[Winona] Lack of honest reporting in Winona

[Kfsjsljbfish]

[Winona Online Democracy]

In keeping with my thought earlier, I wrote to the WDN and received this response.In 2004, one of my Girl Scouts was featured in Neighbors mentioning all these community service things she had done and never giving myself or any hint of Girls Scout in the article.  Her mom sounded like Superwoman, and she had never been involved with any of the events.  The  mom said she had called WDN with the correction and my husband who reads the entire paper every morning never say it.  I now only submit pictures od community service in Winona to the Post.   They ALWAYS print them. Kathleen Giebel  Dear Ms. Giebel,   Thanks for your note and concern. It’s hard for me to address something specifically when I don’t have more details. That being said, let me speak generally to your concerns.   First, we’re a community newspaper. That means we want to cover many different groups, yours included, I imagine. It is always a choice to talk to the newspaper or not.   If there is a fear of being misquoted, I can assure you there are things reporters can do to mitigate that concern; for example, running quotations by a source and double-checking facts. However, in my experience, I’ve found that oftentimes the fear of being misquoted is really an excuse for not wanting to talk. We do, in fact, make mistakes, like any organization, like any group of human beings. When we make errors, we correct them.   There is an old saw in our business that says the two pastimes of any community are baseball and picking on the local newspaper. I am positive things said about us in your meeting weren’t flattering. It goes with being a newspaper, covering controversial subjects and being the rough draft of history, as one person put it. I also know that if you want to find mistakes you can in our paper or the New York Times. You can also find positive, uplifting and helpful information, too. It seems to be a matter of perspective.   We may have an image problem. However, our circulation numbers consider to see growth when others in the industry are declining; our Web site is the number one electronic media news source in our area; and this year, we’ve produced more locally generated stories than any other year in our 151 year history.   Thanks again for your concerns. Please let me know if there’s anything else I can do for you.   Sincerely,     Darrell   Darrell Ehrlick Editor, Winona Daily News       Dear Staff,   I was at a meeting last night where it was mentioned the group has repeatedly been asked by your staff for interviews and repeatedly turned it down because the general consensus was they would be misquoted.  I was the only one of the 10 to admit to being a subscriber and none of the descriptive words of your paper were positive.   I think you have an image problem.    Sincerely,   Kathleen Giebel

_______________________________________________
This message was posted to Winona Online Democracy
All messages must be signed by the senders actual name.
No commercial solicitations are allowed on this list.
To manage your subscription or view the message archives, please visit
http://mapnp.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/winona
Any problems or suggestions can be directed to 
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
If you want help on how to contact elected officials, go to the Contact page at
 http://www.winonaonlinedemocracy.org