The reader rep returns!
We had been wondering what happened to the Sunday Chronicle's "About: Chron" column by reader representative James Campbell when, lo and behold, it returned this weekend. We were afraid that the big newspaper execs had discontinued the column, since the reader rep sometimes criticizes the newspaper.
Substantively, the column treated the newspaper's recent coverage of two shootings by HPD officers. Some astute reader sent Campbell the following email, which he posted to his blog today:
You've got guts to criticize de facto the Chron's editorial re: police shootings. My hat's off to you, James Campbell.
I bet the reader representative would deny that he was criticizing the editorial since he was quoting another reader in his Sunday column, but it did sort of read that way.
In today's blog post, Campbell also responded to justified criticism from readers about the decision to run a feature on older women who appear in "adult films."
Now the RR is hardly prudish but seeing the story, along with a photo of a suggestively-clad, 50-year-old wannabe woman porn actress did have me questioning our rationale and judgment for publishing the story. So per the reader's request, I asked the Features Department hierarchy who made the call to publish the story?
Deputy managing editor for features Kyrie O'Connor responded:
I think it was consensus.
Perhaps the better question should have been: "Why" did we publish it, particularly on a Sunday and did we think the story may have been not suitable for a "family newspaper".
You'd think some grownups at the newspaper might ask questions like that, yes. But maybe there are no grownups in the Features Department.
In any case, it's good to see Campbell churning out the columns and blog posts again!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/15/07 11:15 PM | Print |
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