Blueprint for news
Thank you for the fantastic response we’ve received to our first issue of the Kickapoo Free Press. Walking in to deliver the paper last month, I was greeted with cheers (cheers!) at more than one location. The anticipation for the issue was great, but even more gratifying has been enthusiasm for the paper after people started spending some time reading it.
We got calls from farmers who wanted to discuss last month’s cover story about a proposed large hog confinement operation. We heard from readers who loved the story of the mateless swan. We got letters, asking Dear Prudence for advice, and asking for more stories.
We started this project as a way to further connect people in our community and as a way to be involved and engaged ourselves. It’s exciting to see the beginnings of those connections and I look forward to hearing more from you about what’s working and what else you’d like to see in the paper.
One thing we’re pretty committed to around here is weighing in on the issues facing our communities.
Years ago, as a reporter at a major metro daily, I worked in an environment where the goal was to keep our opinions out of our reporting and writing. We weren’t allowed to publicly support or battle any idea, project, or candidate: No letters to Congress, no signing petitions, no protesting, no lawn signs, no bumper stickers. I could spend a long time talking about how that system works and how it doesn’t.
Instead, I’ll just say things are going to be different at the Free Press.
We plan to insert ourselves into stories, to participate in the community conversation and decision-making about our lives and the lives of our neighbors. We will push policy and be clear about where we stand.
We'll encourage you to get involved, too, as we do on page four of this issue.
You will see our opinions, and you’ll see other people’s opinions, as well. We hope to provide a forum for voices from across the human spectrum: conservative, liberal, emotional, logical, religious, secular, young, old, male, female.
The interesting part will be discovering what we agree on, and what we do when we don’t.
Being held to the standard of “objectivity” taught me how to listen to people I don’t agree with, to try to understand the way they think, and to be able to represent them in my stories.
In other words, I learned fairness. And that most situations are not black and white, but gray. Fairness is a strong value of mine and you can expect it in these pages. It’s a much more attainable goal than objectivity.
With that in mine, I hope you enjoy the issue. From the cover story, to the scene piece about the Amish, to the comparison of New York in our little feature “That’s Why I Love This Place” there’s a lot here about the different ways we all live in this region together.
The cover story could act as a blueprint of the issues that we’ll be covering as a paper: economics, transportation, environment, farming. It was captivating for me to report; I hope it’s as interesting for you.
