I have enjoyed every of one editor Bruce Collier's editorials, but this week's deserved to be shared far and wide. We have been discussing the importance of supporting and participating in our local community, and the news plays a part. This editorial gives you an insight of how the local newspaper is part of the community and how you can participate- and once again I am reminded how lucky we are to have a news source dedicated to all of Walton County.
Editorial comment
Intents and Purposes
By BRUCE COLLIER
Whether you subscribe to the belief that 2010 is the beginning of a new decade or the last year of the old decade, we all agree that it's a new year. And it's coming in like a frozen lion.
Last year we saw our county government scrape, clip, slash and cut as they eliminated $11 million in expenditures for FY 2009-2010, right down to the employees' coffee and bottled water. Property values may continue to decline, taking their tax revenues with them, but that's as may be, and we can only watch and wait. And start looking for more things to cut.
Here at the Herald Breeze, it's busy, mainly because it's a Tuesday and we are putting the paper together for the week. Tomorrow things will slow down a bit as far as production activity, but we use that time to take a look ahead to Jan. 14.
This is a weekly, so the word "scoop" doesn't get a lot of use. If it happens after we go to press on Tuesday evening - I don't care if Walton County slips into the Gulf and floats off to Mexico - you will have to wait until next week to read about it here. While this may deprive our readers of that sharp first bite of a juicy scandal, we can, and do, offer more considered and evenhanded coverage of local issues, scandals included. What we prefer not to do is hurl dirt in your face with a story, then relegate it to the back section when that dirt turns out to be not so dirty, or if there is actually another side to the story. You can go elsewhere for that, and you won't have to go far. I have learned that there are more than two sides to any story, sometimes half a dozen. We try to get the facts, even at the cost of the drama. You want drama, go see a movie. You want fiction, watch reality TV, which is just like regular TV, only with lousy acting.
Our publisher Gary Woodham, our assistant editor Alicia Leonard and I meet with the reporters every Wednesday morning, to discuss the week's edition and stories for next week. I have been compiling a list of clubs, service organizations, charitable groups, government entities, arts and literary associations, writers clubs, historical societies, and whatnot in an effort to gauge just how in the Sam Hill we can cover all that will be going on in Walton County in 2010. We are all working hard to keep up, and we have been able to cover the government stuff - county commission, city councils and various administrative boards, along with some court cases of interest, but there's no way we can make it to every club or society meeting or community event. For that, we need you.
News subjects we will be looking to cover this year include the effect of the reduced budget on county services of all kinds, the economy's effect on crime and property values, the fluctuating state of the arts here, tourism and quality of life. And never forget that ever-present, always entertaining struggle between development and leaving things as (we like to think) they were.
Some of the area's organizations have had a long-standing practice of sending us, by e-mail or fax, public service announcements, notices of meetings, and even after-the-fact photos of significant events. To them I say, keep it up. If you are not doing that, and you have something you'd like a little coverage for, give us some advance notice. We will try to get someone there, but if we can't, then we will be happy to consider what you send to us.
Also, we've received some interesting and thought-provoking letters over the past year, but some don't have so much as a telephone number on them, so we have no way of getting in touch with the writer to let them know there's a problem. If you want to send a letter to the editor, remember, we do not publish letters that are unsigned, or that bear vague names like "Concerned Citizen" or "Walton County Resident." We need your real name and your city or community (not street address), otherwise it goes into the File of Mystery. And there it stays.
Happy New Year, and long live local news.
reprinted by permission of the DeFuniak Herald
Editorial comment
Intents and Purposes
By BRUCE COLLIER
Whether you subscribe to the belief that 2010 is the beginning of a new decade or the last year of the old decade, we all agree that it's a new year. And it's coming in like a frozen lion.
Last year we saw our county government scrape, clip, slash and cut as they eliminated $11 million in expenditures for FY 2009-2010, right down to the employees' coffee and bottled water. Property values may continue to decline, taking their tax revenues with them, but that's as may be, and we can only watch and wait. And start looking for more things to cut.
Here at the Herald Breeze, it's busy, mainly because it's a Tuesday and we are putting the paper together for the week. Tomorrow things will slow down a bit as far as production activity, but we use that time to take a look ahead to Jan. 14.
This is a weekly, so the word "scoop" doesn't get a lot of use. If it happens after we go to press on Tuesday evening - I don't care if Walton County slips into the Gulf and floats off to Mexico - you will have to wait until next week to read about it here. While this may deprive our readers of that sharp first bite of a juicy scandal, we can, and do, offer more considered and evenhanded coverage of local issues, scandals included. What we prefer not to do is hurl dirt in your face with a story, then relegate it to the back section when that dirt turns out to be not so dirty, or if there is actually another side to the story. You can go elsewhere for that, and you won't have to go far. I have learned that there are more than two sides to any story, sometimes half a dozen. We try to get the facts, even at the cost of the drama. You want drama, go see a movie. You want fiction, watch reality TV, which is just like regular TV, only with lousy acting.
Our publisher Gary Woodham, our assistant editor Alicia Leonard and I meet with the reporters every Wednesday morning, to discuss the week's edition and stories for next week. I have been compiling a list of clubs, service organizations, charitable groups, government entities, arts and literary associations, writers clubs, historical societies, and whatnot in an effort to gauge just how in the Sam Hill we can cover all that will be going on in Walton County in 2010. We are all working hard to keep up, and we have been able to cover the government stuff - county commission, city councils and various administrative boards, along with some court cases of interest, but there's no way we can make it to every club or society meeting or community event. For that, we need you.
News subjects we will be looking to cover this year include the effect of the reduced budget on county services of all kinds, the economy's effect on crime and property values, the fluctuating state of the arts here, tourism and quality of life. And never forget that ever-present, always entertaining struggle between development and leaving things as (we like to think) they were.
Some of the area's organizations have had a long-standing practice of sending us, by e-mail or fax, public service announcements, notices of meetings, and even after-the-fact photos of significant events. To them I say, keep it up. If you are not doing that, and you have something you'd like a little coverage for, give us some advance notice. We will try to get someone there, but if we can't, then we will be happy to consider what you send to us.
Also, we've received some interesting and thought-provoking letters over the past year, but some don't have so much as a telephone number on them, so we have no way of getting in touch with the writer to let them know there's a problem. If you want to send a letter to the editor, remember, we do not publish letters that are unsigned, or that bear vague names like "Concerned Citizen" or "Walton County Resident." We need your real name and your city or community (not street address), otherwise it goes into the File of Mystery. And there it stays.
Happy New Year, and long live local news.
reprinted by permission of the DeFuniak Herald
