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“When we gathered in the woodsmoke after each day’s ride, I tried to remember this quote: ‘There are three things that no one can do to the entire satisfaction of anyone else: make love, poke the fire and run a newspaper.'”
— William Allen White, editor, Emporia (Kan.) Gazette, 1917
I worked at the Durango (Colo.) Herald when publisher Richard Ballantine added the last part of that quote to the newspaper’s masthead.
It’s catchy. It’s true. And it’s a message for both readers and journalists.
For the people who work at newspapers, it’s a reminder that you can’t please everybody. Editorial types know they shouldn’t even try to please everybody — comfort the afflicted, afflict the comfortable and all that.
The message to readers is a bit more subtle: We’re going to try to the best of our ability but, hey, we’re also going to do it our way whether you like it or not. That attitude — the arrogance of journalists, some say — is what makes newspapers different from most businesses. The customer isn’t always right.
I was thinking about this today after I read Clark County’s ‘Setting the Record Straight’ response to coverage in the Las Vegas Review-Journal of the death of a 16-month-old infant in foster care.
The folks who run Clark County government have every right to be critical of news stories. I have my doubts, however, how useful this particular missive will be.
Here are some tips for arguing with a newspaper editor (culled from my 25 years of experience as an editor with whom people argued, pretty much every day).
• Reporters don’t write headlines.
You immediately get off on the wrong foot when you complain, like Clark County’s communications director did, about the wrong thing. He named a reporter and then criticized the headlines on her stories.
I thought everybody knew reporters don’t write the headlines.
• Don’t make it personal.
Sometimes it is personal, of course. Like when we misspell your name. Or say you got arrested when, in fact, you didn’t. But people get defensive when you attack them directly. It seldom helps.
• Be sure of your facts.
Newspaper editors are pretty good at picking apart an argument. They’ll start with the first thing you say that isn’t true. As a follow-up story in the Review-Journal indicates, the county’s ‘Setting the Record Straight’ could have been straighter.
• Listen.
Sure, some editors will argue for the sake of arguing. Most of the time, though, they have other things to do and will try to find some reasonable solution. In this case, editor Mike Hengel’s offer to publish a response from Clark County apparently fell on deaf ears.
• Avoid the conspiracy theory.
Using words like “slanted” and “sensationalize” implies some kind of plot was afoot.
Let’s get something out in the open: Newspapers, in general, have been going after county governments tooth and nail for the past 150 years in Nevada. The Review-Journal, specifically, has been trying to expose misdeeds by Clark County government for about 90 years now. It’s taken for granted there is an adversarial relationship. It’s not a plot. It’s what they do.
Also, I’m struggling to understand how the headline, ‘County policies ignored by DFS’ could in any way be considered sensational. It would be described more accurately as boring. It’s not even in active tense. By definition, any headline with the word ‘policy’ in it is the opposite of sensational.
For the rest of the conspiracy theorists, the only plotting I recall anybody doing at a newspaper involved trying to make more money. That wasn’t my department.
• What do you want?
A retraction? A clarification? A follow-up article that better expresses your side of the story? An op-ed piece, in your words, explaining your position?
It’s always a good idea to have in mind what you believe would be a satisfactory resolution to the argument you’re about to have with the editor. I estimate in 90 percent of the arguments I had as an editor, the ultimate outcome was that the other person had an opportunity to vent their anger and frustration.
They got it off their chest. I almost always learned something.
The rest of the time, we usually agreed on whatever correction or clarification was warranted. Look, we get stuff wrong. We want to get it right.
On the other hand … if you’re a county bureaucrat who loves to poke the newspaper, you can expect it to fire back. (Sorry, Mr. White.)