(Sat. eve update: not unrelated, see Doug McGill (aka Localman) on The Coffee Shop Warriors of Minnesota-Somalia)

Friday afternoon updates -
that's funny... a comment I'd posted to Jeff's column Wed.* eve, suggesting that people with questions come here and add them, doesn't seem to be up over there. I've just now asked Kady, over in her comments (it'll likely be #4, if it gets approved); am hoping she will find out and reply.
It'd seem to me that if your paper is already widely viewed with distrust, silently deep-sixing comments would be unwise.

And no answers from Jeff, when I emailed these questions to him.

Any guesses as to who wrote this?:
Speaking of empathy ... we need more of it from our leaders today. One of my Christmas gifts was a book titled "The Power of Servant Leadership." Inside are some characteristics of a servant leader (whether it's a CEO, or politician) that include the ability to listen, empathize, heal, be aware, persuade, conceptualize, have foresight, practice good stewardship, and be committed to the growth of the people and building of community.*

[edit]
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The Union Publisher Jeff Ackerman's latest column (akin to Feb 28's) drew plenty of comments (including someone's analysis of that column's logic); this comment's from me:
Jeff, glad to see you care about this issue. Does this mean you'll be willing to engage in dialog on it?
Please reply (here in [The Union's] comments is fine)-
Anna Haynes (ncfocus.blogspot.com)
('dialog' meaning discussion, asking and answering questions in good faith, not serial monologues or paintball-fight interactions)

Response from Jeff: none so far.

So I figured it's time to collect some questions for him, and post them here, and drop him a line requesting answers. Feel free to submit yours in the comments, if any come to mind.

So, Jeff Ackerman, publisher of western Nevada County's newspaper -
  • should community leaders involve themselves in community discourse?
  • is it ok if they limit their involvement to one-way broadcasts, or should they engage in dialogue?
  • should their commentary be respectful of others, or should it caricature and belittle them?
  • is the publisher of a regional newspaper, by definition, a community leader?
  • does a community leader have a responsibility to reply to questions posed respectfully?

Thank you for your time.

Anna Haynes
at

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous3/23/2006 8:03 PM

    LOL. You might be better off if these were themselves respectful questions.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anna Haynes3/24/2006 12:20 PM

    They're not?

    (if you can tell me in what way they're disrespectful, I would be grateful)

    Also - please pick a psuedonym to use when you're here, "anonymous" is so...unimaginative. Dull.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anna Haynes3/25/2006 6:43 PM

    Yeah. more later.
    (testing tweaked page template now)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anna Haynes2/26/2007 5:17 PM

    Max, you made a good point. (resultant Ramirez/Klein piece was posted here)

    ReplyDelete

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