Our page offering the Audio of Think and Grow Rich has steady traffic of which we are very appreciative.
What brought me back to post?
I have spent this past year helping an old friend, James Strauss (we met and ‘joined forces’ building business in 1970), building his local weekly newspaper publication and digital format, The Geneva Shore Report.
The mission statement of this completely independent and self financed weekly printed newspaper is to encourage local participation in Government, honoring citizens for their contributions and always on the the prowl for Good News and NOT so Good News.
Donation Jar at Daddy Maxwell’s, Lake Geneva, WI.
An article posted the first week of 2016 praised a local business person for their generosity in providing
food and discount for lodging for victims of an apartment fire. She owns a long established Eatery, and also set aside a donation jar on the counter.
The newspaper is on the street on Wednesday mornings, articles written and edited on Tuesdays. The Apartment fire occurred late Saturday night. The Newspaper reporter found about the Restaurant’s charitable actions and wrote a story, praising the owner/manager.
The NEWS Reporter did not have time to track down all parties, victims and recipients and the article was posted. So it was News, presented to the public in a relatively short period of time.
That is where things get a bit crazy.
The letters (comments) on the website and a few calls to the paper were damning the PRESS for not having the facts straight!
EVERY Victim was not a recipient of the generosity and some felt that unfair
and the newspaper did not serve the public correctly with full disclosure.
Some claim was shoddy and misleading reporting of the NEWS.
Of course there are many “definitions out there but here is what comes up first:
1. “I’ve got some good news for you”
If a lot of time is spent investigating all details and every minutiae surrounding a story to insure 100% accuracy
by the time that was gathered, it would NO LONGER BE NEWS.
Here are some of the disparaging letters along with positive notes….
Names removed.
So what I KNOW is this, my MOTHER, and what I can only assume from simple calculations others, was never offered a motel to sleep, gift card to eat, or any small amount of cash to help her through this completely devastating and tramatic event. Also, no one from this website/reporter even talked to my Mother to fact check this story. PLEASE CORRECT THIS. Thanks,
Janette has always been beyond generous of spirit. A truly remarkable woman with a huge heart. Thanks, for publishing this positive article about her.
So when do we start looking at news?
When do we start giving total credence to that which we read and hear under the guise of NEWS?
Do we want NEWS or History, which is usually only the presentation of one person’s interpretation of news.
Wow Diane, I am so sorry for not responding sooner. I though I did.
But never hit the BUTTON.
Opinions are not always the truth……
and sometimes insufficient information is NOT the truth.
So good to hear from you
Thanks for taking your time and addressing this issue.
I hope our fellow citizens take some of these points to heart especially in this year of National elections and NEWS
regarding turmoil and danger globally.
What is NEWS and can it be ‘trusted’
As usual Chuck, you provide your readers with a lot of ‘food for thought.’
Running a newspaper, and coming to that career late in life, has been astonishingly instructive and many times shocking.
The article about Janette and Daddy Maxwell’s generosity in the face of local disaster instructs and also shocks. That there could be any criticism leveled at the reporters for not discovering every last person potentially injured or suffering loss in the catastrophic event was shocking.
It wasn’t logically shocking simply because being in the newspaper business means that one is going to run across a lot of small, nasty and self-centered people as well as the better kind. It was shocking that the paper was attacked and not Janette.
Instead of going at the source of the local largesse detractors came after the paper for poor reporting.
The results of Janette’s contributions were also instructive in allowing all of us to understand how a lot of our citizens have become accustomed to being ‘cut in’ when unqualified gifting or benefits are distributed. The ‘where’s mine?’ attitude of some is instructive, although not shocking.
The detractors, one and all, did not attack Janette as they also live across the street from Daddy Maxwell’s restaurant and no doubt use its services since the place is so close and Williams Bay is so small. There’s an element of cowardice in the detractor’s complaints.
They felt they could not attack her, although there is no doubt from the nature of their complaints about not receiving benefits that they angry with her, so they attacked the newspaper reporting the event. Given that they used their real names is some measure of courage, however.
What is the news?
You raised a question that might well be the most vital communications question of this new millennium since every outlet of social media, along with every element of television broadcasting is now claiming to provide news about everything all the time.
What is news when compared to branding or advertising?
What is truth and what part should it play in reporting actual news?
Thank you Chuck.