WBJ Talk Back: Online reader comments from Dec. 8 through Dec. 18, 2008
We invite the input of our readers, positive or negative. Below is a sampling of both:
Paper Wars
Re: New WoMag Ownership Looks For ‘Edge'
We expected some reaction to our article on the new ownership at Worcester Magazine, given the place the paper holds in many city residents' hearts. Kirk Davis and Gareth Charter have taken over the helm at the alternative weekly since buying it from longtime owner Allen Fletcher in August.
Clif Garboden, founding managing editor of the defunct Worcester Phoenix and current senior managing editor of the Boston Phoenix, had this to say about the direction Worcester Magazine should take and his doubts about the new owners:
"Despite the tongue-in-cheek reputation it enjoys in Boston and Providence, Worcester is not Elk Horn, Iowa. It's a hip and vibrant city with, admittedly, a lot of economic challenges. It deserves a weekly that bucks the status quo; not one that profits by it.
The new owners have laid off the very people who know how to do it right, so it's completely reasonable for readers to suspect the worst."
Word Usage
Re: Pending Home Sales Take A 0.7% Tumble
Sometimes it isn't the articles we write that spur reader reaction, it's the headlines. One reader took issue with the adjective we used to describe the decline in sales:
"I find your headline to be hype. How can you call seven-tenths of a percent a TUMBLE. What will you call a 2 or 3 percent drop? Start being responsible reporters."
Passing Grade
Re: Colleges, City Should Follow Pharmacy School's Lead
We opined in our last article that the city of Worcester and the local colleges should put politics aside and once and for all settle the issue of PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) payments. Well, at least one reader took issue with our prose:
"The logic of the opinion escapes me. Perhaps that's why it's an opinion. It reads like a paper a C student would write who has no understanding of the dynamics of the political process or the effect of municipal economics on business development.
Please resubmit and quote your sources and elaborate on the contributions of profit oriented business vs. nonprofit institutions and the impact of the electorate on the municipal decision making process."
Hopefully, our future editorials will get an A.
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