THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, June 1, 1995 TAG: 9506010010
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 39 lines
Editor Cole Campbell's ``Notebook'' (May 21, Page A2) seemed to imply that yesterday's reporters and editors didn't do their jobs very well - at least according to the writer's assessment of journalistic responsibility.
Thank God, we didn't! But we did work every day to meet our own valued objectives in our profession - those which Mr. Campbell seems to devalue as parts of ``traditional journalism.''
The responsibility of newspaper writers and editors, I hope, is the same as always - to honestly reflect life in their communities - the good, the bad, the ugly and the beautiful, exactly as it happened, with the headline and page placement each deserves in weight of the whole daily offering. Now, however, wonderful new printing processes and artwork can lure readers, and a front-page banner headline might herald only a story you saw last night on the television news.
This journalistic ``focus on citizens'': Does Mr. Campbell really mean to imply that newspapers in all history haven't honestly portrayed the work of the whole citizenry in what he refers to as the ``democratic process?''
Have I overreacted? Not really. As one who helped make a tiny contribution to the profession inherited by its present practitioners, I urge your editors to edit a newspaper readers will value as a part of their daily lives, not as an instructor in citizenship they're smart enough not to need.
RICHARD J. GONDER
Norfolk, May 22, 1995 MEMO: Editor's note: Mr. Gonder is a retired editor of The
Virginian-Pilot.
by CNB