I would take this admonishment more seriously if Mr. Russell posted it every
time Steve Brandt refers listmembers to a story in the Star Tribune.
1. Virtually all of the media in this community likely to be referenced in
this list are for-profit media. Are they all off limits for Mr. Russell? Or
only off limits if someone who writes or edits them makes the reference.
2. In the particular case of the SW Journal: I, as editor, am very
interested in both the attention and--more important--the reactions of
people who are knowledgeable and interested in civic activities. It can--it
has in the past--helped tip me and my staff to issues we may want to cover.
But beyond that, alerting listmembers to articles in the newspaper I edit
does nothing for our bottom line. We do not sell the newspaper to readers:
It's dropped on their doorsteps at no cost to them. We DO sell the newspaper
to advertisers. They pay for distribution to a specific audience: people who
live in the 21 neighborhoods where we circulate. If people outside that area
read the paper, well, I love it. But the advertisers aren't paying for that.
And people within that area ALREADY GET THE PAPER. I suppose one could make
a fairly subtle argument that reference on the list would encourage people
within our area who already get the newspaper to actually read it, and
advertisers would like that, so there's some indirect benefit to the paper.
But puh-leeze...
The last time Mr. Russell took a shot at me--one I found to be surprisingly
personal--it succeeded in keeping me off the list altogether for the next
eight months or so. As a 27-year resident of the city, with two children who
graduated from city high schools, a regular voter and a person with a
more-than-typical interest in how the city is run, I had the occasional
comment to contribute, but stifled them. Who needs the hassle? That
reticence was a mistake on my part (and really not my nature).
Personally, I appreciate it when someone--yes, even Steve Brandt--links to a
story in the Star Tribune or the Pioneer Press, big ol' honkers of
for-profit media that really do sell their papers to readers. Maybe I read
the story, maybe I skipped over it and would like to read it. It takes a
mere second to delete the e-mail if I'm not interested.
Many members of this list are not in the 21 SW Journal neighborhoods, yet
there are articles they might find of particular interest from time to time.
(We did a dandy on the city's garbage contract in the Feb. 12 issue.)
Watching the list every day, my sense would be that more people appreciate
at least an occasional heads up than are offended by them.
And there's always that delete key.
Linda Picone, editor, Southwest Journal
Kingfield resident
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2001 10:06:09 EST
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: [Mpls] DFL/Mayor's race opinion pieces
>
> Although the articles that David suggests that we read in the SWJ are about
> city politics, I think it is absolutely inappropriate for him to mention
> them. Other members of this list are prohibited from promoting their
> businesses or using posts as an inadvertent advertisement. The SWJ makes a
> lot of dough as a for profit community paper and good for them. However, it
> has been proven, time and time again, that Mr. Brauer doesn't see a conflict
> of interest as the list manager and promoting the SWJ. Maybe David should
> focus on either being the list manager or being a reporter for the SWJ, but
> not both.
>
> Wade Russell
> longfellow
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