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Once upon a time more than 20 years ago, I was named editor of the TimesDaily in Florence, Ala. My first day on the job, I found a three-page letter on the fax machine written by a fellow named Frank Powell, who had all kinds of things to say about the local newspaper.
The TimesDaily couldn’t spell to start with, proper punctation was optional, and our subjects and verbs were not always in agreement. We dangled participles and split infinitives. We used inactive verbs and non-descriptive adjectives. We chose bad subjects for stories and then wrote them poorly. And don’t even get him started on the editorial board’s opinions.
For a moment, I started to wonder what kind of desolate journalism island I had shipwrecked on.
“That’s just Frank,” folks in the office said. “He’s been faxing us those things every Monday morning for years.”
“Has anybody bothered to ask him, ‘Why?’ ” I replied.
No one had, because they thought Frank hated everybody and everything, and didn’t want to personally get targeted in his sights. But since Frank never used threatening language – and I had to admit that at least some of his criticism was just – I gave him a call.
We talked for a half-hour the first time, almost an hour the next. Turned out Frank was an interesting guy who had lived a pretty neat life, which I wrote about. He was mostly just poking fun at the local newspaper – a tradition all its own – and his only real disappointment was feeling like his voice, and the voice of people like him, weren’t featured enough in the daily news.
After surveying our readers, we made some changes. One was adding a weekly page for seniors. Another was adding a weekly page for veterans. We also added another layer of editing for all locally written articles.
Lo and behold, Frank’s Monday morning missives became dramatically shorter, less about what got messed up and more along the lines of, “I like what you did there.” I used that example several years ago at the Cherokee Scout, when we surveyed our readers in-depth before making content, coverage and design improvements.
The simple truth I learned from talking with Frank is it’s really easy for sometimes wild misperceptions to form about the newspaper – and its readers – that just aren’t true. But all it took to erase some of those misperceptions was a phone call or two.
In smaller towns, where people tend to take things more personally than in urban areas, they also tend to talk with their neighbors a lot more. As a result, misinformation can get passed around about people and businesses that is hurtful and unfair to everyone involved. Our goal is to help unite people, not drive them further apart.
Please know that the front door of the Scout office in downtown Murphy is open from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and you are welcome to call or stop by anytime (though we are under more of a deadline crunch on Mondays and Tuesdays). My phone number, email address and Twitter handle are at the bottom of this column (and I really will get back in touch with you); or feel free to send me a message on Facebook if that’s your preferred medium.
I don’t screen my calls nor who drops by just to say, “Hi.” I’m always happy to meet new people in town, get to know other folks better and answer any questions you may have about the Scout. A local newspaper should be a reflection of the community it serves, and that reflection looks the most accurate when residents are engaged every week.
Think of a newspaper as an investment. People decide weekly whether to invest their money and time with us as readers and advertisers, and we want that investment to pay off. The best way to do that is to hear from as many voices as possible in our community in order to make sure the Scout is reflecting all of the things people need to know in Cherokee County. Thanks for reading.
David Brown is publisher of the Cherokee Scout. You can reach him by phone, 837-5122; email, dbrown@cherokeescout.com; or on Twitter @daviddBstroh.