|
Soapbox Philosophy: 10 years later: Keep correcting me
Op-Ed · July 13, 2017
The first two words in this editor’s first column exactly 10 years ago in the West Branch Times: “Correct me.”
I’m human. I make mistakes.
So, you, the readers, did.
Sometimes, the mistakes were minor. Sometimes not. Some of the mistakes came from sources, some from stringers. But most were mine.
I can’t tell you how many times I hung up the phone, or finished reading an e-mail, and found myself shaking my head at how I raised the bar on personal dim-wittedness when it dawned on me that I’d relied too much on memory, or skimmed when I should have read carefully, or relied on a person when I should have verified on paper.
Back in 1995, I, as a reporter, probably laughed a bit harder than the rest of the audience at this exchange in the movie, “Goldeneye”:
James Bond: Are these pictures live?
M: Unlike the Americans, we prefer not to get our bad news from CNN.
Some may remember that CNN around that time discovered some important intelligence information that blindsided the American government during one of the Middle East conflicts. It was a high point for the media industry, clearly showing that journalism can, when done right, provide a great service to readers and viewers, and that some of those readers and viewers are members of our government intelligence agencies.
Today, though, journalists are trying to put a bit of distance between themselves and CNN, especially after a series of public relations gaffes: undercover videos of CNN staff, a story retraction that forced out three reporters and poorly handling a story following a GIF showing President Trump at a wrestling show tackling a CNN logo superimposed over a guy’s head.
The news business changed with cable TV and changed again with the internet and changed yet again with smart phones. Everyday people are snapping pictures and videos of news and posting it online, flooding the world with information.
This makes it even more important that established media outlets do their jobs well or see themselves brushed aside. The pressure on news outlets is even greater than before, so in that sense I understand CNN’s burden to produce something that rises above the ever-increasing crowd. Yet in doing so, they forgot a couple of journalism’s core principals, and that is going to hurt them.
In the past decade, the West Branch Times added Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat in an effort to reach readers and viewers with the ways they prefer to get the news. Yet we’ve tried hard to stick to the core principles of journalism, putting the news in the news section, the sports in the sports section, the opinions on the opinions section and so on.
A lot of things have changed in my 10 years here:
• Every church pastor has moved on to another congregation or retired.
• The city administrator, school superintendent, Main Street West Branch/West Branch Community Development Group director, Hoover Park superintendent, Hoover Association/Foundation director and Hoover Library-Museum director all saw turnover.
• Every member of the West Branch City Council and West Branch Board of Education — except one — has been replaced. The one who remains on the school board, Mike Owen, recently announced he will not run for re-election.
• And, other than myself, our local newspaper staff is entirely different.
In that original column from 2007, I asked the readers to drop me a line when I make a mistake. That has not changed.
By the way, Mike Owen once co-owned the Times with wife Deb. That one remaining school board member from 10 years ago is also one of those folks who has called in many of those corrections. (Thanks, Mike!)
Here’s another thing that has not changed: I still get upset with myself when I screw up.
But that’s not your problem. That’s mine.
Please keep sending us a heads-up when we make a mistake. And because of the various social media we use, now you have more ways to do it.
Correct me.
Gregory R. Norfleet is the editor of the West Branch Times. You may reach him at gregory@westbranchtimes.com or 319-643-2131.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
