tampa tribune editorial board should be embarrassed
On Sunday, Rosemary Goudreau explained the reasons for an editorial page. The editorial page editor explained to us that a newspaper is obligated to give its opinion on matters that affect our community. She suggests that without the editorial board, the entire region would be milling about aimlessly. We should be happy there is a band of folks so dedicated to our community that they can lead us in the right direction. A few highlights gushed by Ms Goudreau:
- the editorial board is the voice of the newspaper
- and the soul of the newspaper
- Tribune’s voice has evolved with the issues
- We believe in personal responsibility
- the best editorial pages are the conscience of their communities
- in election years, we consider it a public service to tell you what we think
- aims for the tone of a candid friend
About herself, she says:
the editorial page …reflects the personality of its editor. I hold …high ambitions for using the power of this paper to help shape a positive future for this community. Under my leadership, we are more intensely focused on local issues because I believe that is content we are uniquely positioned to provide. Our priority is Tampa and the region. We are Tampa’s newspaper.
Goudreau asks:
If a newspaper doesn’t speak up for people on these kinds of things, who will?
And finally, she closes the piece with this:
We are the place to be seen and heard on issues affecting Tampa and the region.
In other words, not the paper across the bay. Not some television news anchor. and definitely not some amateur bloggers.
The Tribune editorial board has always been certain of its own importance, even if regular folks like you need to be convinced. But then again, I guess we can’t fault Goudreau for circling the wagons, can we?
If I had that sort of responsibility, I might would make a few suggestions too. For instance, in the tone of a candid friend, I’d say the Tribune editorial board should focus less on their self-importance, and understand what is going on in the community. And it is quite obvious that they do not. Read on, if you will…
Today the editorial board demands a permanent memorial for local soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. They say the best way to show our debt of gratitude is to erect a visible memorial to these fallen warriors. They call on HCBOCC chair Jim Norman to get this ball a-rolling, and get it rolling now.
Apparently, the Tribune editorial board does not know there is already such a memorial. Local soldiers killed in Iraq are recognized permanently on a tasteful stone marker within Chillura Courthouse Square. The Tribune covered the story in July 2003. Alas, they couldn’t google it, because the article is gone. Luckily, a local blogger made mention of the dedication ceremony for prosperity. Thanks, Blogwood.
Oh yeah - back to the “voice of the newspaper.” Goudreau also notes that they are ”having an especially hard time getting young people to pick up the newspaper habit.” I wonder why…
Tags: newspapers, tampa
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March 6th, 2006 at 12:42 pm
So I don’t know if I understand your position here. Are you saying that the Trib shouldn’t have an editorial page? That the editors are too self-important? I’m confused.
March 6th, 2006 at 12:44 pm
I read that fiction of ones imagination yesterday and wondered if the Tampa Tribune was running for political office.
March 6th, 2006 at 12:47 pm
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. I love newspapers, subscribe to the Trib and Times, miss the WaPo desperately (just not the same online), and keep track of half a dozen “hometown” papers I’ve grown accustomed to over the years. However, there is a clear divide between papers that see the blogosphere as competition to be vanquished and those that embrace it (and not just to co-opt it.) If papers want to attract and keep younger people, they need to quit ignoring blogs just because they aren’t “authoritative.” How hard is it to search, read, then verify info in blogs? The Trib sure could have avoided foot in mouth disease over the memorial, but you can’t become the newspaper of record if you don’t keep, and check, the records.
March 6th, 2006 at 1:02 pm
Joe - I thought my sarcasm was fairly clear, but perhaps it is not. The paper should absolutely have an editorial page. However, they should also be aware enough to actually KNOW what’s going on within the community, and realize that they are NOT the only voice regarding our homeland.
March 6th, 2006 at 1:23 pm
Today the editors felt they should intervene in the Tampa Bay History Museum building plans in the editorial column. Seems to me a reporter questioning the plans, a letter or a phone call would have been plenty to suggest a rethink on a yet to be completed museum windows design. I still keep the Trib editorial on the Lightning losing the Stanley Cup (when of course, they won) close at hand for when I make mistakes. Thanks Trib for helping to make my errors look so small.
March 6th, 2006 at 2:56 pm
I never cared for editorials at all. I can never tell if they are thinking for themselves or telling me the opinion of the company that owns the paper. I don’t know who the people are or what their qualifications are to render an opinion. I treat editorials with the same regard that I treat any other press release from a corporation, I will listen but always remember their motives are suspect.
March 6th, 2006 at 3:28 pm
You’re right, Edit, they’re feeding you the opinion of the company that owns the papers. It’s all so narrow, now. Read the Trib online and your followup is on TBO.com. Watch Channel 8 in the morning and as a news segment you get dumbass reading by Trib reporters from the Trib pages. It’s all so YAWN…. THIS is why we all seem to be turning to online sources for news, because we ARE intelligent enough to be suspicious when all our news seems to come from the same place.
VIVA EL BLOG!
March 6th, 2006 at 4:41 pm
Joe seems a bit defensive in the first message of this string. I wonder if he’s a member of the Trib editorial board, namely the same Joe who writes a Sunday column? And if he is, why doesn’t he come right out and say so? Maybe he won’t because he knows Tommy is correctamundo.
SOF has struck a nerve, just like a good stick should!
March 6th, 2006 at 7:04 pm
i think one of the biggest problem with personalized content delivery and blogs is that we lose the “community voice”….newspapers and mainstream media play an important last vestige of hope in maintaining some semblance of a collective perspective….we need that to guage our own opinions and ideas with the rest of society and to work for common causes.
March 6th, 2006 at 11:46 pm
This is the paper that killed the Central Tampa edition, placing a whole swath of neighborhoods under a moniker (South Tampa) that is not what those neighborhoods are. See the Weekly Planet coverage
March 7th, 2006 at 4:18 pm
[...] So The Tribune realized the error of their ways, and addressed yesterday’s editorial, which was based on misinformation. Today: Later that day, we learned that three years ago, the county placed two tablets at the flagpole base in Joe Chillura Courthouse Square… [...]
March 7th, 2006 at 5:43 pm
I think Rosemary Goudreaux is getting an unfair rap here. Anyone who’s been following this page for years (as I have) has seen a distinct shift from the right to the middle on many issues, and the page is trying to address different topics and be forward-thinking rather than reactionary. Sometimes they miss, and everybody makes mistakes. But the Trib ed page of today is a far cry from the ed page of five years ago.
(and no, I am NOT a member of the Tribune board nor a Tribune employee.)
March 7th, 2006 at 5:44 pm
(as evidenced by the fact that I just misspelt Goudreau’s name. DANG!
February 8th, 2007 at 2:51 am
Orangeblossom sounds like Rosemary Goudreau pretending to be somebody else. If not, she needs to know that back at the Enquirer, Rosemary is known for her narcissistic and lousy newsroom ideas. Describing Rosemary as “self-important” is a mild way of putting it. But, really, Rosemary Goudreau lacks the skills needed to run a serious newsroom. It wouldn’t be surprising to hear then that her editorial ideas at the Tampa Trib are often childish and bereft of experience.