Editor’s Column: Just the facts, ma’am, just the facts

3 Comments

1. 

   Beth Wiley

   September 23, 2016 at 10:09 pm

   Nikki, thank you, this is a good commentary and I appreciate your commitment to the paper and your desire to cover Rangely news with integrity. If you want to cover Rangely properly, you are going to have to hire a full, or close to full time reporter who lives in this community. Important things are happening in our school district and in economic development, and other areas and it would be really good if the public was aware. It is also good for boards to have the accountability of being in the public eye- they make more considered, careful and fair choices.. The meetings are at 6:15 or 7 at night, or at 7:30 am, and are the only way to get a factual picture of what’s going on, but a reporter is almost never present, if something is written about it, it is based on reading minutes, or talking to someone who was there, not by being there, being a presence, and being brave enough to ask clarifying questions. Important decisions are talked about regularly in meetings, that affect our whole community, but people don’t know about them, and they need to. Things very worthy of reporting on have been discussed at the last several Town Council, RDA and School Board meetings, and have been for a long time. Your current system for reporting Rangely news relies essentially on local volunteers to cover things when they have time, and need to pick and choose what to cover- there is no consistency- and how thoroughly to investigate it because it takes a lot of time to keep up on things, and they get paid a pittance. That’s why an excellent writer like Heather Zadra quit- she got burned out and she wasn’t treated well or paid well to start with. You have an excellent, unbiased writer in Jen Hill, but she lives way out of town, and can and will only do so much for the small amount she gets paid. And mistakes get made- like reporting that the RDA board was made up of representatives from the local taxing districts in the recent article on the Better Cities project. Mistakes will always happen, but they will happen less if you are actually invested in this community. You don’t have that problem in Meeker, because all of your staff live there and are integrated in the community. If you are sincere about wanting to be a voice for Rangely, you will need to create a decently paid position for someone who lives here. I’d love to know your thoughts on that. Feel free to email or call: 970-274-1239

2. 

   Niki Turner

   September 24, 2016 at 2:13 pm

   Hi Beth,
   Thank you for sharing your thoughts and opinions. I figured I would just reply here, so that other folks who have the same questions will know what’s up.
   First, I concur that having a dedicated presence in Rangely to cover those town, county and board meetings would be ideal, and I agree that it would be best if it’s someone actually present in the room just for that purpose. That’s the reason we’ve been running a classified help wanted ad in the Herald Times for most of 2016, seeking a Rangely reporter. We’ve had no response thus far that I’m aware of.
   I’m pretty sure it’s every editor’s bedtime prayer and morning pipe dream to be able to hire part-time or full-time reporters, and it’s on my wish list as well. I’d like to have a news correspondent and a sports reporter for both ends of the county. Unfortunately, being able to hire additional staff (I’m currently the only full-timer we have), is dependent entirely on increased advertising revenue. That requires the cooperation of other local business owners like yourself. That, in turn, is dependent upon the small business owners feeling that the paper is serving their community and reaching their customers. Which, in turn, requires someone covering those important town and county meetings, attending events, and writing articles. It’s kind of catch-22.
   As to the pay for freelance reporters (AKA stringers): No one will ever make a decent living wage as a freelance reporter for a small county newspaper. But a dedicated stringer, covering a couple of meetings a week and writing a feature article or two, can make about $15 a hour, if he or she is a reasonably speedy scribe. Our stringers get paid by the inch, and our rate is comparable to the much larger papers (all corporately owned) in our surrounding communities. Depending on how much said stringer wants to work and how much news is actually going on, it can add up pretty quickly. I know, I did it for about 10 years as a homeschooling mom who lived out of town. It’s a great side job for a stay-at-home mom or an empty-nester or a retiree or someone who attends all those meetings anyway just because they’re involved and invested in their community. It’s not high on the pay scale, but it’s not terrible considering the average wage of the average store clerk or office helper in our area.
   As to Heather and Jen. Both are great. I spoke with Heather during Septemberfest and learned she is working at the college again. I am not aware that she “quit” or that she was poorly treated as a freelancer. If that’s the case, that’s unfortunate, because she’s a good writer. Jen and I have yet to meet in person, but I appreciate her willingness to work and her ability to write. Most people are too scared of what people will think or say about them to put themselves out there in print under a byline. It takes a brave soul to be a reporter, because mistakes will be made. Every. Single. Week. Why? Because we’re human. Because we’re biased no matter how hard we try to be neutral. Because we work under the pressure of a deadline every week. Because people don’t return our calls our emails to clarify things. Mistakes happen, and I hate it, but it is what it is. (The editor’s other pipe dream is to put out a perfect paper, just once!)
   In summary, yes, we’d like to “create a decently-paid position” for someone who lives in Rangely. Doing so will require the cooperation of the townspeople and business owners in Rangely to support and sustain their own correspondent through increased advertising revenue, increased subscriptions and single-copy sales. In the meantime, we’re dependent on our stringers, and invested citizens like yourself to let us know what’s going on, get announcements and news briefs and story tips to us, or to be willing to do some freelance work on the side.
   I hope that answers your questions. Thanks for your input!

3. 

   Beth Wiley

   October 4, 2016 at 9:14 pm

   Hi Niki,
   Thanks for your response. I only just saw it, as I thought to check if anyone else had commented- I didn’t get notified of a response, so sorry for the delay. Trust me, as a business owner, I understand all of what you say and understand the challenges! What I have learned, is that our community and economic climate are unique, we can’t do things the way they work in other areas, although it often seems like we should. Sometimes you have to switch up the model. It really is a ‘catch 22’ as you say, I think Rangely would support the paper more if there was better, more consistent representation, which you won’t get with your current approach to covering Rangely, which you can’t do until you have more support…and so on. Oye! As a business owner, however, I know you won’t get the sales till you provide the service, or the product, people want…. Believe me though, I get it, ‘shop local’ and supporting local resources is not particularly embedded into our local culture. The ‘stringer’ approach takes finding that ‘right person’ who can go to everything and then write about it, and make it worth their time, as you say. Unfortunately, as time has told, that person just isn’t here, though I’m so very grateful for Heather and Jen and those that have taken it on for a time! . I wish you the very best with the paper and the paper huge success, I buy the paper every week and enjoy reading it!! I love it’s history and heritage. I hope to meet you at some point- let me know next time you are in Rangely. 🙂