Complaints and criticism

28 August 2009, 4:16pm

I don't mind people criticising the newspaper. I often say I have 8000 bosses. Everyone who pays a dollar for the paper is entitled to express an opinion on it.

My Dad told me a story once that he heard from an old-time journalist who worked for many years at the Warragul Gazette.

I forget the journalist's name, but it will come to me. He was still working when I was a lad.

Anyhow, he told my father it's good for people to be talking about a newspaper. It doesn't matter if the talk is good or bad, as long as they're talking about what they've read.

I have never forgotten that.

A newspaper that people don't talk about is a boring newspaper.

It's important to challenge people to think about issues; to influence change for the better.

It's also important to entertain people, as well as to inform.

An example of entertaining news occurred last year when we ran a story about the woman who claimed to have accidentally started a house fire while cleaning a lawnmower in her bedroom.

People were talking about that story for days. I remember standing at the hockey a week afterwards and overhearing a conversation among people who questioned why it was in the paper.

The conversation itself answered their question.

Likewise, it amuses me when people criticise stories that are posted on the newspaper website for being trivial. Inevitably, they appear in the most-read articles for the week.

There is a difference between criticism and complaints, of course.

People rightly complain if we get facts wrong or omit things. I try to minimise complaints, and it frustrates me incredibly when mistakes happen that are beyond my control.

The worst example that I can recall is when an entire page of the Kalgoorlie Miner missed appearing in a Saturday edition.

Instead of page seven containing local news, it contained a full-page advertisement from The West Australian's car guide.

Oops.

Silly thing is, most readers wouldn't have known. It was my professional pride that was embarrassed.

newspapers, criticism, editing

Privacy and the right of reply

Comments

Ebony 28 August 2009, 7:19pm

Criticism is interesting and healthy, even though some of it can be so honest we feel uncomfortable when we hear it, especially when we take it personally.

I am often the target of critical comment, this is sometimes unfair and hard to hear, especially from people I respect or hold in high regard, and particularly when it is delivered in anger from someone with a personal agenda.

If it is honest and fair, being open to criticism helps us grow and be better at most things we take on in life.

Maybe the raw truth can be confronting, a bit scary, but more importantly, was it right, and if it was.. did we learn anything from it?

Adam Naiova 3 September 2009, 10:22pm

I agree with Ebony, that criticism can be a very useful thing.

It is a bit of a cliche, but 'constructive criticism' is a very positive force.

By this, I mean criticism that is not launched from an emotive, personal basis, but is based on a more objective view of the facts.

Of course all criticism, being based on our own personal observations, will to some extent be subjective, but I think whenever we criticise, we must be sure that there is some basis in fact and not it's an attack on something the person has said, done or wrote and not an attack on the person themselves.

With regard to the story about the woman starting a house fire with her lawnmower, I remember that story very well!

I think that is a good indication of how relevant it actually was to place in 'The Border Watch'. How many other stories, even those featuring politicians or celebrities, do we remember in such detail, almost 12 months later?

Whilst, I agree it was not 'heavy-weight' material (no offence intended, Michael), a publication such as TBW is meant to appeal to the broadest possible audience within the local community and a wide variety of stories are needed.

That story was a 'classic' human interest story.

It both informed and in a peculiar sense, entertained me and many others I know, which brings a whole new meaning to infotainment, which is something I assume many publications aim for at present.

Michael 4 September 2009, 7:19pm

Yes, criticism/comments are good. I like people to be talking about the paper.

I've been around for a while and "human interest" always sells.

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Michael Gorey