I was pleased to read this editorial by The Union’s new publisher, Dave Schmall, titled “Our role is to inform, not influence.” Click here and go to page 4 for the 9/11 edition here.
You can see that the efforts by the political hard right to “co-opt” Schmall already is underway. (A letter writer complained to him that the paper is too liberal a week into the job). The hard left doesn’t read the paper anymore, at least for now, so that’s much less of an issue.
It will be interesting to see if Dave’s motto (“Our role is to inform, not influence”) changes over time. When the predecessor editor/publisher started a decade ago, that could have been his intention too (though he seemed to pick a fight with the “left” right off the bat in the “Bruce Conklin affair”).
I don’t think that’s good for business, as I’ve written here before. Just look at the voter registration trends. And I think it led to the “transfer” of Schmall’s “big fish, small pond” predecessor — and rightfully (no pun intended) so.
The “big fish, small pond” syndrome is rampant around here. Sad, since some people who live here have been much bigger fish in much bigger ponds and could eat them for breakfast. That’s not why they live here.
We don’t subscribe to The Union, but we are going to take out an ad for an upcoming issue. I was pleased to get an email from the publisher thanking us for our business.
“Jeff and Shannon,
Welcome and thanks for advertising in The Union. We certainly appreciate your business.
My best,
Dave”
Filed under: Uncategorized
I’m a moderate and I will believe Dave when I see proof. I might re subscribe. What was done to Bruce and Izzy and others was awful. For now I’ll only buy a paper if the neighbor doesnt have a copy. The paper needs to represent the community, not dedicate its mission to one group.
I have emailed Dave earlier today, and if anything he seems to be pleasant and wants to know about people in our community.
I urge everyone to welcome him to our area as making rash judgements seem to be the mantra of the people that we do not respect.
At least the paywall is gone. We’ll see how much else changes
W wrote:
“I’m a moderate and I will believe Dave when I see proof.”
No kidding! First thing is treat the Editorial/Opinion page as the toxic waste dump/meth house it is. Bring in the Hazmat team, remove two feet of topsoil and start again.